Halloween attraction Trail of Terror opens
First Posted: 5:00 pm - October 15th, 2015
By Tom Joyce - tjoyce@civitasmedia.com
DOBSON — At first glance, zombies or other monsters appear to have no relationship to angels, and the same goes for Halloween and Christmas for that matter.
However, a project now under way in the Dobson area — the Trail of Terror to benefit the annual Angel Tree program — is meshing those ingredients.
It is a first-time undertaking by an organization formed last winter called Southern Cross, a motor vehicle club. All proceeds from the haunted trail it is presenting will go to help children at Christmastime, according to group spokesman Joe Davis.
The Trail of Terror is located at 115 Happy Lane at Dobson, which is off Haystack Road. It got under way last Friday and also will be held tonight and Saturday and each night during Halloween Week, from Oct. 23 through Oct. 31.
It runs from 8:30 p.m. to midnight on the designated days.
The haunted trail is said to feature a number of scary attractions, such as a zombie bridge, zombie butcher shop and zombie diner, and others with a chainsaw massacre, an old witch and additional themes.
“It takes about 20 minutes,” Davis said of completing the trail.
Davis said he is a longtime Halloween enthusiast who has accumulated numerous props of the holiday over the years which are being employed for the Trail of Terror. “I’ve been into Halloween since I was a kid,” said the man now in his early 50s.
But Davis stressed that every member of the Southern Cross group has played a role in staging the fundraiser, from sewing “bodies” for the trail to other set-up tasks, and portraying scary characters.
Admission costs $5 per person, with additional details about the haunted trail available at 336-352-3497.
Angel Tree aid
The club spokesman said one of goals in forming the Southern Cross group was for it to have a charitable presence in the community, especially a Christmas fund, which the Trail of Terror is helping to fulfill.
That led to plans to support the local Angel Tree program operated each holiday season, in which names of children in need are placed on trees in stores. Typically, each tree is decorated with angel tags listing a child’s age, gender, clothing sizes and gift wishes.
Community members select an “angel,” buy items for that child based on the information on the tag and then return the gifts to the store where the angel was chosen.
The goal of Trail of Terror organizers is to buy as many names off a tree as possible, and hopefully complete an entire tree. They plan to raise funds until Dec. 4.
Their effort will target Walmart at first, and if Southern Cross members can clean out its tree, they’ll move on to another store or possibly contact schools to see how the the group can help.
An account to aid the Angel Tree program also has been established at https://www.gofundme.com/dt5my3jg for those who are unable to participate in the Trail of Terror.
Tom Joyce may be reached at 336-415-4693 or on Twitter @Me_Reporter.
