A look behind the masks

The Scaremare team spends hundreds of hours prepping for the large event

The creative director of Scaremare Pam Vandegriff and her assistant Jason Shockley stood in an old cabinet shop at 6:45 p.m. on a Friday night.

In a dark room illuminated only by a strobe light flashing on the body of a clown inside of a coffin, they played sounds from Shockley’s phone in an attempt to choose the best selection and amplify the creepy ambiance filling the room.

During the weeks nearing the first night of Scaremare, Pam Vandegriff and her husband Steve Vandegriff, director of Scaremare, spend many of their evenings much like this one in order to prepare for Scaremare.

Steve Vandegriff also known as “Dr. V.” in addition to overseeing the event, also teaches as a Professor of Youth Ministries in the School of Divinity. The Center for Youth Ministries also sponsors this event, according to the website.

To make sure every eerie detail is perfect for Scaremare guests, the crew checks and rechecks the details until the opening night.

“We do scary, creepy, bizarre … (and) weird,” Pam Vandegriff known as “Mrs. V.” said.

The Scaremare crew prepared themselves for the event’s 43rd year of scaring people by setting up barriers between rooms, securing props to tables, floors and walls, and sound and light checks. In addition, Pam Vandegriff also takes on the task of cleaning the laundry, vacuuming the house and building and scanning Goodwill stores and yard sales for appropriate props.

“You can’t even have a part time job (along with Scaremare), sometimes you get home at three in the morning,” Pam Vandegriff said.

Past the little details and the late nights, the purpose for the event has stayed an evangelistic outreach from the beginning, according to Steve Vandegriff. Pam Vandegriff echoed her husband’s premise for the event.

“People that will never go to church will come to this with their friends,” Pam Vandegriff said. “(And) for me, you only get one chance (at Scaremare with) these people to share the Gospel … (and) to be lost for eternity is a long time to be lost.”

Pam Vandegriff uses the phrase “Keep it on the cross,” ensuring the 180 Community Service (CSER) volunteers and additional staff are always rooted in the Gospel even past the gory scenes and haunting effects.

From rooms with dolls silently staring to dark hallways closing in, Scaremare brings phobias to life, but there is a fine line for Pam Vandegriff as to what subject matter she covers in the “House of Death” theme.

“I don’t do Dracula,” Pam Vandegriff said. “I don’t do witches — any of that. We deal with the reality of death and that’s scary enough.”

Because the reason behind Scaremare is the gospel, the Vandegriff’s make sure prayer is included in the preparation stage of the event.

The team will be praying over every room in the house and the building — praying God would work through this ministry.

“(Scaremare) is held together with duct tape, staples and prayer,” Pam Vandegriff said. “We can put as (much) duct tape and staples in it as possible, … (but) if God’s not in it, then what are we doing here?”

In addition to keeping the event gospel centered, Steve Vandegriff mentioned the importance of scaring well.

“We have found that if we do a good job scaring (guests), they are more receptive to hearing us talk about faith in Christ,” Steve Vandegriff said.

The gospel has been received by thousands through the message of Jesus at Scaremare, according to Steve Vandegriff.

Overall though, safety stays at the front of the team’s mind. From checking and rechecking props to having a walkthrough with the local fire marshal, Pam Vandegriff and Shockley clearly stated that their ambition is to not only share the Gospel and enjoy the night, but to keep everyone healthy.

“It’s a constant battle (in outfitting the house and building) between what’s safest, what’s most effective (in scaring people) and what (actually) works (in the space allotted),” Shockley said.

The behind-the-scenes of Scaremare revealed hundreds of hours of prep, cleaning, and a year-round job of keeping the house and building safe through the off months. The Vandegriffs, who have overseen the event since 2000, take on the task of running the large-scale event. In addition, Steve Vandegriff participated in Scaremare as a student here during the early stages of the event.

Last year alone, the team catered to more than 27,000 people — walking them through the house, woods, the second building and then exposing them to the gospel during their nine production nights according to Steve Vandegriff.

This year, Scaremare will start around dusk Oct. 8-10, Oct. 15-17, and Oct. 22-24. Tickets are $3 for college students or military Thursday night and $8 any other night.

The Scaremare team advises that young children do not attend due to various gory scenes.

For more information, visit liberty.edu/scaremare.

Research contributed by KAYLA HUMPHREYS.

Tiller is the feature editor.