Centreville's 'Haunted Trap House' Returns With Warning About Dangers Of Opioid Crisis
CENTREVILLE, Md. (WJZ) -- Thirty years after it first appeared as a warning about Maryland's drug epidemic, the Haunted Trap House in Centreville will return with a focus on the damage caused by opioid addiction in Queen Anne's County.
The trap house, called the Haunted Crack House when it launched in Queen Anne's County in 1989, portrayed the life of a teenage girl who became addicted to crack cocaine in an effort to warn the community about the dangers of drug use. It ran again in 1990 and 1991.
Now, it's being reincarnated as part of the county's Queen Anne's County Goes Purple campaign against substance abuse, organizers said.
That effort comes amid a rise in opioid-related deaths in the county. The Maryland Department of Health reported seven deaths from opioids in the first six months of 2019, three more than the same period last year.
Statewide, opioid-related deaths are down slightly this year, with 1,060 reported between January and June compared to 1,193 in the first half of 2018.
Despite what appears to be a slight dip in 2019, a longer-term analysis shows significant increases in the number of deaths. In 2008, Maryland saw a total of 694 opioid-related deaths. Ten years later, that number was 2,406, a more than three-fold increase.
The new trap house has been in the works since November 2018 and is set to open later this week. It will be open to the public from Thursday, October 24 through Saturday, October 26.
Tickets can be purchased at the door or online here. For more information, visit the project's website.