The ghosts of Native Americans, French explorers and pirates will inhabit Norco’s Wetland Watcher Park on Saturday, transforming the serene nature trail into an eerie walk through history.
The Haunted History Hike will open on Oct. 18 at 6 p.m. and close at 10 p.m. at the park, which is located at 1650 Lower Guide Levee Road. Along with the haunted hike, attendees will also get to load up on candy and take part in Halloween-themed family activities.
“This is another one of those crazy ideas that we have been talking about for years and years,” Craig Howat, a facilitator at the Satellite Center, said. “When we pitched the idea to the LaBranche Wetland Watchers and started looking at the nature trail, we thought it would be a good educational opportunity.”
Two of Howat’s students, Emily Hymel and Megan Shine, took on the haunted hike as their senior projects. They have been working on the details since mid-September.
“We’re making it scary because it’s Halloween, but we want to teach them about the area and show why it’s so important for wetland conservation,” Shine said.
A guide will lead those hiking the trail through five scary stations. Howat said the stations serve as a loose timeline of people who settled the area.
The first station will be manned by the “ghosts” of Native Americans.
“The Harry Hurst talented drama students are going to do that station and the first outdoor classroom will be decorated like a teepee,” Howat said.
After meeting those ghosts, hikers will also come into contact with French explorers who settled the area, pirates such as Jean Lafitte, and kids going through the 1915 hurricane that wiped out the fishing village of LaBranche.
“We will have a speaker playing loud, howling winds and kids calling for their parents or even tied to trees,” Howat said.
The last station will provide the biggest scare as hikers encounter a group of duck hunters that are battered, bruised and bloody. They will talk about their close encounter with the rougarou, a legendary swamp creature.
The haunted hike is for children of all ages and the actors at the stations will add scares based upon the color of the guide’s flashlight.
“If 3-year-olds to 7-year-olds want to do the trail, the tour guide of that group will have a different color flashlight so the stations will know that there are younger kids present,” Howat said. “Those between the ages of 10 to 14 will have a guide with another colored flashlight that will let the stations know that they can be scary.”
The trail will take about seven to 10 minutes to walk through and the cost is $3 per person. For an additional $1, attendees can trunk or treat at about 10 vehicles that will be on the property.
All proceeds raised will benefit the Wetland Watcher Park nature trail and Wetland Watcher environmental education initiatives.
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