A deadly dinner party. I'm Jason Horton.

I'm Rebecca Leeb.

And this is Ghost Town.

When you think of getting scared, you might think of a horror movie, a haunted house, or a bad dream.

You don't often think of food or a meal as a source of pure terror.

Still, that wasn't exactly the case in Ancient Rome, or Rome, honestly, up until the 1500s.

Romans had a custom that was, in my opinion, much more fucked up. They'd host a hell banquet.

For my research, a hell banquet was a dinner party.

You'd get an invitation, go to someone's house, walk in, but not see any food.

In fact, you'd be confused and then scared by various lighting sound and prop elements.

A hallmark of a hell banquet specifically was food or containers that came in deceptive shapes.

Think a table full of what looked like reptiles, but was actually realistic looking pots with food inside.

These containers would be stone or metal or wood, but sometimes edible themselves.

Sometimes they were sweet, made of sugar or marzipan formed with greased wooden molds.

Then you'd open them up and there'd be something savory inside, and you could just eat the whole thing.

After the host decided he was sufficiently freaked out, maybe you'd get a chance to eat.

I mean, if you even could.

According to Atlas Obscura, hellbanks were, quote,

designed to evoke funeral services at the least or afflictions of hell itself at the worst.

The godfather of them all was a feast so horrifying that the guests believed they had attended only to be murdered.

Other notable dinners include a meal hosted by Emperor Demician around the year 89.

The whole thing took place in a room that was completely black, from the floor to the ceiling to the table.

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