By Chris Cosci

You're walking through a creepy mansion with a few of your friends. As you listen to the floors creaking and the doors squeaking, your spine begins to tingle. You jump as something skitters across the room. Suddenly, you hear one of your friends let out a blood-curdling scream. What prompted this scream was something so shocking, so terrifying, that it could scare away even the bravest soul. It was two women - and they were kissing!

Okay, perhaps this isn't as scary as, say, rats feeding on a rotting corpse. However, this is exactly the kind of scenario that was staged for "Mall of the Dead," a haunted house-like venture that was set up in a shopping mall in Wentzville, Missouri. The organizers of this event set up sixteen spooky scenes, including one where two women touched each other on the arms and legs, and then kissed each other on the neck and shoulders. It's just like all those classic horror films - except for the part where the women are kissing and touching each other.

If that wasn't enough to stop people's hearts, a second scene was set up featuring people shackled to a wall while being watched over by a whipping dominatrix. If there's one thing that's certain, they won't have to worry about being sued by Disney for stealing ideas from the Haunted Mansion.

Inevitably, these scenes caused a stir and city officials were not happy with the content. They demanded that the event's organizers obtain proper permits for running adult entertainment. After all, it's one thing to have people surrounding you wearing hockey masks and carrying knives. It's another to see people dressed in leather and chains.

"Mall of the Dead" co-owner Dean Kemper claims that the city officials' complaints are nothing more than mere censorship, adding that his creation is simply "adult scary fun." He goes on to argue, "it's not like [the women] are doing it." Of course not. He was probably saving that scene for his follow-up, "The Mall of Christmas Joy."

Still, there's more to this story than censorship or inappropriateness. There's the issue of keeping up the wonderful tradition of haunted houses. The true spirit of a haunted house is about scaring and frightening people. It's about sounds or visuals that cause people to jump or let out a small gasp. These scenes of women kissing and whipping seem to be catering more to people's fantasies than their inner fears - unless, of course, you're a staunch conservative.

But haunted houses are not typically known for displaying such lewd behavior. They use spookier sights and sounds to make shivers run down your spine and produce goose bumps form on your arm. The creators of "Mall of the Dead" really should have stuck with the more standard, family-friendly methods of creating scares like splattered blood and dismembered body parts. Oh, wait - they did do that. The scene where the women were kissing each other ended with the simulation of one woman cutting off a man's genitals. Much better.

After all the commotion, the organizers finally caved in and took out the offensive scenes from their show. Even without the controversial scenarios, the attraction has drawn a considerably large number of people. And as for the people hoping to see two women kissing each other, they'll just have to watch MTV like everybody else.