A teenage employee died in an accident at the Incredible Corn Maze in Idaho on Oct. 10. The 18 year old was dressed as a zombie and was run over by a bus of customers with paintball guns. According to International Business Times, the corn maze customers paid to shoot zombie employees with paintball guns on the “Zombie Slayer Bus Ride.” As Jeremy T. McSpadden Jr. ran toward the bus to scare the paintballers, he tripped. Reportedly it was the uneven ground that tripped him. It was the uneven terrain that caused the bus to rock and shake so no one immediately noticed the bus had run over McSpadden. “Many of the patrons believed it was just part of the ride,” the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “It was not until the bus had traveled away from the victim’s location and the role players began to reset for the next bus to come along that anyone realized something was wrong. Sgt. Crawford Ward told the Associated Press, “This looks like it was just a horrific confluence of events.”The attraction’s staff said in a statement all events were canceled for the rest of the weekend. However, some Facebook users in the Idaho community criticized the management for not making a statement to address the tragedy.In a similar tragedy, a hayride loaded with passengers in Maine rolled down a hill and crashed into a tree killing one teen and injuring 20.The crash “threw everyone off the trailer and into each other and into trees,” said Sgt. Joel Davis of the state fire marshals office. He said the SUV pulling the wagon experienced mechanical problems that prevented it from stopping. Several workers assisted the injured riders — including some performing CPR — and likely helped prevent the accident from being even worse, Davis said.The events in Idaho and Maine have caused concern over safety for those attending other haunted activities around the countryThe Polynesian Cultural Center had a yearly Haunted Lagoon, but it will not be happening this year. Students and Laie community members said they have fond and safe memories of the event. “I have been to the Haunted Lagoon and it got my heart pumping being in the dark, especially when the girl sitting next to me got pulled out of the boat kicking and screaming,” said community member Nicole Randall. She said, the girl was perfectly okay other than being scared, and “I never felt like I was in any real harm.”Chloe Dean, a junior in psychology from California, said the Haunted Lagoon was safe, just as Randall said, but pointed out “people are jumping in out at you and sometimes they might get too close.” However, Dean said she enjoyed the Haunted Lagoon and believes the Zombie Hayride on the North Shore “is super safe.”
Writer: Jessica Tautfest ~ Multimedia Journalist
