There wasn't anything particularly scary about a cornfield until the 1984 Stephen King—inspired movie Children of the Corn. Then began our nightmares of demon-possessed kids hiding in cornrows.
Twenty-five years later, the children are still screaming bloody murder, and the cornfield is still scary, thanks to the annual Great Godfrey Corn Maze (greatgodfreymaze.com), open September 4 to October 31. This 7-acre field in the center of Godfrey, Ill.'s Glazebrook Park is seeded with corn each spring and sliced into a challenging walk-through maze in the fall. By day, it's fun for the whole family; by night, it's a Halloween attraction sure to creep you out.
Kimberly Caughran (pronounced "corn," believe it or not), director of Parks and Recreation in Godfrey, admits the maze's teen guests excel at two things: screaming and making out. "Teens are our main clientele on the weekends, and there's a lot of shrieking," she says. If the "corn cops" who patrol the maze find two young'uns in lip-lock under a full moon, Caughran explains, they do ask them to stop. "We try to keep the romantic encounters to a minimum."
With its dead ends and loops, the maze can be a challenge to finish. But there are trivia questions posted at various forks, says Caughran, with arrows that point wanderers in the right direction if answered correctly. (Those corn cops will help you out if you start shouting, too.) Just avoid the demons. And the teenagers.
