Alright, alright. I can see you rolling your eyes from here. This warm and fuzzy stuff is not what you’re here for. You want to know about the scares. Well there’s certainly no short supply of chainsaws if that’s what you want to know! Gas shortage be damned, those suckers are juiced and hot. And you never know when the next creep or maniac is gonna come. The place is crawling with them. They come from the corn… they come from the corn!

The Trail of Doom is all new this year. It’s still out at Oakes Farm, but in a new location, separate from their family friendly corn maze. They’ve moved it up on top of a hill, which is cool because you arrive at the farm to buy your tickets and stuff, come out of the back end of the barn and up above you there’s this elevated scene of mayhem in the dark distance. Colored lights, the sounds of screams and, yep, chainsaws buzzing through the valley. The new trail location is right up against some woods, which you continue to get closer and closer to as you work your way through.

Unintentional maybe, but that adds a nice little ominous feel. Maybe as a combination of the woods blocking one side and the cycle of the moon that night but the sucker was dark! The corn was also much taller this year (compared to last year’s hell drought summer). The women working the entrance timed the groups well so just walking through the dark, silent trail at night is creepy as heck to anyone that came of age during the Children of the Corn years, and it’s big enough that they can space out the scares some to allow the tension to build and still pack the place with plenty of killers and monsters.

I can’t swear to it but it seemed longer to me this year too. I clocked it at somewhere in the 35-40 minute range. Some of our favorite features from last year return (best vortex tunnel around), plus they’ve made upgrades to both the haunt and the entire farm itself for an even better experience this time around.

Dave Black, the haunt master of the Trail of Doom has been doing some off-season shopping for you. They’ve added new props, a second claustrophobia section, and some really great sound effects. Talking to him afterwards we learned he has plans for even more new bits to be added throughout this season as well. Let’s hope he’s able to get them all done, as some sounded really great. Another really nifty feature is the spooky imagery projected onto the side of a box truck giving you something to stare at and help the time go faster while you wait in line.

Outside of the haunt itself, they’ve added two shiny new public bathrooms (so no more “port-o-potties”), and they’ve really expanded the selection in their gift shop with Halloween treats and a huge variety of Trail of Doom T-Shirts. The little snack bar returns, try some ORANGE hot chocolate while you’re there.

The Trail of Doom is one of east Tennessee’s best haunts going right now. We would definitely recommend it to anyone in the area looking for a good spooky time. Fun like this is what October is all about!

- SHRUB

For more details visit the Trail of Doom Website