The brittle corn crackled all around. I shuddered as I imagined a spooky figure emerging from the faded stalks. Had I stepped by mistake into the haunted version of the 8-acre After Dark Corn Maze at Chatfield Farms? After several minutes of tiptoeing across hard-packed dirt with my “free glow-stick” held defensively in my hand, I realized that this indeed was the correct maze. Suddenly, another realization dawned upon my newly calm mind, sending it once more into turmoil. I was lost.

After nearly an hour of meandering about the maze, which was cut into the shape of a barn, my friends and I had smashed into countless dead-end “doorways” and plodded innumerable circles around “window frames.”   The failed attempt at following the map served as a reminder as to why I only attend one corn maze per fall season. The entire process proves trying and unfulfilling until the final moment of truth when you step from the confines of corn and into the chill October blackness.

Not even my friends latching to my arms, dragging me over rutted dirt, singing lines of songs from The Wizard of Oz could relieve the stress arising from a loss of control. Yet, this is exactly the concept of a corn maze.  My friends and I were dumped inside a field of corn to stroll casually about paths leading to nowhere. We had no idea where we were and thus, no plan of how to emerge victorious from the maze. For some, this idea of a corn maze is thrilling but for me, it’s pointless.

Give me instead, the terrifyingly haunted corn maze from which the whirr of a chainsaw followed by screams and the pounding of feet emanated. In this maze, there is purpose. If I wish to survive the evil creatures lurking within the tall shadows, I must escape the maze as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, Chatfield’s Dead Zone Haunted Attraction cost $27 instead of the $12 required for student admission to the Corn Maze itself.

Despite this disappointment, the money spent on a Friday night corn maze was not wasted. It was a monetary investment in an experience with great friends. However, the Chatfield Farms After Dark Corn Maze was only that, an unlighted, not unusual corn maze. It proved neither extraordinarily difficult nor abnormally easy. As for me, I’ve had my corn maze fix of the year, topped off with a trip to the snack stand and some pretty amazing toffee.