The imagination of a Seneca High School senior’s mind comes alive for the sixth year in a row as his Tabernacle backyard is transformed into a “Trail of Terror.”
For the past six years, the Harris family has been decorating their backyard with various scary Halloween decorations to give the neighborhood kids a frightful night out in the pines.
Admission into the “Trail of Terror” is a nonperishable item of food, which is then donated to the Tabernacle United Methodist Church’s food pantry. Last year, mom Louise, who is also a second-grade teacher in Tabernacle, said they were able to feed 34 families from their donations.
Seneca High School Senior Luke said the trail starts around 6:30 p.m. and ends around 8 p.m. and occurs on the following days in October: 17-18, 20-21, 25, 27-29 at 60 Red Oak Drive. Everything they have on display is transferred to their front yard for Halloween night.
“Before it was short and we kept finding new areas and we thought about it after going through other walkthroughs and watching videos on YouTube, and getting ideas through that,” Luke said.
While the Harris’s trail is scary, Luke and Louise said they welcome groups of younger kids who do not want to be scared. Louise said they can contact her on her Facebook page to set up a time to walk through without the scares.
For those who dare, Luke said he has a shed portion of his walk for anyone brave enough to enter, where he and his friends will provide the scares and “raise people’s heartbeats.”
He also stressed no one walking in the trail will be touched by the actors (his friends) and glowing wristbands will be given out to anyone who does not wish to be scared by an actor.
In the nearly 40 people that showed up each night last year, Luke said his favorite part in the entire trail is his tunnel and shed portions.
“I like the more enclosed areas because it’s a smaller space and you can scare people more like that,” he said.
As their haunted walk grows each year, the Harris family said they try to get more people in a group to walk through, but they don’t want to pile it on too heavily, as those in the back of the lines won’t always see the jump scares.
If you happen to make it through the Trail of Terror, the family said they hand out candy to many of the children as a “prize” for reaching the end.
“Not that many kids are trick-or-treating in this area, so this is the biggest thing happening in the area and it gives people something free to do,” Louise said.
With the walk’s sixth year being Luke’s final year at Seneca, he said he hopes to get his younger sister involved in the activity so it can continue for years to come.
“She can do it now and has had all of her friends do it, so they can be the next generation to set up everything with my dad and do the scares,” Luke said.
With opening night quickly approaching — Oct. 17 — the family hopes that people will have a scary good time and that they will be able to donate bags of food to the local pantry.
“It’s good clean fun,” Luke said.
