Nashville Haunted House Wants Safer Teen Sex

Teenagers may have outgrown their fear of ghouls and goblins, but Nashville health officials believe their haunted house has something far scarier: gonorrhea and genital warts. Hoping to combat one of the nation's highest rates of STDs, health officials have staged the "STD Free! Haunted House." "We want to scare their pants back on," said Elizabeth Frazier, a registered nurse at Tennessee State University's health center. "We encourage abstinence. But if they can't do that, then use protection." The haunted house was developed three years ago after Nashville reported the second-highest rate of syphilis in the country: 45 cases per 100,000 people.

As visitors make their way through a dimly lit, S-shaped maze, they view startling, full-color photos of canker sores and genital warts on female and male genitalia infected with STDs. An empty casket at the end sends a message that death awaits anyone who does not practice safe sex.

The haunted house visitors are given "goody bags" filled with brochures on STDs, and they can get a free STD test once they complete the maze. Last year, more than 1,600 visited the haunted house, and 60 students were tested for HIV and syphilis. "I think it will have a positive effect and deter freshman like myself from making mistakes," said Jordan Williams, a freshman from Toledo, Ohio, who planned to take a tour when the house opened Wednesday. Lynette Winslow, program specialist for the Nashville Health Department, said even some football players could barely make it through last year's haunted house. "Guys would come up and say nothing scares them. Then before they could get around the corner . .  I could hear them screaming."

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