The Nation: Visit Heaven and Hell!

See the 1 13-story fiber-glass statue of Jesus Christ overlooking the Salvation Gardens! Thrill to gladiator fights in the Colosseum! Climb the Tower of Babel! Disappear into the belly of Jonah’s Whale! Pet the animals on Noah’s Ark! Ride a slave barge across the Sea of Galilee! Visit Heaven and Hell! All this and more for only $6 a head!

The fun-filled attractions are part of a new biblical amusement park called Holyland. Now abuilding on 225 acres outside Mobile, Ala., the $10 million project is the inspiration of a group of businessmen headed by Alabama Entrepreneur Bill Caywood. Apparently convinced that Moses can outdraw Mickey Mouse, Caywood & Co. are confident that when Holyland opens on Palm Sunday 1973 there will be no room at The Inn, a 300-unit lodge on the park grounds.

In response to letters questioning whether such attractions as a planned time-tunnel trip through the holy city of Jerusalem and a mechanical Jonah’s whale that swallows visitors are sacrilegious, the promoters are quick to explain that they have enlisted the assistance of several churches to ensure interdenominational felicity. They are also taking out options to buy the land surrounding the park to prevent the appearance of anything so desecrating as “cheap souvenir joints.” The expensive souvenir joints will apparently be inside Holyland, presumably in the tem ple with the money-changers.