NJ haunted house ready for a COVID-safe Halloween

NEW JERSEY - The coronavirus pandemic has put a bit of a damper on Halloween celebrations this year, but the Kyle Family Farm in New Jersey’s Mercer County is still offering people the chance to have some spooky, COVID-safe fun.

The farm is where you’ll find a pumpkin patch and corn maze by day, but a “Field of Terror” by night.

The Kyle family gave FOX 5 NY a special tour ahead of their opening weekend.

This year, the farm's four haunted attractions including Zombie Paintball, the Haunted Hayride, Timmery Manor, and the Field of Terror will operate a lot differently due to COVID-19.

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“The Killer Cornfield is one path that goes in one direction so nobody’s crossing paths. We’ll space groups out, we use hand sanitizer, we have 6-foot spacing and social distancing,” Sharon Kyle says.

This season, the spooky characters won’t be the only ones wearing masks, patrons will be too.

If you'd like to visit the Field of Terror, you must purchase your tickets online, schedule a time slot, and get your temperature checked when you arrive. Twenty-five to thirty people will be allowed in every fifteen minutes, but the farm has had to cut back on actors, and scare tactics won’t be the same as usual.

“A lot of our scares used to be in your face, right behind you, jump out and startle you-type scares. Now, we’re just kind of lurking in the shadows,” one actor explains.

Actors have to go through the same process as visitors, getting their temperatures checked, and wear masks which makeup artists like Samantha Daquila cover in liquid latex and fake blood.

“Usually cotton and latex is a really good technique for haunt makeup. It adheres really well not only to skin, but to more porous objects like a mask,” Daquila mentions.

For Sharon Kyle, adapting to this season’s changes will be worth it if it means bringing a little bit of joy and normalcy back into people’s lives.

“We knew that it was important for these kids who have been cooped up indoors, who have been denied graduations, proms, and sporting events, and who can’t participate in their own school activities... to have something fun, something normal.”