Beware of things that go bump in the night.
For the last 29 years, members of the North Forrest Volunteer Fire Department have been doing their best to give those from near and far a fright. Not while on the job, mind you, but during a special Halloween fundraiser, the North Forrest VFD Haunted Forest.
This year the event, which got underway Oct. 18 and 19, is running five nights and will continue Oct. 25, 26 and Oct. 31 – from dark until the last scream. There’s still time to get your tickets and get in line for this harrowing Halloween fun.
Chip Brown, Forrest County Fire Coordinator, said the event was the brainchild of Chops Myers back in 1990.
“He served as the ringleader and it was his idea to hold the event as a fundraiser for the department,” Brown said. “Volunteer fire departments were much more dependent back then on fundraisers than they are now, even though they still need help purchasing much-needed equipment.
Brown said when it started 29 years ago they never imagined that the Haunted Forest would grow to something this large. The event has been ranked one of the state’s Top 10 Haunted Attractions for the last several years and was billed as “tons of gory fun.”
It takes about 60 volunteers each night to run the haunted attractions, which takes visitors on a frightful tour through the woods located next to the fire house at 2315 Glendale Avenue. The actual event was held in a field across the creek for a couple of years but had to be moved when that field started being used for sand and gravel mining purposes.
The forest is rebuilt every year in order to change things up from previous years.
“It costs a lot to put this on and to rebuild each year,” Brown said.
Deemed family-friendsly, the 20-30 minute event features 12 scares and takes guests of all ages through a Killer Maze at the end. You’ll find both lights and the sounds of Halloween as you make your way along the tour.
Whether it’s appropriate for young children is up to the parents, depending on whether their child scares easily, Brown said.
While guests are guided in small groups of 10-15, if the line gets too long, they sometime have to try and push more into a group to keep things moving.
According to Brown, there have been nights when the wait was relatively brief, while on busy nights ticket-holders may have to wait anywhere from two to five hours. The event does offer an Express Ticket, which will carry individuals or groups to the front of the line to bypass the wait.
Brown estimates that as many as 4,000 to 5,000 people tour the Haunted Forest each year, some from as far away as Tennessee and Florida. And they come back every year.
The dates are usually set by August and the number of nights the attraction is offered is based on when Halloween falls. This year the event is scheduled for five nights, but next year, when Halloween falls on a Saturday, the event will probably be extended to six nights.
Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for children and an Express Time pass is $35. They accept cash, debit and credit cards. Concessions are available for a reasonable cost.
In the past, proceeds, which are kept in the community, have gone to purchase emergency equipment, items needed for the day-to-day operations of the fire department, life-saving equipment and saved to purchase larger items such as firetrucks
