STD House of Horrors

Haunted houses are not longer causing US teenagers to jump out of their skin in fear - they're being scared back into their pants instead.

Nashville health officials have developed their own version of a haunted house - an STD house of horrors filled with pictures of genital sores, warts and the effects of syphilis, chlamydia or gonorrhoea.

Nashville health department's program specialist Lynnette Witlow said the house was designed to reduce the city's rate of syphilis, which is one of the highest in the US. "Guys would come up and say nothing scares them, then before they could get around the corner ... I could hear them screaming." she told Associated Press.

An empty coffin sits at the end of the faintly lit, S-shaped maze to warn visitors that they could die if they don't practise safe sex.

Free STD tests are also available once visitors complete the maze - more than 60 students were tested for HIV and syphilis last year.

And if that was all too much to absorb in one visit, there are 'show bags' filled with STD information brochures.

Ohio student Jordan Williams said he planned to take a tour of the house.

"I think it will have a positive effect and deter freshmen like myself from making mistakes," he said.

"I don't know if it will make people abstain but I do think they will consider using protection."

by Kate Russo, Medical Observer, 23 Nov 2001