Once you stop ringing doorbells on Oct. 31, there’s not much to celebrate about Halloween. Fortunately, Halloween has become a seasonal holiday. Every year from late September to November 1st, Olney Boys and Girls Club (OBGC) Community Park hosts a haunted attraction called the “Field of Screams” drawing in crowds of both teenagers and adults alike.

The event gives the impression of a real life scary movie, as groups enter a collection of thriller amusements. I got the chance to experience being in one of those groups.

On Friday, I went to the “Field of Screams” with my soccer teammates as a team bonding venture. We all bought tickets to the Trail of Terror, a 30 minute walk through the woods and the most popular individual attraction of the event.

It might have been because of the rain that night, but we were lucky enough not to encounter any long lines and we bought our tickets on the spot. Every customer must sign a waiver agreeing that they will not touch the actors and that OBGC is not responsible for any injuries, basically gambling away their life.

The girl who punched our tickets was dressed as a soldier with fake blood painted on her face. She attempted to scare us by staring at each of us and growling, but my teammates broke her character and she had to restrain from laughing. Most of the employees are teenagers with an interest in acting. They receive payment in money or Student Service Learning (SSL) hours (just for frightening people). The actress also shared a “selfie” with a few of my teammates before we started.

Clinging to each other, we entered through a fence following a dirt trail. At the roar of the first actor, we all screamed. Another actor suddenly popped out from behind a tree and sent us jumping into a thorn bush and we quickly learned that we would have to walk in twos.

The first structure in the path was a house with a porch. The door was opened revealing a man sitting in a chair, dirt and blood covering his face. With hesitation, my two teammates leading the group took one step up the porch and then turned around. We all shouted urging them to go inside. We filed in linking arms and hiding our faces to avoid looking any of the actors in the eye.

The actors will whisper in your ear, bang on walls, and do anything to scare you. Between shacks, actors wait behind trees to scare groups, just when they think they’re safe. It became apparent that the actors targeted my coaches, my brave teammates leading the group, and anyone that provoked them.

Most of the wooden buildings were themed to people’s worst fears including an asylum, a butchery, and a fun house filled with clowns. They also had a long,half-pipe slide where an actor practically ran my teammate down the slide.

The most stressful of the structures was a pitch black, downhill hallway with white flashing lights and a loud mist machine. We had no sense of direction as the halls changed width and my teammates held hands trying to find our way out. It was so dark that one of my friends, Crystal, walked straight into a wall and hit her head.

Besides the frightening part of the experience, the “Field of Screams” is scattered with cozy bonfires and straw hay seating. They also sell s’mores, hot chocolate, funnel cakes and other food to comfort anxious customers.

This event has created a market for a population of people testing their courage, craving adrenaline, and all of their friends. The fear and the excitement of this attraction promises memories and screams. Sharing this with my team, brought us all closer together (literally). I felt like we had all survived a near-death experience.

The “Field of Scream” has three other attractions: Lusion Manor, Haunted Hayride, and Paintball Apocalypse. The price for the Trail of Terror increases from $20 to $25 after Oct. 16. The cost of the other attractions will also increase, but they do not exceed $15-$18. You can buy a package of all the attractions for $65 dollars. For more information visit: http://www.screams.org/