All over America, haunted house venues are popping up for the Halloween season. But one Akron, Ohio, haunted house event called the “Akron Fright Fest” on the grounds of Lake Kim Tam Park may have gone too far. It was there that at least one couple’s experience was to be mock raped without their knowledge or consent.
According to the Facebook page of Melanie Lake Inc., the Akron Fright Fest features “extreme haunted houses,” with six houses on the lake used as backdrops and sets. The houses were separated into three adult-only houses with signed waivers needed for entry and three all age entry, with no waiver required. Sarah Lelonek and her boyfriend Ryan Carr told WEWS-News that they went to the house and were not required to sign a waiver.
But when the pair went inside, it turned into a nightmare that included a rape scene. Carr found himself forced onto a mattress by a man in a mask as Lelonek screamed. Carr said, “She comes over and yells, ‘Stop! What are you doing? That’s my boyfriend’ ” and the masked man yelled back ‘Not anymore, he’s mine now. I’m going to rape him,’ and then he started thrusting against me.”
Lelonek and Carr were not the only ones subjected to this treatment. On the company’s Facebook page one person wrote: “They grabbed my ankles and shins and pulled my legs apart and was thrusting while telling me to scream, ‘Papa.’ ”
A series of negative reviews on Facebook seemed to show that this happened repeatedly at the event. At first, the company denied that such actions could have taken place and were outraged by the reviews and posts on Facebook. But then the company seemed to realize that something went wrong and posted a lengthy statement on its Facebook page.
It reads: “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. 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. Working with the haunted house operator, we also are taking these steps:
“Employees who worked in the area where the incident allegedly occurred have been suspended while we investigate.
“We are 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.
“We want to donate portions of our proceeds from the following two weekends to the Rape Crisis Center of Medina and Summit Counties. I will be getting in touch with leaders there to organize that donation.
“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. ” -Jeremy Caudill, managing partner of Melanie Lake Inc. at Kim Tam Park.
Here is one report on the incident:
