Screams of terror filled the cold air Friday and Saturday night in Mansfield as brave souls over the age of 12 ventured into the haunted walk organized by Le Patro de Fort-Coulonge/Mansfield.
Along the trail through the woods, guests encountered scarecrows, a witch’s lair and a butcher, to name but a few of the 21 stations set up and hosted by over 40 high school and adult volunteers.
Nancy Dufault was one of the volunteers at the scarecrow station. Dufault and some other volunteers set up their own station which had a tent full of pumpkins and strobe lights.
“It’s truly awful to get so much joy out of scaring people,” Dufault said. “We had people that started screaming the minute they started and didn’t stop the entire time.”
As attendees continued down the path through the dark forest, spiderwebs made it difficult to detect the people hiding in costumes. Scary characters would jump out to spook unsuspecting walkers from behind trees and from within barrels placed along the path, inciting screams that echoed through the woods.
Le Patro director Suzie Lavigne said this year’s haunted walk, the second organized by the community group, had a great turnout.
She estimated the attraction got about 220 visitors over the course of Friday and Saturday nights.
On Saturday afternoon, Le Patro put on a less scary daytime version for kids. Lavigne said they had around 400 people attend that event, which was a lot more than last year.
Lavigne said that organizations like Le Patro help to foster community. She hopes to do more events like this in the future, including a winter carnival coming up in February.
“Because we’re a small town,” Lavigne said. “It’s a place where everyone can meet and chat and make new friends.”
