If you visit the Fort in October, be sure to take a walk down the Wilderness Swamp trail during day light hours. Some of the props for the Haunted Carriage Ride are left out, and it makes the walk more interesting than usual. If you really want to have fun, brush up on the story of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and tell it to your companions as you walk the trail.
You can enter this trail from right behind the Settlement Trading post, or via the bridge behind the 300 loop. The Haunted Carriage Ride course enters by the trading post, so this is the best way to enter, as all of the props are oriented in that direction.
Just as soon as you start walking down the path, you will see this sign:
Then you will come into a clearing, where you will see this:
As you continue down the path, you will see this cemetery scene:
There are additional props that get set up in this scene each night, so this particular scene looks a little bare. These owls stay out all day, though:
As you continue on, there is an area where there are cornstalks lining the trail:
The prominent prop here is this scarecrow:
These corn stalks are the real deal:
Then, you come to a fork in the road:
Take the pathway to the left, which will take you toward the lake (don't worry, you will loop around here, and come back to the same path).
As you come around the curve, with the lake on your left, you will see this little cabin:
If you want to see how they light up this window, and make the curtain blow during the carriage rides, you can take a look:
(pretty low tech, no?) But, the effect at night is actually pretty decent.
This is the view of the lake from here:
As you head back around the loop, you will see these cow skulls in the trees:
As we headed back to the scarecrow scene, we saw a "fake" snake laying on top of the straw. Then it slithered off into the woods! You can see his tail if you look carefully at this photo. Look about in the middle, and you can see his black tail there in the straw (the rest of him is already in the brush):
This scarecrow keeps his eyes on us:
You are not allowed to drive golf carts back here. Here are some scofflaws:
I turned this photo over to Fort security, and these people are now on the naughty list. That'll learn 'em.
I couldn't understand why there was a bicycle lock holding this sign onto the fence, and then it dawned on me- some knuckleheads might try to steal this stuff, so they have to lock it down. Sad
.
On my previous surveillance walks along the Haunted hayride trail, I have been able to figure out where the horses are kept for use during the ride. On this trip, I did not see a coral. Is there not going to be a Headless Horseman?
In the old version of the Sleepy Hollow hayride, the Headless Horseman would emerge from the deserted cabin area. You could see the coral back there during the day. But, there is no coral in this area now. Where is the Headless Horseman going to hang out between carriage rides?
This was a mystery that needed to be solved.
Do you think that Old TCD was able to crack this case?
Check back later to see.
TCD