Teen with heart condition collapses, dies at haunted house

A teenage girl who died after collapsing at a haunted house attraction in Ohio had a pre-existing heart condition, an official said on Tuesday.

Christian Faith Benge, 16, collapsed over the weekend when she and family and friends visited the Land of Illusion complex of five haunted houses 20 miles south of Dayton, Ohio. She was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead.

“It’s a natural death,” said Doyle Burke, chief investigator for the Warren County Coroner’s office. He said Benge had a pre-existing heart condition and went willingly to the haunted house complex.

Unlike amusement park rides or portable inflatable devices, haunted houses are not subject to state regulations, said Brett Gates, a spokesman with the Ohio Department of Agriculture.

It was not known if there were any signs at Land of Illusion urging people with heart or other physical conditions to not enter any of its attractions.

Messages to the Land of Illusion and to the Warren County Building and Zoning Department, the county agency overseeing the attraction, were not returned.