Lynchburg horror story

He colors his face with paint before he goes into battle for the night, trying to save the souls of those for the Kingdom of God.

His piercing red eyes that match the color of his makeup represent something dark and truly terrifying, yet he has a purpose to save souls for Christ. Though his outward appearance may look terrifying, his heart and soul are honest and true.

His tactics for the night are to scare and fright. Preparing for the long night, he knows that it is the night of fright that can lead some who come to be saved. He knows that by scaring them away from hell, they may come to accept Jesus Christ as savior. 

Ryan Lloyd or as many who fear him like to refer to him as the “Creepy Clown Guy” has been working with Scaremare for the past five years.

Liberty University puts on a show of fright every year called Scaremare.  The actors, most of them performing for Christian Service credit, scare people out of their wits in hopes that it may show them what hell could
be like.

Lloyd’s first three years he spent in the woods wearing a camouflage ghillie suit jumping out and scaring those who walked by.  Lloyd said it is always the act of surprise that startles people and that those are always his
favorite scares.

Each year, the Scaremare team comes up with a theme, and this year it is “A Prison Escape.”  For those who enjoy a night of terror, they can expect psychopathic convicts on the loose, who are trying to steal their souls.

This year, Lloyd plays a sinister clown that frightens people who are just standing in line waiting to enter.

After waiting through the seemingly long line, guests begin entering the first house. Throughout the first house, guests will travel from room to room containing many different frights. 

Around each new corner a more terrifying psychopath awaits until finally the guests reach the woods where they believe they are safe. Anticipating the end, little do the guests realize it has only just begun.

Once in the woods the guests come in contact with psychopathic criminals who chase them around the dark woods.  The guests are then chased straight into the second house for the next haunting.

Guests do not get the feeling of fright in the second house, but rather a melancholy feeling of death. The second house is geared towards death to make the guests question where their souls go when they die.

The quest for those that attend Scaremare is the reassurance of knowing where you go when you die. Lloyd amongst the other actors, attempt each night to witness to those that do not know Christ. At the end, Scaremare workers take a few minutes to speak to guests about the reality of heaven and hell and present the gospel of Christ.

“Scaremare is a Christian haunt,” Lloyd said.  “We scare you, but we also preach the gospel to you.”

In an obscure way to share the gospel of Christ those who work Scaremare know that the ultimate goal is to win over souls for Christ. Sometimes the unsaved just need that extra scare to get them to believe.

“This may be a weird way to save people, but it does work,”
Lloyd said.