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Frederick’s new ‘rage room’ offers a smashing good time

FREDERICK, Md. (DC News Now) — If you need to find a place to relieve some stress, there’s a new spot that may be just the place in Frederick County — it’s called a rage room.

It’s one of the only places where breaking glass and smashing things wouldn’t technically be considered vandalism.

“It was amazing. I just got off a very long flight where I had people behind me kicking my seat and everything so that kind of (helps me) decompress and I can go home and relax a little bit,” said, first-timer Caitlin Spriggs.

“My favorite part was throwing the bottle in the air and hitting it with the bat, so that was pretty cool, and also deconstructing VHS tapes because as a child you’re always fascinated with deconstructing things but your parents are like do not do that with VHS, but now I can do it,” said Spriggs.

Owner Crystal Williams-Palmer considers herself to be somewhat of a mental health advocate.

“I’m not a therapist. I am just a woman who survived COVID by screaming into a pillow and most of her life by breaking mugs every so often when things got a little too intense. [Rage rooms] are a great way of letting big emotions out,” said Williams-Palmer.

The rage room has resources for mental health services available, such as contacts for local counselors.