Chicago Elementary School Cancels Haunted House Depicting Pulse Nightclub Shooting
Halloween is supposed to be fun. It is a day for candy, spooky decorations, and hitting “refresh” on Neil Patrick Harris’ Instagram page until he finally shows us what cute things he dressed his kids as. But this year some good, God-fearing people actual monsters decided to host an elementary school haunted house that included a reproduction of the Pulse nightclub massacre, the recent anti-gay terrorist attack at a gay nightclub in Florida that killed 49 people in June.
According to Raw Story, Fernwood Elementary–a Chicago public school–was to be the site of a “Christian” haunted house called The Room: Journey to Hell. Advertisements for the haunted house indicated that kids under 13 would only be admitted with a parent or guardian. It looks scary as hell, but this is also one of those “Hell House” haunted houses certain Christian groups love to break out at Halloween to scare kids into making “moral” choices. This one was reportedly all set to depict the attack at Pulse in a disgusting attempt to turn viewers away from the “sin” of homosexuality. (Which is not a sin, and neither is dancing at a nightclub.)
The production company’s Facebook page had a call for volunteer actors to play “Club Pulse, Dancers, Victims ”¦ CAGED PEOPLE/SCREAMERS, Extras needed trying to escape a cage! ”¦ SOUNDS INTERESTING? COME OUT THIS SATURDAY!!!””
Windy City Times says the event was being put together by Tyrone Tappler Productions, and The Room’s ticket sales page described it as “a real life haunted house. Guests will experience IN YOUR FACE scenes of dark reality. ”¦ You will walk in 10 Rooms and encounter individuals who will make choices. The choice is life or death; sin or salvation; heaven or hell. The scenes will be action-packed, real and jaw dropping.”
In addition to showing the Pulse nightclub massacre, The Room also had rooms about the Charleston church shooting, and one about a “botched abortion.”
This inappropriate travesty was supposed to be held at a Chicago elementary school, but when school officials found out, they pulled the plug immediately.
“The event organizers mischaracterized the true content of the event, and we did not approve any association with the activities the organizers have now advertised,” said Chicago Public Schools spokesperson Michael Passman to Windy City Times. “The event will not be held on CPS property.”
The event organizers probably think they’re being persecuted now, and according to New Now Next, Tappler posted an announcement to Facebook indicating that their haunted house had been “banned” and that ticket sales would be refunded. That post has since been deleted, and the production company’s Facebook page has vanished. Good riddance.
