Hayride turns dangerous at Village of Terror
Save Email Print
Bookmark and Share
Updated: 2:27 PM Oct 16, 2010
Hayride turns dangerous at Village of Terror
What started as a fun day at the Village of Terror turned into a frightening evening for people on a hayride that went hay-wire, rolling backwards down a hill and crashing into a carnival ride.
Posted: 4:43 PM Oct 15, 2010
Reporter: Kelly Schlicht
Email Address: kelly.schlicht@weau.com
width:200 and height: 133 and picwidth: 200 and pciheight: 133
Font Size:

Correction:

The Village of Terror originally told WEAU 13 News the hayride crashed into the TIlt O Whirl ride. It actually crashed into a different ride next to it, a ferris-wheel-type ride with cages for people to sit in. The Village of Terror orgainzers apologize for the misinformation.

Original story:

What started as a fun day at the Village of Terror in Chippewa Falls turned into a frightening evening for people on a hayride that went hay-wire, rolling backwards down a hill and crashing into a carnival ride.

“I had my eyes shut the whole time because I thought I don’t want to see myself die, because I thought that we were going to,” says Amanda Weaver. “We were going so fast it was crazy.”

13 –year-old Weaver and her sister Mary say they've never been so scared as they were yesterday, when a hayride wagon at the Village of Terror came unhitched and went backwards down this hill, and into this ride.

“I had my eyes open the whole time and I thought the big ride was going to crash down on top of all of us,” says Mary Weaver.

“I got smashed like this in between (some poles) and that’s how my rib got bruised,” says Amanda.

Amanda went to the hospital, but says she's doing better. The Village of Terror organizers say they're not going to have hayrides anymore because of the terrain on the festival grounds.

“The hayride won’t be happening unless we can make sure it's 150 percent safe,” says spokesperson Julie Pangallo. “It's probably better left to apple orchards where they have flat fields.”

The staff say they apologize to anyone who got hurt, and they're working to make the festival safer.

“We’re very sorry for the scare. We're obviously here to scare people, but not like that,” says Pangallo.

The Weavers say there's no hard feelings and they'd like to return to the Village of Terror to see the rest of the show.

The Village of Terror says it tested the tractor and wagon for the hayrides, but never tried it with a full load before yesterday.

The Village of Terror staff also wants people to make sure they're respectful of the performers. Pangallo says yesterday some of the zombie characters were hit and had rocks thrown at them by kids and teens.


WEAU 13 News poll
Do you talk about your political views online?

Yes
No