Fear Farm is a real thriller

Behind the scenes of the Indiana Fear Farm

By WYNNE BRUBAKER
news@readthereporter.com

Your nightmares might become a reality in the remote countryside this October at Indiana Fear Farm.

Where the Headless Horseman meets Hollywood and the sickening Slaughter Barn, the Fear Farm will test just how much terror you can take. KD Farms will host the attraction every Friday through Sunday from 7 to 11 p.m. through Oct. 25 at 6736 S. County Road 500 West, Jamestown.

Fear Farm owner Sabrina Kent-Doolan spoke with The Reporter about the unmatched horrors that await visitors at KD Farms each October.

“We’re not pulling from the same [customer base] as someone who sits right in the middle of Indy – we give you the farm experience,” Kent-Doolan said. “If you live in the city, you can go to a haunted house, you can also go bowling, and go to the movies. Or, you can drive out here to an actual family-working farm where there’s animals and fields all around you. You’re half freaked out before you even get here.”

Inside the farm, haunts lurking around the grounds will promise an unforgettable scare and priceless memories.

“You will never experience a haunted hayride like ours,” Kent-Doolan said. “I’ve made sure of that from the ground up. It has speakers on board, so the entire ride is choreographed to music that we designed. It’s very customized: a truck chases you, a combine chases you, the headless horseman tries to whip your head off with a saw, there’s explosions, people fly in the air. There is, on any given night, anywhere from 12 to 30 ‘Thriller’ dancers and Michael Jackson. There is Beetlejuice flying overhead and all of the Beetlejuice dancers dancing. It’s not just about scaring you. It’s about giving you a full-on show.”

Some things are scarier in the dark, but this … uh … (backs away slowly) where did we park again? (Photo provided by Indiana Fear Farm)

The wide range of “scare actors” around the farm also contributes to the terrifying atmosphere. Fear Farm helps schools and activities raise money by paying students and other departments to become scare actors for the night.

“The other thing that probably makes us stand apart is the fact that we support so many schools and groups that are trying to raise money,” Kent-Doolan said. “We support school groups, typically the kids that don’t get as much funding as the others. I have lost track of how many thousands of dollars we’ve poured back into not just our own community, but the surrounding communities by saying, ‘bring us your kiddos, bring us your adults, whatever you got, and we’ll compensate you and feed you for being here and give you free tickets.’ In return, we get to put on an attraction that houses way more people and physical bodies than you have ever seen before. You won’t come out here and see under 75 people entertaining you.”

However, fear is not the most valuable element of the Fear Farm experience. When running for your life with the ones you love, you tend to discover new depth within your relationships.

“[Our target audience is] families, hands down,” Kent-Doolan said. We’re in a hot industry where everybody says, ‘I want the teenagers, I want the twenty-somethings, I want the cool kids that are into Halloween.’ I don’t. If you pay attention, I don’t say that it’s going to be the scariest encounter you have. What I am going to say is you are going to have an amazing time. You’re going to make memories for a lifetime, and we are going to fully entertain you.”

Along with prioritizing family fun, Kent-Doolan said Fear Farm strives to create an enjoyable experience for unconventional customers.

“Our demographic is the entire family, and we try to market to them and make it appealing,” Kent-Doolan said. “Grandma and Grandpa may want to be a part of the fun for the night, but Grandma and Grandpa don’t want to go into the barn and have their hearts explode out of their chests. We’re not going to charge them in the park; it only costs you if you actually buy tickets to go to an attraction. Grandma and Grandpa can sit out in the safe zone in the fire pit area in the middle of the midway and see when their family members and grandchildren are in the line for the barn. They can watch their family get scared by the roaming actors, but they’re completely safe because we don’t let the actors go in there. They can get a s’mores or a hot chocolate and sit and hang out with them all night.”

Photo illustration provided by Indiana Fear Farm

Families are not simply in attendance at Fear Farm, they are also built on staff. Kent-Doolan spoke to The Reporter about her experience building a community in costume.

“The biggest family that most people don’t consider is our staff,” Kent-Doolan said. “Fear Farm doesn’t have employees or workers, they’re all volunteers. We feed them and we give them a little bit of gas money, but they don’t get a lot out of helping with Fear Farm. However, there’s been multiple marriages from people that have met at Fear Farm on our staff. There’s people that are engaged right now, and friendships for life. They get this community that they never had. They get to be a part of this insanely crazy family that comes together 15 days a year. And you can always reach out to this extended Fear Farm family and the Kent-Doolans, and we’ve got your back.”

As someone who grew up prioritizing family, Kent-Doolan said her personal values were crucial to Fear Farm’s success.

“There used to be four generations that lived on this farm,” Kent-Doolan said. “Now there’s two. We were originally a horse farm, and then we became a traveling carnival. Whether it was the two generations now or the four generations then, we have always done whatever we’ve done together. We live in a way that most people don’t live anymore.”

Sure working on an old truck can be frustrating, but it’s no reason to lose your head! (Reporter photo by Wynne BruBaker)

Scares and thrills are their business, but Fear Farm is run by a kind family with benevolent core values.

“We’re Christians, and we’re very vocal about that. I was raised with very high standards. If the world standards are at my neck, my standards are way above my head. You’re accountable for your actions. We need to be good Christians, and we need to be good humans. We need to be kind and have grace. It is our job to love everybody, regardless. So when people come in to join this team, that’s what we start with. The world can be a very unkind and lonely place. The older I get, the more I realize that’s the truth. Our team wouldn’t be amazing if they didn’t rise to the standard that was set.”

For Kent-Doolan’s family, the Fear Farm has served as an outlet of creativity and passion over the years. Nevertheless, it all started with a love of horror.

“My mother was a huge prankster,” Kent-Doolan said. “She loved all things scary, like those sorts of things where people go out in the woods with ghosts. [My mother and I] would watch these movies, and then my mother would always mess with me and do things to me that had happened in those movies. So I’d wake up to all the cabinets being open, or sticks being made into stars. She was always a prankster and always messing with me. I think that’s where my love [of horror] comes from.”

To test your limits and have a night of dreadful excitement, go visit Indiana Fear Farm at 6736 S. County Road 500 West, Jamestown, on Fridays through Sundays until Oct. 25. See IndianaFearFarm.com/tickets to purchase tickets.

Reporter photos by Wynne BruBaker