Darkness settled upon the forested scenery as the infectious screams of kids and adults hung in the air. This is the Hobb’s Grove experience.

Hobb?s Grove gives visitors three ways to scare: a hayride, a haunted house and a forest. Each are filled with monsters, chainsaw-wielding creatures and things that go bump in the night, sometimes very loudly.

After arriving, a choice must be made: does one brave all three, or pick and choose? Hobb?s allows you to purchase a combo ticket or single ones for each attraction. A $23.50 combo will get you all three.

Our crew of five purchased our tickets and decided to ride the hayride first. However, the sun had not fully set, so we were required to wait until night fell completely. At that point, the tractor towing the hay cart started its engine and we pulled into the inky blackness.

After exiting the hayride and reminiscing on the scariest moments, we walked over to the entrance of the haunted house and began our quest for the exit. The first section of the house is 3-Dimensional, giving an even creepier experience when things are coming at you from the walls.

?The tunnel in the haunted house was psycho,? Luke DeGroot, ’09, said. ?When you walked in, it started to turn with you.

Next up was the forest. Elected the bold and fearless leader, I opened the door to the pathway through a forest filled with fire-twirlers, more chainsaw toting freaks and mad scientists. The fog at one point was too thick to see more than a few inches in front of you.

All three events will give you, depending on time, an hour of thrills and chills.

However, Hobb?s Grove is not for all. A family alternative would be Cobb?s Ranch cornfield maze. The maze is a two-mile labyrinth of dead ends, wrong turns and corn at Freeway 41 and the Children’s Blvd. exit.

Also available is Satterstrom?s Pumpkin Festival Pumpkin Patch in Sanger. They also boast a haunted house and forest.

For more info on Cobb’s Ranch, visit Corey Maxey’s Oct. 27, 2005, article, Corny Chaos at Fall Venue or visit Cobbs Ranch.com.

Halloween at Hobb’s Grove in Sanger runs through Oct. 29. For further information on their haunted forest and haunted house, call 875-8150 or visit Hobbs Grove.com.

Finally, Satterstrom’s Tree Farm and Pumpkin Festival is another fall/winter activity and entertainment center in Reedley. Its Haunted Events will run from October 13-31 and can be found at Conejo and Road 40. For more information call 559-897-3685. For events throughout the year in Fresno County, Go Fresno County.com.