LINNEUS, Maine — After taking a year off due to the pandemic, the Linneus Haunted Hayride is back, and serving up new frightful attractions to celebrate the Halloween season.
The event saw a big turnout for its Friday night debut, with visitors from nearby towns lining up to be pulled by tractor across nearly a mile of different spooky scenes, such as a haunted cemetery, a bloody morgue and a scary spider’s web.
The event was held off of Bangor Road in Linneus, the 10th year it has been held in that location.
“We took last year off with everything going on,” said Josh Murchie, the director for the recreation department for the town of Linneus. “So our goal was to do everything bigger and badder this year.
Volunteers for the event, many of them students, don outfits and bloody makeup to help assist throughout the ride. The event is put together by a board consisting of five members, and the money raised from the event goes to help fund the town’s recreation department, as well as for classes of students who volunteer.
In addition to some of its more established attractions, the haunted hayride included some new scenes for this year, such as a haunted meat locker, complete with hanging corpses and flashing lights.
The ride also includes homages to classic horror films, such as a full recreation of Camp Crystal Lake from the movie “Friday the 13th” as well as scenes from “Nightmare on Elm Street”, complete with volunteers dressed as Jason Vorhees and Freddy Krueger.
“We don’t have as many volunteers as we have in previous years,” Murchie said. “But we have enough to work with.”
The ride held its first night on Friday, Oct. 15, with the following night’s rides cancelled due to inclement weather. The Haunted Hayride returns Friday and Saturday, Oct. 22 and 23, at 6 p.m. and again Friday, Oct. 29, also at 6 p.m.
LINNEUS, Maine — October 18, 2021 — A bloody prop is displayed during the haunted hayride festival in Linneus on Oct. 15. (Alexander MacDougall | Houlton Pioneer Times)
LINNEUS, Maine — October 18, 2021 — A volunteer outfitted with a skeleton mask during the haunted hayride attraction in Linneus. (Alexander MacDougall | Houlton Pioneer Times)
LINNEUS, Maine — October 18, 2021 — An evil clown section of the haunted hayride in Linneus. (Alexander MacDougall | Houlton Pioneer Times)
LINNEUS, Maine — October 18, 2021 — A bloody prop is displayed during the haunted hayride festival in Linneus on Oct. 15. (Alexander MacDougall | Houlton Pioneer Times)
