Fear Itself

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Behind The Scenes At Oakes Farm's Trail Of Doom

It’s kind of an odd thing, when you think about it. Every year millions of Americans visit haunted attractions, houses, flea markets, forests and cornfields decorated with obviously fake cobwebs, blood, bats and skeletons, looking to be frightened by people in cheap rubber masks who jump out from behind corners and all but yell “Boo!”

There’s something primal in us that likes to be frightened, to have the thrill of anxiety and an adrenaline rush, all the while knowing nothing bad will actually happen to us. Adrenaline junkies and drama queens aside, Halloween is the only time of year most people indulge in this type of activity and the holiday is growing more popular each year, with more and more money spent on costumes, decorations and attractions. Located in Corryton, about a half-hour drive from Knoxville, the Oakes Farm Trail of Doom is probably the most-visited haunted attraction in the region.

Now in its eighth year, the Trail is carved out of a cornfield sitting atop a hill that overlooks a corn maze more than three times its size, where it was originally located.

“It was just too much,” says Oakes Farm manager David Black from inside the barn that serves as the ticket booth, concession stand and headquarters of the attractions. “People would get lost and circle around, and the actors would end up scaring the same people two or three times, so we decided to make a separate, more manageable maze. We were able to add a lot more boo holes, too.”

The cornfield covers a little more than three acres, with about a quarter of a mile of trail within. In addition to the usual suspects (Leatherface, Michael Myers, Jason) who jump out to frighten visitors, small wooden buildings are scattered throughout the trail, each containing spooky set pieces, some designed by Black and some acquired from the annual National Haunted Attraction trade show, this year held in Las Vegas. Bearing such names as the Corndeminium, Claustraphobia, Buried Alive and the Vortex, the props are impressively creepy and effective, but as everyone knows, the real stars of a haunted attraction are the actors.

John Purkey has worked at the Trail for all eight years of its existence, and this year will portray Michael Myers. Purkey is tall with a solid build, and his stealthily silent appearance while wearing the Myers mask will incite a small girl in the very first group waiting to walk through the Trail two Thursdays before Halloween to begin crying and scream out, “Mommy I don’t want to go, I don’t want to go!”

“The longer you stay in character, the scarier you are,” says Purkey, as the farm’s jet-black cat scurries behind him. “But sometime it’s hard to stay in character. Men will make you laugh when they get scared. With girls you kinda expect it.”

Black and Purkey amusedly recount the number of girls who have actually lost bladder control, but a first happened recently when a guy apparently wet himself.

“This guy was bragging how he made six girls lose bladder control, but the same night two girls made a guy lose control,” recounts Purkey. “That’s hard to do, you can’t beat that.”

One of these girls is Kim Caldwell, a “stay at home mom” who makes the trek from Maryville every night to play the “screaming, disappearing girl.” In the back of the barn, an hour before showtime, Black leans over Caldwell and sprays paint onto her face with an airbrush, making railroad track marks using a chain connected to a hole punch, which will later be used at the Trail’s entrance to punch tickets. It’s a quietly endearing moment, a reminder of the childlike improvisation and imagination that can make Halloween as much fun for adults as it is for children.

Alan Barnard, who has worked at the Trail the past three years, takes me on a tour of the trail while there’s still light out, about an hour before the actors take their places and groups are allowed entry. “It’s actually quiet and peaceful here in the day,” he says, and it is rather beautiful atop the hill as the sun begins to set, surrounded on all sides by mountains in the distance. The next thing he says is, “You can see here where the corn’s been trampled from people trying to get away,” pointing out the path that has been widened a good two or three feet in either direction, dead corn stalks lying on the ground.