Teen Worker Dressed As Zombie Killed At Haunted Hayride As Patrons Shot Him With Paint Guns

A scary zombie-themed Halloween attraction turned deadly in Idaho on Friday. A teenager playing a zombie at the local “Incredible Corn Maze” was killed after falling under the event’s “Zombie Slayer Paintball Bus,” authorities said on Saturday.

The “Zombie Slayer Paintball Bus” takes patrons through a haunted corn maze filled with maze workers dressed as zombies. The patrons then try to shoot the zombies with their paintball guns. Unfortunately, what guests thought was part of the show turned out to be a deadly accident.

According to IB Times, the male teenager was run over by the rear passenger wheel of the paintball bus. Officials note that the teen likely died “instantly” from the injuries sustained. The cornfield’s uneven terrain caused the bus to rock and shake throughout its journey. Therefore, no one immediately noticed the teen had died, as the busload of people did not even realize they had ran over one of the actors. In fact, it wasn’t until the “zombies” went to reset for the next bus load of guests that they noticed the teen had been run over, according to a statement released by the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office.

“Many of the patrons believed it was just part of the ride. It was not until the bus had traveled away from the victim’s location and the role players began to reset for the next bus to come along that anyone realized something was wrong.”

Sgt. Crawford Ward noted that he believes it was just an unfortunate accident, and that alcohol and speed were not a factor.

“The focus of the attraction is the bus creeps forward so the customers have plenty of opportunity to blast away at the zombies. This looks like it was just a horrific confluence of events.”

According to a report by Reuters, the teen who was killed in the accident was Jeremy T. McSpadden Jr., 18, of Spokane Valley, Washington. The accident apparently occurring after the teen stumbled as he emerged wearing a mask and hockey gloves to run toward the bus from his hiding place in the maze.

This is the first year of the zombie slaying event. Since the unfortunate event, the corn maze has closed all events for the remainder of the weekend.

Sadly, this isn’t the first disaster at a Halloween-themed attraction this year. Just yesterday, a haunted hayride in Maine flipped over, killing at least one teenager and injuring 22 other people.

What do you think of the “Zombie Slayer” attraction? Are attractions that run in the dark with live actors too dangerous?