Job 41:14 asks about Leviathan, "Who can open the doors of its face? There is terror all around its teeth." This simple description of the beast which terrorizes humankind led to the visualization of hell as the open jaws of a sea monster, an interpretation maintained by Pope Gregory I (c.540-604) and popularized in the 13th century. Public art made the hellmouth a ubiquitous symbol of death and punishment to a wide and largely illiterate audience. Doomsday paintings and tapestries, chancel arches, door carvings, church facades and altarpieces, as well as manuscript illuminations, all evidence the representation of hell as a gaping mouth.

The most spectacular hellmouths of all Europe were those of the medieval stage. For example, a Passion Play hellmouth in Metz, France boasted a mechanical jaw to give exit to the devils and sparkling eyes of steel -- not too shabby for 1437! By the 16th century, "Masters of Machinery" superseded the actors and the play itself in importance, with their special effects and conjuror's tricks. Decapitations, flying angels and burning saints made for spectacular but superficial drama.

Contributing to the popularity of the dramatic hellmouth was the action that it occasioned. The hellmouth was the site of Christ's entrance for the Harrowing of hell, one of the most popular medieval performances because of its physical struggle between Jesus and Satan. When Satan refuses to open up hell and surrender the virtuous souls, Christ busts open the gates, giving spectators a glimpse inside the dark netherworld. The dark ride preserves this element of violence as its electric cars bang through swinging doorways. I also like to think of the dark ride as finally giving the "audience" what it really wanted -- to bypass the Jesus Action Hero and harrow the abyss themselves.