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I went to the DixieMaze Farm haunted attractions this Saturday, conquering a long-held fear, and here’s what it was like.

In an attempt to get into the spooky spirit of October, I decided to try something I’ve been scared of since high school, which is braving the DixieMaze Farms haunted corn maze.

The corn maze has been popular for years, and with it being the final season of the DixieMaze Farm’s fall fest, I figured it was time to face my fears.

The website advised against arriving between 7 and 9 p.m. on Saturdays to avoid longer lines, but my colleague, Jill, and I arrived just after 9:30 p.m. and still had to wait over an hour to get inside.

I recommend maintaining your spot in line as firmly as possible, as teenagers and other rowdy groups of people made several attempts to cut others in line during our hour-long wait. There were several Caddo Parish Deputy Sheriffs around the farm who were able to de-escalate situations.

They are there on Friday and Saturday nights to ensure the safety and security of visitors.

The crowd slowed by 10 p.m. The farm closes to new visitors after 11 p.m.

We bought our tickets in line, but since we didn’t know about the hayride to the haunted attractions, we ended up walking the whole way. I recommend waiting for the transportation because the farm only has a few spread-out lights on the path.

The haunted attraction ticket included both the haunted Trail of Terror and the Field of Screams Haunted Maze, with a single line for both attractions. It was unclear if you could do one without the other, so be sure to ask a worker if you only want to do one. They are very clear that the workers won’t touch you, so don’t touch the actors either, and don’t put your flashlight in their faces. 

The haunted Trail of Terror was far scarier than the corn maze to me, even though I found myself more freaked out by the idea of trying to escape a maze and getting scared at the same time. The trail had multiple horror movie characters, like Art the Clown, Michael Myers, Chucky and more. There was even a really good actor pretending to be a victim, and he was so convincing I had to remind myself it was fake.

I screamed every time a new character popped up and sometimes even when the coast was clear, which Jill didn’t particularly appreciate.

If you enjoy being spooked and having actors invade your personal space, then I highly recommend the trail.

The haunted corn maze was more my speed, and Jill recruited four other people to join our party, so I didn’t get overly scared this time. I was placed in the middle of the pack, using two phones as flashlights.

The actors are more spread out in the corn maze, with less room to follow you. The focus is definitely more about escaping the maze. The actors even help sometimes, with Ryuk from Death Note, the only character I wasn’t scared by, guiding our way out.

Tips for the attractions 

Overall, I’m glad I finally faced my fears, but I am also happy to learn that haunted attractions might not be for me.

If you decide haunted attractions are for you, I definitely recommend going with a bigger group and wearing good walking shoes, as the trail has a few hills and roots you can trip on.

According to the DixieMaze Farm website, Fridays are always less busy than Saturday nights, and Halloween night is always slow. The tickets are $33.11 each for a Fright Nights ticket and the haunted attractions are only available on Fridays and Saturdays. 

The Fright Nights ticket also includes all the other non-haunted activities in the park, including the pumpkin patch, the barn swing, outdoor movies every Friday and more.

Haunting doesn’t start until dark, and even though the farm doesn’t allow visitors to the farm past 11 p.m. and closes at midnight, they don’t close until everyone has been through the haunted attractions.

The farm advises everyone to see if there’s room in the parking lot before parking on the road, as most people follow others and park on the road even when there’s room in the parking lot.