Extreme Haunted House In Ohio Has Teen Collapse And Die During 2014 Halloween Fun

What exactly makes an extreme haunted house? Unfortunately, the phrase “scared to death” may have had real meaning for a 16-year-old girl in Ohio this past week. Christian Faith Benge was visiting the Land of Illusion Haunted Scream Park in Middletown with about 100 friends and family when she suddenly dropped down to the ground.

In a related report by The Inquisitr, these pictures of people’s reactions to a haunted house were taken during some of the scariest parts. Some people are also questioning what is the difference between a really over-the-top extreme haunted house and legal torture. Unfortunately, one extreme haunted house featuring a zombie shooting ride ended in the death of a male teenager when he was run over by a bus.

This past week Christian Faith collapsed at a haunted house attraction in southwest Ohio and died, but the family believes the main problem was a heart abnormality. Christian had only one working lung due to a birth defect, and her heart apparently became enlarged as a result. The girl’s mother said she and a paramedic performed CPR on the teen before she was taken to a local hospital. The teenager was pronounced dead after arriving at the hospital.

The Warren County coroner, Dr. Russell Uptegrove, found that there was “significant abnormality.” He said there were no signs of trauma and no drugs were involved, said ABC WATE. The coroner also says it’s difficult to say whether the fear generated by an extreme haunted house played a role in her death. But for Christian’s mother, Jean Benge, it is not difficult to determine. Jean has been frustrated at the early reports that Christian was “scared to death.” She instead cited her daughters illness for her daughter’s death.

Benge said her daughter was born with a congenital diaphragmatic hernia. The condition means abdominal organs move into the chest because of a hole in the diaphragm, according to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

The defect had been fixed when Christian Faith Benge was an infant, Benge explained, but there was long-term damage related to the condition, including an enlarged heart and one nonfunctional lung. She said her daughter was never told to avoid certain stressful situations, such as so-called extreme haunted houses.

“It had enlarged four times her natural size,” Jean Benge of her daughter’s heart. “It kicked out. When she collapsed, she died instantly.”

Benge said she is trying to focus on the fact that her daughter managed to survive far longer than expected and the many friends in her school and local church. She said doctors had not been optimistic that the girl would live past infancy and even sent her home to die when they couldn’t do anything else to help her.

“My husband named her [because] Christian faith is the reason why she lives,” Benge said. “People rule out miracles in our society. She was a living proof that God still works miracles.”

The most common reason for sudden death is an arrhythmia, where the heart gets out of sync which can cause the heart to stop. According to Dr. Sahil Parikh, a cardiologist at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, “the heart gets bigger and bigger as it gets weaker and weaker… [Christian’s heart] was trying to compensate.”

Christian Benge’s death is a terrible tragedy, but maybe others with similar condition will take warning and encouragement from the example she gave during her life.

Would you be willing to risk an extreme haunted house if you had a health condition?