Factoid:For more information on the Hurricane Creek Haunted Hayride, contact Marcy Carrier at 985-3000. For more information on the 21st Annual Carterville Lion’s Club Haunted Hayride, contact Randy Withers at 988-9988.

Summer Williams, 9, and Samantha Brady, 8, sat across from Cody Bernadoni and Kayman Farlon Friday anxiously waiting for the ride to begin.

“I’m not scared,” Bernadoni, 9, announced as he squeamishly sat on a bale of hay.

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“I’m not going to get scared either,” Farlon, 7, declared as the two boys began to discuss what they believed was to come.

“Do you think they’ll [monsters] get on the ride?” Brady asked her grandfather.

The moment they heard the magic word “yes,” the girls quickly moved to the edge of the ride, hoping to get a close look once the trailer began to move.

Horrific ghosts? Ghoulish monsters? Night of the living dead? Whatever it was, they were ready to take it on.

But little did they know what awaited as they took off on the Hurricane Creek Haunted Hayride.

The Hurricane Creek Haunted Hayride, which runs every weekend in October from 7 to 11 p.m., is in its second year, but has already made a name throughout the Carterville area.

Located two miles outside of downtown Carterville, owner and creator Pete Homoya and sons Tim and David, all of Carterville, use Hurricane Creek’s natural landscape to enhance the hayride experience.

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“The natural surroundings are scary without the props,” Tim said. “The environment is one of the things that make this hayride a good one.”

Surrounded by woods, Hurricane Creek provides ample opportunities to spook and bewilder the average onlooker with nothing more than what nature created.

But about 15 scenes add to the hayride’s scare factor.

“We get to scare the heck out of people,” said Dylan Homoya, 10. “I like to see people scream and throw hay.”

Dylan has worked with the haunted hayride both years of its existence, and looks forward to improving his character in the years to come. He jumps on the wagon and distracts onlookers from an upcoming scare.

“It’s not really hard to scare some people,” he said.

Dylan works with about 20 actors every weekend. Each person has a different character and scene to work, but with the same motive in mind – to terrify the timid, horrify the wicked and make everyone else scream.

But they are not the only hayride in town.

The 21st Annual Lions’ Club Haunted Hayride begins Oct. 24 at 6:30 p.m. in James Street Park in Carterville.

The hayride, which features more than 40 actors working 20 scenes, has a well-established name throughout the Southern Illinois region.

Lions’ Club president Randy Withers said the ride annually attracts visitors from as far as Pinckneyville during its three-day “screamtastic” event.

He said this year, the group is looking into organizing a simple maze, and even has the extra straw to do so, but the final decision has not yet been made. And the organization is offering free kid’s games with candy prizes.

“We do this for the community,” he said. “So they can enjoy a haunted experience.”

Withers said this also leads to the large price variance between the two hayrides. Hurricane Creek charges $8 per person and $3 for a walk-through maze. The Lion’s Club only charges $3.

But Marcy Carrier, who works for the Hurricane Creek Haunted Hayride, said price is a reflection of product. She said the ride lasts between 35 and 40 minutes and the family has spent thousands of dollars and more than four months planning for the month-long event.

Tim Homoya said he thinks the hayride is well worth its price.

“Once someone comes through and sees everything, they’ll know why the price is what it is,” he said.

In the meantime, Hurricane Creek has the only hayride currently open. In fact, the group intends to donate $1 from the purchase of every ticket sold today to St. Jude’s Hospital, and that’s just for getting the crap scared out of you.

Ashleigh Foster of Marion said she believes people are attracted to haunted hayrides and haunted houses simply because they provide the opportunity to be terrified.

“People jump out at you. I mean, you’re scared to death and that’s what’s so fun about it,” she said.

However, this was before Foster got on the hayride at Hurricane Creek. She was oblivious to the fact that a green monster would stalk her, just as the four little heroes did not realize how truly terrified they would become.

She let out a high-pitched scream each time the hideous beast came near her and he persisted until he was satisfied.

But she wasn’t the only one screaming. By the end, Williams and Brady were clinching onto Brady’s grandfather, and the two boys sunk to the floor screaming in terror each time a monster pushed its way onto the trailer.

“I didn’t think it was going to be this scary,” Bernadoni said.

Reporter Katie A. Davis can be reached at [email protected]