Aside from one particular year where I decided a Boy George costume would be a good decision (it wasn't...I had dead hooker eyes for days), I don't really go all out for Halloween. After years of loving scary movies and slasher flicks, I've kind of grown out of loving a good scare (or just became a wuss, your call). We only get a dozen or so trick-or-treaters each year too, so it's easy to avoid getting caught up in the holiday all together. Or it would be if I didn't spend most of the year looking forward to the return of the Haunted Corn Maze.
We drove out to Truro in a convoy of our friends' vehicles arriving around 6pm on a brisk Saturday night in October. It was already dark but you couldn't miss the line-up measuring in the thousands. THOUSANDS. It was insane. I hadn't seen anything quite like it in Atlantic Canada before. Had the maze been any closer to the city, we probably would have bailed but we were glad to have stuck it out. The line didn't move quickly either...we waited for a couple of hours but since all of our friends were in tow, well...time didn't exactly fly but it was manageable. The lineup experience is made a little easier with some food carts, some optical illusion tunnels that freak out the stoned kids, and of course the shrieks of terror from within the maze.
Once you're in? Well buckle up. It's about half an hour of feeling really silly for getting so scared of an experience you know in your heart is all a show. But as much as you try to remind yourself that, it's hard to convince yourself to be the first of your group to walk by the little girl rocking back and forth in a tattered wedding dress, or the man with the running chainsaw, or the several fake-but-not zombies on the dilapidated school bus that you need to cross through. Also, you're going to learn a lot about your friends based on who just books it and leaves the rest of you for dead when you're all suddenly being chased by a mob of serial killers. Yep - that happened and no, it wasn't me. At least not the first time.
I don't remember the exact number but there are dozens if not over 100 actors stashed throughout the maze, each wholeheartedly determine to make you pee yourself. And guys? It's so legit. The costumes, make-up, and commitment from every single person working is out of control. And I don't say that lightly. I mean, c'mon, I'd clearly have a hate-on for anything that sucked after making me wait for hours. It really is one of the best nights out you can have during a Nova Scotia fall.
The cost is $14 per person for the maze, $14 per person for the haunted farm house (which we skipped), or $20 for both. Personally, I'd be cautious about bringing kids along because it does get pretty intense. Teenagers are probably in the clear.
You should know that it's not a maze per se. You're actually on a track to make sure you get the full experience and they keep the audience on track. You're in for a solid 30 minutes and it feels even longer...but in a good way. read more