NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Everyone's entitled to one good scare. Well, a group of big Nashville organizations aren't actually out to scare. Instead, a fun night is taking on the subject of fear.
"We're gonna call him buddy," Kindell Williams said standing next to a skeleton of a saber-toothed tiger.
Williams is with Adventure Science Center. A lot of the time it's families there, but the center does these occasional events for the 21-and-up crowd.
"We call it Way Late Play Date," Williams said. "There's something magical about coming to the Science Center at night when there are no kids around."
The theme for Friday night, August 7 is Camp Fear.
It's a name that recalls all the many horror movies set at summer camp.
"Do you like being scared?" I asked Williams.
"No."
She answered that quick.
The Adventure Science Center is quick to tell you, this is not a haunted house. Nothing will jump out at you. Camp Fear is instead more a study of fear.
"I love the idea of what fear has done to keep us alive as a species," said therapist Heather Britt of Nashville Psych. "It's like our oldest bodyguard."
Speakers from Nashville Psych are part of the Camp Fear event.
"Those of us who watch scary things, what's wrong with us?" I asked Britt.
"Nothing's wrong with you and also nothing's wrong with your central nervous system," she answered. "Fear is absolutely involved in the release of adrenaline. There's just folks who love that, and there's folks who do not. What comes after the adrenaline rush is the joy of experiencing something scary with other people, the togetherness people feel from it."
Live musicians will perform horror themes in the planetarium. Camp Fear is also looking to address common fears.
A team from Third Coast Comedy Club will be at the event to take on the fear of public speaking.
"They'll pull people from the crowd, and they'll do some improv comedy around fear," Williams said.
Nashville Zoo is doing something on phobias of certain animals.
To address the fear of thunderstorms, a Van de Graaff generator will be used for demonstrations.
"The Van de Graaff generates up to 300,000 volts of electricity," said Allie Glauch of Adventure Sciene Center. "We're going to generate those same electrons that are up in the clouds at the top of this dome."
The way Adventure Science Center sees it, even when the crowd's grown-up, the idea is to still teach something.
"It's interesting because fear is such a primal experience," Britt said. "Without it, we wouldn't have made it this far."
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
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