Not Safe…a Trick or Treat you’ll never forget!
By Deborah Desilets
Well it’s Halloween! Time to pump up our inner fantasy— from grim effects to grinning clowns, to whatever turns you on: Halloween is meant to flip your switch! Stores offer costumes from Elvis to Marilyn Monroe, Gloves from Michael Jackson or Princess Dresses from Disney. Or grim folks evoke a death culture in the streets where fashion vogues Hell and Halloween!! Halloween is the invitation to let your inner being speak through! Wearing lace and narrow high heels of the Frankenstein wife or The Nurse who is dressed to kill; yes, everything Halloween is better from the grave. And where is the grave-est fun of all? Out in the country on a haunted hay-ride that will scare the bee-jeezuz out of you!
Located at 5899 Buckward Road, Baker, Florida 32531, Bill Barnhill puts on a good grim show—and offers all sorts of daytime and nighttime family fun and entertainment. Near Crestview, Gum Creek Entertainment Presents “Hallows Hill” has seven years now, providing Halloween family fun. “Well, here at the Baker Corn Maze we offer many amazing delights – both daytime and night time for kids and kids of all ages. The entertainment during the day includes Hayrides; a 7-Acre Baker Corn Maze that salutes the farmers in Okaloosa County being in the shape of a Harvest Wagon; there is a Kiddie Peddle Cars racetrack, a “Petting Zoo” with farm animals and a Kiddies Train that rides the bumpy farm roads. At nighttime there is the Flashlight Corn Maze, Hallows Hill Haunted Hayride and the Nightmare on the Old Spanish Trail, which is a 1500’ foot trail that commemorates many battles where bloodshed stained the land and actual Zombies roamed the Hills and Haunts of the woods.” This year Gum Creek Production has very good concessionaires providing “Dang Good Food”. Expect to find Johnnie’s Homemade Ice-cream serving Southern Delights from boiled peanuts and sandwiches to sundaes; Funnel Cakes by a local couple, and Hot Pop Corn at HJ and JC Collectables. During the days The Pickin’ Porch will showcase acoustic old-timey country Music. Just expect to find all sorts of delights and treats for your family’s fun and entertainment.
Halloween is a tradition of tricks or treats and The Hallows Hill Halloween offerings are full of both. Added to this for edutainment you can’t get more authentic—remembered on these haunts are the oldest roads in the country and the longest trail of Zombies in the US of A. For old you can’t get any older roads than those that co-mingle with the winding trail at Baker. This trial courses over the original Old Spanish Trail (OST), once marked with red, yellow and white markers from Florida to California. The OST was the first transcontinental roadway (unpaved of course) and rutted out by horses’ hoofs and dates from the early 1500’s in the late 1800’s. Here stagecoaches ran, battles were fought, lives were lost, and many a tear was shed as conquistadors, settlers and Indians fought for their lives travelling the Old Spanish Trail.
The Old Spanish Trail went from St. Augustine to Baker, and from Baker to Pensacola, winding across Mississippi to Texas where a branch went down into Mexico and another went up to San Diego. Battles begun, battles lost and lives carried out as screams pierced the blackest night sky and screeches lasted long into the night.
In the Hallows Hill Haunted Hayride you may find a grim reaper with a Pitch Fork chanting quietly “Time, Time, Time is on my side… Yes, it is”! And find a whole field ablaze with Zombies!!
In the Ticket Booth General Store, you will find Uncle Bill Products. It’s a special treat that ya’ll have to come see! You see, all Uncle Bill’s Products contain “Zombie Juice” made from a secret recipe handed down to the family by his Great-Great-Grandfather, James Monroe Barnhill, after he got it from the Apalachi Indians in Tallahassee. It’s “A 100% Zombie Anecdote” that will save your life when you’ve been bit by a Zombie.” Now if you want more details ya’ll call Bill at 850.803.2367 or go to www.GumCreekEntertainment.com. Hope to see ya in the Maze!