Haunted house visitors say actors thrust themselves against them in fake rape scenes

A new “extreme” haunted house in Ohio went too far for some visitors who complained they became subjects of fake rape scenes.

The Akron Fright Fest at Melanie Lake at Kim Tam Park “is not your typical PG haunt,” the Akron Beacon-Journal wrote in a review before the place opened. With a headline that called it R-rated, the paper said, “You will be touched. You will be verbally abused. Some of the scenes are extremely graphic and downright disturbing.”

In one of several anecdotes shared either on social media or with local TV stations, Sarah Lelonek and her boyfriend, Ryan Carr, told News 5 in Cleveland they were shocked by what happened to them in one of several haunted houses on the site.

“There was a man in a mask standing over my boyfriend. My boyfriend was on the edge of the bed ... and he was being pushed down,” Lelonek said.

“She comes over and yells, ‘Stop, what are you doing? That’s my boyfriend,’” said Carr. “’Your boyfriend? Not anymore. He’s mine. Now I’m going to rape him.’ And then he started thrusting against me.”

The mother of a 16-year-old boy who apparently visited the same house told Fox 8 in Cleveland he was thrown onto a mattress by a man wearing a pig mask.

“The guy was ‘humping’ him, demanded he squeal like a pig and then forcefully took his legs and was trying to pull them apart,” said the mom, who was not identified by the TV station.

“I work with rape patients from time to time and this is inappropriate. This is not something that belongs in a haunted house.”

“In all the years I’ve been going to haunted houses, I have never seen anything like that, ever,” Lelonek told News 5.

News 5 had trouble reaching the manager of the haunted house for comment, and Fox 8 reported that the owners of the attraction wrote online that “the rape scenario is not something we thought up or made up. We are and have been looking into what happened.”

The managing partner of the private swimming lake and park where the haunted houses are located said in a statement on Monday that employees in that house were suspended.

“I was shocked and appalled when I learned about the allegations of a mock rape scene at one of the Akron Fright Fest haunted houses,” Jeremy Caudill said in the statement on the park’s Facebook page.

“We’re still investigating and trying to find out exactly what happened, and we’re hearing some confusing, inconsistent reports. When we know more, we’ll act based on what we learn. But I want to emphasize this point: There is no place for anything like this at our park.”

He added: “Obviously, rape is a horrible act. Even a mock rape scene has no place as part of any entertainment. And it has no place at our park.”

Heated debate is taking place on the park’s Facebook page, where some people say this is much ado about nothing.

“People get offended by anything these days,” wrote one man. “Next they will be suing dog owners for getting humped while visiting their house.”

“So severed limbs, murder, and chainsaw killers are o.k. but someone humping your leg is TOO SCARY!!!???????” wrote another man.

In its review last week of the new Halloween attraction, the Beacon-Journal called Caudill a “self-described real estate investor and wrestling promoter.”

Caudill told the newspaper he didn’t know anything about running a haunted house but found people who did, and warned that the houses “are just not kid friendly. There are some pretty risque things in there.”

The attraction’s “scaremaster,” Pete Kolomichuk, told the newspaper before the incident that things would be “something special here that no one else is offering. People really want this. They are tired of cookie-cutter haunted houses.”

The newspaper’s review warned visitors that their clothes might get torn and they might see a “baby being shot through the air out of a pregnant lady, stopped by its umbilical cord within an inch of your noggin.”

“Not everyone wants Taco Bell, some people want McDonald’s. We are trying to bring something new,” employee Aaron Swan told the paper.

Fox 8 reported that visitors have to sign waivers to enter three of the houses. Lelonek and her boyfriend told News 5 that they didn’t have to sign a waiver to get into the house where the reported fake rape scenes took place.

In his statement on Facebook, Caudill said the park is “immediately employing additional security and adding monitoring systems in each of the haunted houses to have a safer environment for our customers and our staffers.”

And, he wrote, some of the proceeds from the next two weekends will be donated to the Rape Crisis Center of Medina and Summit Counties.

This story was originally published October 16, 2018 at 9:16 AM with the headline "Haunted house visitors say actors thrust themselves against them in fake rape scenes."