VAN WERT — ’Tis the season for vampires to lurk while witches take flight on brooms and little goblins seek treats in the night.
Those who look forward to annual haunts will have the usual attractions to patronize this year, including a D.A.R.E. program fundraiser.
Along with the Van Wert Jaycees, the sheriff’s office will once again turn the woods near Van Wert County Hospital into a place of terror. This year’s event threatens to be even more dreadful than in the past.
“This year, it’s all in the woods and we have added several new attractions. We have a haunted bridge, a spider-infested area and we put up walls with a tarp over the top. One is a claustrophobic room and another has lights and fog in it,” said Chief Deputy Keith Allen.
For an additional scare, this year’s Haunted Forest includes a “Last Ride” to simulate what awaits us all.
“The ‘Last Ride’ is in a coffin. We’ll put the person in it and shut the lid; we have hydraulics hooked up and we’ll shake it like it’s your last ride down the highway. We’ll also have a camera inside the coffin so all their friends can see,” Allen said.
Open every Friday and Saturday night in October, the cost is $7 per person and funds go toward motivational speakers’ presentations at county schools, including both Delphos systems.
For information and a coupon for $1 off admission, visit warehouseofterror.com.
One of West Central Ohio’s most widely-known haunted attractions is Harold’s Haunted Cornfield, featuring The Gauntlet and Toxic Trauma. Located between the middle of somewhere and the valley of the shadow of death, standing corn drips red with blood.
The Gauntlet is a 4,800 -square-foot haunted house of gothic architecture and pure evil.
Toxic Trauma simulates what could happen if deadly pathogens were to be unleashed upon the public. With an abundance of fog and extreme strobe lighting, this warehouse from hell is not for everyone.
Harold’s Haunted Cornfield promises to be an in-your-face, wet-your-pants, neurological onslaught that will keep survivors up all night. For information, visit scarefair.entertainerohio.com.
Election season is also harvest season, which means less-frightening crop mazes in Whitehouse.
Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin is depicted in one corn field, while another is carved in to a 16-acre butterfly that promises to give new meaning to getting lost in the middle of nowhere.
For information, visit whitehousecornmaze.com.