Annual Haunted Hayride thrills, scares all ages

By Tom Holmes
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

Each Halloween season Norwich University hosts the Haunted Hayride for one week to scare the wits out of area residents.

According to the people who are responsible for producing the scary attraction, this year the ride received a technological upgrade and along with it, more fun.

The people of Northfield enjoy the event.

"It gets better every year," said Ed Brown, owner of Ed Brown's Auto-Repair in Northfield, who sponsors the ride. "More people get involved. It's a community project."

The project exists because of donations and funding from the residents of the community. But this year, people aren't just donating money.

NU alumni Richard Blanca, Class of 1978, and Michael Rizzuto, Class of 1997, both of whom work at Sony Pictures Studios in California, have been able to donate an entire soundtrack to go along with the ride.

"That's a major difference this year," said Heidi Passalacqua, the chairman of the Haunted Hayride committee. "We are producing it sort of as a play."

Having the new soundtrack meant that the committee, which is made up of Northfield residents, had to start physically preparing for the ride back in June. They had to know where they would position certain scenes and scary haunted sets early, so they could send what was needed for Sony to create a soundtrack that fits the actual ride.

Passalacqua, who started the Haunted Hayride at Norwich in 1998, replacing several haunted houses in the area, said that, "we're hoping this will be the scariest year yet because of all the new things that we have."

"We've gotten a little smarter about where we're putting things," Passalaqcua said. "It offers something new every year."

This Halloween, the new haunted stations included "Scarassic Park," where dinosaurs lurked in the woods and jumped out at passengers, "No-Town Ghost-Town," "The Chamber of Horrors," and the town of "Sleepy Hollow," featuring the Headless Horseman.

The new soundtrack included sound effects to go with the wagon carrying the riders to enhance the effect of each scare.

The ride, which may be most popular with younger crowds, is still enjoyable for people of all ages. "Members of our committee are in their fifties," Passalacqua said, "and they enjoy it a lot."

Passalacqua brought the idea of the hayride over from the mid-west, where it has been traditional for some time. She brought it up as an idea for fund raising to the Northfield Youth Center Board when she joined it several years ago.

"No one on the Northfield Youth Center Board had ever heard of anything like this," said John Frickie, a self-employed financial advisor in Northfield and sponsor of the hayride. "Heidi has taken a mid-western tradition and made it a happening in central Vermont.

"She continues to make it bigger and better each year," Fricke said.

The task of producing the hayride is very time consuming, taking up to a year of planning.

"We meet a week after the hayride is over and say what went well and what didn't go well," Passalacqua said.

During the course of the next year, the Haunted Hayride committee prepares by creating and ordering new Haunted Hayride t-shirts, ordering things like candles for the coming Halloween, making phone calls, and sending out letters to ask for sponsorship.

"We probably put more into it than we make," said Passalacqua, "The funds benefit the Norwich University Community Service Scholarship and the Northfield Youth Center. After our expenses, we give them roughly one-third of the take."

Not only does the community benefit from the attraction financially, but also it brings the cadets and students in contact with the people of Northfield.

"It fosters positive relationships," Passalacqua said. "I had a mother come up to me the first year and tell me that she was in awe of the fact that Norwich students were involved with the hayride."

"It's a great community event," said William Estill, professor of communications at Norwich. "It's a chance for students to interact with the community."

The cadets often are involved not only in helping to prepare for the ride but in scaring the riders, as well.

"Many of our students who like theatre really get into the make-up," said Estill.

"It's just a fun time," said Joshua Turman, 21, a communications major and former hayride "ghoul" from Tyler, Texas. "It's something scary and exciting for the whole family to do in a safe atmosphere."

The Haunted Hayride ran this year from October 25-31. It only cost five dollars per person, which went right back to the community at the end of the week.

"A lot of time goes into it," Passalacqua said. "A lot of thanks should go out to the students that participate that take time away from classes as well as the community members that are involved."

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