“I went to Sundance (Riding) Stables on an E-Board horseback riding retreat for NAISO, and as we were heading out to ride the trail, some of the horses (got) spooked because there were fake spiders on the ground, and the lady explained it was for the haunted house,” Rivard said. “My friend and I thought it would be cool to work there, so the lady told us about the Haunted Hayride and when to show up to apply, so we did.”

Getting the job
The guests first are taken through the barn before climbing aboard a wagon and heading into the forest.

The show overall lasts about 30 to 35 minutes.

The idea of working with the Haunted Hayride immediately sparked Rivard’s interest, so she decided to apply for the open positions.

“They had an interview part where they asked us if we’ve ever worked for something like this before, what we’d be comfortable doing and if we’d be OK with being in the woods at night,” Rivard said. “It was cool.”

Getting ready
With an hour left before audiences would start arriving, Rivard begins to get ready.

“I usually get there around 6 (p.m.) or so, and you have to go into the building and sign out your costume,” Rivard said. “Mine is just a silver dress with blood on it and a shawl. I don’t have any face makeup, though, so getting ready for me is really fast (because) I just slip it on over my clothes.”

Once everyone is ready to go, a tractor pulling one of the wagons picks up Rivard and the others.
“Then we get to take one of the tractors around the trail,” Rivard said. “Whenever we get to someone’s scene, you just yell, ‘Stop,’ and the driver stops and the person gets out and goes over to where they’ll be working for the night.”

Getting a scare
Rivard’s scene takes place on one of the last stops of the hayride.

During her scene, Rivard lies on a table and is stabbed by a demon minion while the demon king watches. She said the audience’s response is varied.

“Sometimes the audience doesn’t react at all,” Rivard said. “It’s kind of disappointing because we put a lot into making sure that it’s a good scene. When people do scream as they go by, it’s really awesome. You know that you’re actually contributing to the hayride.”

Rivard said most people won’t admit to being scared.

“Sometimes they’ll try to be big and brave and act like they haven’t been scared the whole ride, but we heard their screams from the scenes before us, so we don’t take it to heart,” Rivard said.

Justin Updike, a resident of Grand Ledge, said he didn’t find the experience scary, but he still enjoyed it.
“I don’t scare very easily,” Updike said. “I like seeing other people get scared, though. It’s funny.”
Desirae Storball, also from Grand Ledge, disagreed, saying she was scared multiple times throughout the ride.

“There was one guy that popped out and really scared me,” Storball said. “I screamed so loud.”

The Haunted Hayride is $12 per person or $40 per family of four.