SHELBY – A fifth-generation family farm is excited to “stalk” area residents with some frightening fun this Halloween Season – a haunted version of their popular corn maze.
The “Field of Screams” Haunted Hayride and Corn Maze premiers Friday, Sept. 23, at J & J Rietschlin Farm on State Route 61. The corn maze is in its sixth year, but this is a first for the haunted attraction – and the horrors hidden among the towering stalks.
“It’s going to be a mixture of everything, close to 13 actors in the middle of the field,” said Jake Rietschlin, who runs the longtime grain, corn, and bean farm with his wife, Jessica. “We’ve been blessed. Every year it definitely gets better.”
Rietschlin said the five-acre field will be filled with terrifying creatures – Jason from “Friday the 13th” and Freddy Krueger, to name a few. But other than a spine-tingling spider scene, he doesn’t want to give away other secrets lurking in the dark.
Visitors who dare to enter will begin with a hay wagon ride through the corn maze, then get off for a walk through the “Field of Screams.” Most of the trail is about four feet wide, he said, but it narrows in spots as visitors try to find their way out.
The Rietschlins didn’t cut down the corn to carve the mazes.
The fields were actually grown that way, Rietschlin said, with an artist’s drawing and an agronomist with a satellite GPS. Their neighbors pitched in planting Memorial Day weekend.
In addition to the nightly attraction, the farm has a sprawling pumpkin patch and dozens of “family-friendly, kid-friendly” activities and games every weekend through Halloween, Rietschlin said, including cornhole, a petting zoo, and a corn pit sandbox.
C J Concessions of Galion will set up their food trailer in the barn with hamburgers, hotdogs, and their signature apple dumplings and berry cobblers on tap. “I always tell people to come hungry because there’s great food here,” Rietschlin said.
The mazes will only close during severe weather, he said. “I guess number one is to suggest people wear proper clothing and footwear.
We’re excited, and hopefully, it will be a good time for everybody. It will be something new, something fun.”
The “Field of Screams” is open Friday and Saturday nights, Sept. 23 to Oct. 31, from 7 to 11 p.m. Admission is $15 cash or $20 with a credit card. The regular maze runs Saturdays from 12 to 6 and Sundays from 12 to 5 starting Sept. 24. Admission is $10, with children five and under free.