The cool, drizzly evening of Oct. 21, five of my friends and I braced ourselves to face the four-tenths mile long haunted woods trail of Fear Forest. Having gone and being pleased with it last year, we decided to have a reunion and relive the frights and terror.

We arrived around 7:00 p.m. to avoid the late-night lines that we got stuck in last year. Whether it was due to the light rain or our early arrival, there weren’t many people there, and we were able to get through the nonexistent lines in no time at all. While that was convenient and better than our hour-and-a-half long wait from last year, I felt as though I needed a little bit more time standing in line surrounded by the dress up ghouls and clowns to add the fear factor and get myself spooked before I even went into the trail.

The fact that I was willingly about to put myself through a trail of fear didn’t hit me until I was walking through the entrance itself. Due to the fact that no one wanted to lead the pack, we all rotated around and forcefully pushed anyone to the front that tried to resist. The themes of the different pathways and areas we went through ranged from gory and disturbing, to frightening and nerve wracking.

One of the most memorable attractions for me was the clown house. Something that most people know about me is that I have a pretty big fear of clowns. However, I would consider my fear to be very rational, especially due to the recent creepy clown epidemic. I went in with the caution and uncertainty that any of the clown actors could actually turn out to be killer. Although my experience with this last year included a scary clown smiling in my face with a knife, not allowing me to move, I found this year’s rendition to have a greater effect on me. There were more clowns this year than in the past and they were more interactive with us, including chasing us with a chainsaw. This whole occurrence left with me a racing heartbeat and a sprinting capability I didn’t know I had.

Another improvement from last year that I discovered was in the haunted bus feature. Last year, they had many opportunities to have jump scares that they didn’t take, leaving me disappointed. However, they fixed that this year, and I found myself flinching at every slight movement in the bus, in fear of another zombie popping out from behind the seat.

The only bummer I felt this go-round was something that I just have to deal with. The night was so exhilarating, and I was having so much fun that I found myself running from a creepy character out of the exit before I even realized that the trail was close to being over.

My Fear Forest experience this year definitely outdid last year’s, and despite the fact that it was over in the blink of an eye, the night was truly worth it. I plan to continue the tradition and attend it once again next year when the monsters of the night return.