Ghosts in the Hell House: AI Evangelism at Liberty University’s ScareMare

This paper revisits ScareMare, the long-running hell house attraction operated by Liberty University. Earlier scholarship carefully documented how “hell houses” relied on graphic theatrical scenes culminating in vivid depictions of hell designed to provoke immediate conversion. Drawing on ethnographic observation, interface analysis, and sustained interaction with the AI chatbot hosted by TrueLife.org, this paper argues that ScareMare has shifted from shock-based evangelism to a dispersed digital infrastructure of persuasion. Visitors can now enter into an online environment of testimonials and chat with an AI interface that promises answers to questions about God. Within this framework, conversion becomes an extended question-and-answer process mediated by algorithmic authority that relies on limited training data containing neither information from the Bible nor past user's contributions. Relying instead on the history of material culture, the AI's evangelical strategy simulates dialogue while limiting the improvisational exchange often central to evangelical witnessing.