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By Ayanna Eckblad

Each year at Northwood-Kensett High School, parents of 11th-grade students raise money throughout the year for students to have a fun post-prom event. This year, the N-K post-prom committee is bringing an old favorite back to the area — a haunted hike.

The N-K post-prom haunted hike will be from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday at 97 Fifth Ave. N. in Northwood. Tickets are $10 with proceeds going to post-prom activities for Northwood-Kensett students.

Last year, Jennie and Bradley Christianson’s daughter was a junior at Northwood-Kensett High School. The Christiansons have an annual tradition of going to different haunted hikes in the area with a group of friends during the Halloween season. They came up with the idea to host a haunted hike of their own, using the woods behind their house as the backdrop.

“We didn’t know what it would bring,” Bradley said.

With the help of fellow post-prom committee members, students and other community volunteers, the event was a big success, raising about $4,000. It is estimated that around 400 people attended the haunted hike, and some people went through multiple times.

Now, the Christiansons have a son who is a junior in high school, making them post-prom committee members once again. Because of its initial success, they decided to throw the haunted hike again.

Bradley said he hopes there are the same amount of people or more that attend this year.

The Christiansons expanded the layout of the haunted hike this year, and there will also be more volunteers participating.

“It doesn’t cost us much to run it,” Jennie said. All of the supplies the Christiansons used for last year’s haunted hike are in storage, ready to be brought out again.

Another factor that kept costs down was that people made a lot of their own decorations and costumes. For example, Jennie made a scary doll figure using a tomato cage, an empty milk jug and an old flower girl dress. Other homemade decorations include spiderwebs, tombstones and scary people made from sticks.

Many of the people from last year’s haunted hike will be participating in this year’s event.

The hike will have about nine different stations with each station having a different theme. Last year, Jennie said, there was a zombie station and a Freddie Kreuger station.

“A lot of people come up with their own scary stations,” Jennie said.

Many of the stations will be manned by someone waiting to scare anyone who walks by.

Some of the volunteers are students getting credit for National Honor Society, or simply because they want to have fun and scare people.

The Christiansons said they enjoy being scared, and they enjoy scaring other people. Jennie said she guesses the reason these events are so fun is because people enjoy the adrenaline rush, and it’s something fun to do with friends and family.

The haunted hike is designed to appeal to children around 8 years old and over with things that will scare teenagers and adults as well.

On a scale of one to 10 with 10 being the scariest, Bradley said he hopes the haunted hike is a 10.

“I went through it our daughter’s year, and I knew where everything was, and I still got scared,” Jennie said. On the evenings of the event, there will be attendants helping people park their cars. Guests will then go to the Christianson’s designated building to purchase tickets and get instructions. They will then be sent into the woods to have a scary good time.

The hike is around a half mile long. This year, guests will finish off the hike by finding their way through a dark maze before arriving back at their cars.

There will be no public restrooms available at the event.

The Christiansons said some of the steps they are taking this year to ensure the haunted hike is a safe environment for both guests and scarers is to have a well-lit trail with a path that is free from debris and other things people could trip over.

Additionally, there will be volunteers walking through the trail during the event, “Making sure people don’t get off track, or are down on their hands and knees in the fetal position, crying or something like that,” Bradley joked.

Every scarer will have a designated spot they will stay in during the hike. There will also be a no touching policy between both guests and scarers.