About Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 2, 2022)
Wednesday, November 2,2022 dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 3A ‘HelPs Gates’ haunted house alternative now open By Erica Jones ejones@dawsonnews.com It’s the time of year again for haunted hous es, ghost stories around the campfire and Halloween scares. But one church in Dawson County is striving to bring a haunted house alternative to the com munity that offers not only chilling scares and a captivating storyline but also a thought-pro voking message about faith and the end times as told in the Bible. Hell’s Gates, put on by Lighthouse Baptist Church in Dawson County, is an hour-long experience based on Biblical prophecies about the end of the world, complete with live-action characters, explosions, pyrotechnics and other special effects. Attendees follow the story of a family living through the end times, as told in the Biblical book of Revelation, to see what it could be like at the end of days. This year will be the 11th year that the church has put on Hell’s Gates, and each year the scripts and scenes change so it’s always a new experi ence, even for those who come back every year. According to Hell’s Gates representative Matthew Blackstock, this year’s experience is more raw and frighten ing than that of last year. “Every year the script changes a little bit, obvi ously it’s still based on the same Biblical back ground but the storyline changes a little,” Blackstock said. “This year we’ve tried to make it a little more intense, we’ve changed a few dif ferent things. I feel like last year we had kind of Erica Jones Dawson County News Actors from Lighthouse Baptist Church play their roles during the church's annual "Hell's Gates" haunted house alternative. taken a little bit of a route of maybe taming it a little bit and we felt like we should bring it back up a little bit, so there’s quite a few really intense parts.” This year’s experience, he said, will include a new, scary character introducing the “one world leader”, as well as a larger and more intense Armageddon scene. The attraction official ly opened on Oct. 31 and will run for three con secutive weekends, end ing on Nov. 6. According to Blackstock, the open ing weekend went very well, with packed tours all three nights. “[Our first weekend] was awesome; we’re pretty excited about it,” Blackstock said. “It looks like we’re going to have a good crowd this year; we’ve seen a lot of ticket sales and things are progressing really well. We’re really hoping we can get more of the community out; we’re seeing a lot of people showing up from other states and all around Georgia but we haven’t seen a huge rush from our local community.” Feedback on this year’s experience has been very favorable so 770-294-3144 (C) Brad Minard ibuyfrombrad@gmail.com § iZtotocdv ^Watff & Sfwfr At mini? m Water & Sewer Authority “Excellence in every drop ” V on VETERANS In honor of our Veterans, Etowah Water & Sewer Authority will be hosting a luncheon for Veterans and a guest on Friday, November 11,2022 at 1 pm at the Dawson County Junior High School located at 332 GA-9, Dawsonville (across from the Farmer’s Market). The Veterans Affairs of Dawson County will have a ceremony and parade following the luncheon. far, he added, and haunt ed house reviewer Constantine’s Haunt Reviews even came through last weekend, rating the attraction a 4.7 out of five. “The comments keep getting better; we got reviewed by Constantine’s Haunt who goes around and reviews haunted houses, so for him to say some of the things he said was pretty exciting especially con sidering this is 100 per cent volunteers from our church,” Blackstock said. It takes a village of volunteers from the church to make Hells Gates happen each year, he said, with about 150 people needed to cover acting, ticketing, conces sions, childcare for the actors’ kids and more each night. “With everything last year with Covid, we were really working hard to get volunteers and we relied a little bit more heavily on video, but this year as the volunteers are really starting to pick back up a little bit we’re going to start morphing that back over to a lot more acting,” Blackstock said. “Everybody is real ly really dedicated.” While North Georgia is full of fall and Halloween events for anyone, Blackstock said that Hell’s Gates is truly unlike anything else that the area has to offer. “In this Halloween season, there are plenty of great activities to do with the family, but what we’ve provided is an activity that not only challenges you in a men tal or a scary aspect but also spiritually,” Blackstock said. “As the reviewer put it, it’s not just about the jump scares but it’s about the thought that you take home with you: are you prepared for what the end of the world could be. I think that’s really important that people consider their spiritual status and whether or not they’re prepared for the reality of what’s to come.” Blackstock encouraged anyone who hasn’t expe rienced Hell’s Gates to come out and try it out for themselves. “We are constantly try ing to make it better and we’re also constantly trying to make sure that we’re giving the best product we can for the viewers,” Blackstock said. “There’s nothing like it; I would encour age people if they’ve never been to at least give it a shot and I don’t think they’ll be disap pointed.” Hell’s Gates will be open for its final week end of the season this weekend, Nov. 4 through 6. Tickets are available to purchase online, and tickets on Sunday eve nings are discounted from Fridays and Saturdays. For more information about Hell’s Gates or to purchase tickets, go to escapehellsgates.com. 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