 "Photo: The orion staff photo")
The true spirit of Halloween was alive and well at Country Pumpkins in Orland as hundreds of people came to experience the haunted corn maze.
The 10-acre maze is a sight to see and for two weekends in October, the maze is "haunted" with scary clowns, monsters and everything else that can jump out of the corn stalks and scare you.
Not realizing how big this maze was - it takes about an hour to go through - I went by myself, thinking it would be no big deal. But when I got there and I heard the screams coming from the inside, I regretted not forcing my friends to join me. Fear got the best of me as I soon was reminded that I'm really claustrophobic and bad with directions.
Lucky for me, my fears were calmed when some of the workers offered to find me some people to go in with. As long as I had someone, I could follow through.
My "guides" were three 10- and 11-year-old girls from Orland who were more than willing to help me get through this.
"Are you going to scream?" Michelle Inzunza asked me.
The girls explained that people jump out of the corn to scare you and that I should be on the lookout for the "chainsaw master," a really scary man who chases you through the maze with his chainsaw.
I was a little nervous because I've never been the kind of person who likes to be scared, and the thought of a man with a deadly power tool coming up behind me from out the corn stalks was not sounding all that fun.
After about 10 minutes of walking through the maze, I wasn't too impressed. There were no monsters of any sort jumping out at me, but the ever-present screams coming from all directions led me to think that I shouldn't count anything out.
No sooner did the thought cross my mind than when someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and was face to face with a man in a clown mask. While he didn't exactly scare me, I was happy to see that there was more to this maze than just 10-foot stalks of corn.
The thing about mazes is that everything looks the same and you feel as if you're just walking around in a circle. After a while, I was beginning to think that I was never getting out. However, my guides seemed to know what they were doing, so I let them lead the way, all the while they talked about how much they wanted to see the chainsaw man. Every now and then, something would pop out and make me jump a little, but I had yet to scream.
That is, until I heard the buzz of a chainsaw come up right behind me. I knew that this man wasn't actually going to kill me, but I must admit seeing him run around like mad with his chainsaw on made me feel like he could.
"He wasn't even that scary," said Jessica James, one of my guides.
An hour after entering the maze, we finally found our way out, and I could breathe again. I was thankful to my new friends for getting me through what could have been a truly terrifying experience had I gone in alone.
Most of the attendees were younger than me, making me feel like a kid again. I'd forgotten how much fun things like this are when you're young - that Halloween isn't just partying.
While it wasn't exactly scary, the haunted corn maze served its purpose in getting people into the spirit of Halloween, among other things.
"It makes you have to go to the bathroom," Jessica said.
I couldn't have put it better myself.
Caitlin White can be reached at
Be the first to comment on this article!