The Haunted Hayride

In case you haven't figured it out, we are fall and Halloween junkies who partake in every local and non-local fall event in the state of South Carolina. Well, here we are again on a Sunday afternoon and of course, no fall season is complete without a ten-minute drive over to Harmon's. Harmon's is actually a big Christmas tree farm but they are open all year long and have added seasonal activities to keep families visiting.





The fall is the best time to go though because they have all of their pumpkins on display, they offer the "haunted" hayride which keeps us coming back year after year, and they have plenty of side activities to kill a few hours: a huge playground, farm animals, antique farm equipment and cars, a grits mill, and homemade ice cream.

So our drill is to take pictures around all of their lovely fall foliage and then hemorrhage out a large portion of our income to ride the "haunted" hayride. Did I mention that it is "haunted"?

The hayride takes you around all of the farm animals: goats, rabbits, ducks, geese, and some I don't even think I can identify properly. They have several big ponds and in one they have constructed a Loch Ness Monster swimming in the middle. Now, that is one I can identify because everyone knows what the Loch Ness Monster looks like, right? No, not him - that's Ryan!

You keep traveling through the Christmas trees growing densely across the land and then the black plastic whipping in the wind appears and you know...you have reached the haunted woods.

Now this is no ordinary grave yard or haunted house, it is a junk collector's paradise. They have something for everyone here. As you can see in the photo below, there are various "scenes" staged to frighten. This particular one helps scare those inclined from drinking and driving.

A child is bound to see every major movie superhero and villain (yes, this is part of the reason Ryan wants to go every year) along the way: Batman, Spiderman, Darth Vader, and on and on. Sometimes the characters are even mixed up in scenes together. Spiderman may be hanging from a tree while the Jolly Green Giant peers down at him. O.K. the Jolly Green Giant isn't out there but pretty much everyone else.

There is one particular scene that reminds me of M. Night Shyamalan's The Village. Take a look at the photo below. There is just something a little creepy about it. I call it "The Attack of the Villagers."

At the end of the hayride, these great wooden rocking chairs are waiting for you (hayrides are a lot of work!) The kids hung out for a few minutes before we took off for the playground. I know what you are thinking looking at the photo below...and no, Avery did not have an accident! Although she does kind of have a guilty look on her face...