Sunday, Nov. 01, 2009

Hayride revs up thrills

When I opened the e-mail about an Oct. 29 hayride at Hobcaw Barony's Discovery Center that is tied to Halloween, at first it seemed like just another public service announcement that ought to find its way into the newspaper.

After all, experiencing a jaunt along one of the 100 or so miles of dirt roads that leads to Bellefield Plantation's stables while darkness falls at 6 tonight certainly would a chilling way to get an early jump on Saturday's spooky holiday.

Especially since on arrival at the plantation stables, historian Lee Brockington will weave stories about the hag, hant and plat-eye.

All those tales had their origins in the superstitions of West Africans who once toiled the rice fields that were such a part of the rice empire of the 18^th century.

After touring some of the graveyards at Brookgreen Gardens during on of its Silent Cities tours earlier this year, I learned about some of those superstitions - and the etiquette involved in appeasing the spirits that supposedly lurk there. While on that tour, I wondered what it would have been like if conducted during the dark of night.

Then my mind took a nostalgic turn to all the fun my wife, Barbara, and I had preparing for the annual spook fest when our sons Beau and Charles were youngsters.

As a result of some of our ghoulish scenarios, other parents hauled kids into our neighborhood by the carload to see just what those wacky Baitys would come up with next.

When Beau was a teen working part-time job at an automobile paint business next to a beauty college, he discovered a treasure trove of goodies in the garbage bin that both firms shared.

When he opened the cover to dump some trash, there lay about a dozen mannequin heads on which budding hairdressers had practiced their craft. He rescued from imminent burial in the county landfill and brought them home, figuring they'd be useful come Halloween.

They were, especially when placed strategically along our walk where dim lighting made them as though like the madman in the Texas chainsaw massacre film had been set loose on a mission of mayhem.

Believe it or not, kids in the early 1980s, who were into horror flicks, loved walking past then to collect treats at our door. And our boys, like every Halloween, preferred to stay home rather than comb the neighborhood for goodies, so they could watch the reaction to the display, and dole out candy to peers who braved the 25 feet of walkway to get them.

Some of the simpler scenes we concocted, however, had more impact - like Barbara mimicking Thing from the old "Addams Family" TV show, by placing her hand in a box with a hinged lid while hiding behind a black drape in our foyer.

When kids obeyed a sign beside the box that instructed them to knock on the lid to get a treat, the top would open and her hand, sporting black nails on a hand colored with white shoe polish, would emerge holding a treat.

The trick was effective - and fun for kids and adults.

On another Halloween, we collaborated with a neighbor who lived across the street. By rigging pulleys strung with heavy nylon fishing line from one location to another, we made a ghost fashioned from old sheer curtains float eerily across the roadway - while neighbor Sherri Sakakini sat on her porch, played eerie music and made cackling noises while dressed as a ghoulish witch.

That one was such a success that the next year, Barbara reprised the ghost idea. That time we rigged a pulley and fishing line that would make the ghost rise from a pile of fallen leaves under the oak beside the walk and jiggle in midair while Barbara emitted a ghoulish cackle through a walkie-talkie stashed beside the walk.

As a result of that trick we almost acquired an addition of four children to our family. They were the progeny of a woman who'd brought them to collect treats, only to fall prey to the trick we had created.

While the ghost jiggled in midair and a spine-chilling laugh broke the silence, she yelped that the ghost was real, bolted down the walk and headed down the street - leaving her children behind. I caught the woman a block away and assured her it was only an old sheer curtain.

It took all some powerful persuasion to lure her back to our house to see that a length of clear fishing line, virtually invisible in the darkness, was what made the ghost fly - and to collect her kids.

But demand for our annual spoofs ceased to draw an audience when news accounts that real ghouls had begun lacing treats with drugs, hiding razor blades in apples and other such dangerous stuff hit the headlines.

The fun of Halloween became scary when medical establishments began offering to X-ray Halloween treats to determine if they were safe.

So a ride on a dark dirt road guided by Hobcaw personnel with a tale guaranteed to chill the spine sounds like a great event for individuals and families to me.

An adult must accompany children who are younger than 14 (hopefully an adult who won't bolt when the tales become spooky and leave the kids in the lurch).

The hayride will be from 6-7 p.m. Cost is $15 per adult and $5 per child. Reserve your space by calling 546-4623 .