Family calls 911 from corn maze. Police canine unit rescues them

[Liberal_in_LA]

Am I wrong to snicker over this? why not just bust through the corn out one side?

Family lost in Massachusetts corn maze calls 911

BOSTON (Reuters) - A fall outing to a Massachusetts farm this week turned frightful for a family who got lost in an elaborate corn maze and called 911 to be rescued.

The call for help came on Monday evening from the family lost in the dark in a seven-acre corn maze at a farm in Danvers, about 25 miles north of Boston, police said on Wednesday.

"I don't see anybody. I'm really scared. It's really dark and we've got a three-week-old baby with us," a woman can be heard saying in a recorded call to 911.

The husband, wife and their two children were actually only about 25 or 30 feet into the maze, but they panicked as darkness fell, worried the farm had closed, police said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/12/us-corn-maze-lost-idUSTRE79B6I320111012

[virgogal]

1. They shouldn't have gone in if it was getting dark. Morons.

[slackmaster]

2. These are probably people who vote.

:argh:

[tridim]

3. This story makes me LOL every time I see it.

Why didn't they just walk between the corn? They would have been free within 30 seconds. DERP.

[Liberal_in_LA]

11. yes. The father was with them, wasn't like it was just the mom with a new baby

Why didn't the father push thru the corn? Bravely free his family?

[pipi_k]

29. Asshole wouldn't even stop to ask for directions, I'll bet... n/t

[Liberal_in_LA]

31. too much reliance on the cell phone! How did people survive before?

[pokerfan]

44. You have to realize that these people

would probably starve to death if they happened to be on an escalator when the power went out.

[hyphenate]

55. If they had a cell phone, (which they did) they could have used

the GPS tracker. Sheesh! :)

[Lorien]

63. Or just listened for the sound of the road and walked through the corn for 25 feet.

(Not your suggestion, but mom & dad's solution)! ;-)

[Ian David]

4. ...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/archive/8/87/20091204201125!It%27s_A_Good_Life.JPG

[Lint Head]

5. This could have been the news story of the century! Why did they have to be found.

There would have been 24 hour breaking news coverage, sponsored by cornflakes

[Buns_of_Fire]

18. Amazing rescue! Massachusetts family found alive after six weeks lost in corn maze!

"We had to eat my husband to keep from starving," a tearful Mrs. Doofus said to rescuers.

[Lint Head]

64. Fantastic!

:rofl:

[TlalocW]

6. Just for safety's sake

The way out of any maze is to put your right hand against the wall and begin walking. It may take a while, but you'll eventually find the entrance/exit.

TlalocW

[fishwax]

21. but what if you wind up in a loop?

[Robb]

35. Avoid all mazes designed by M.C. Escher. (nt)

[uppityperson]

37. If you put your hand on right wall going in, it will loop back to you.

Only way to get on an unconnected loop it to not keep your hand in contact with the wall. You WILL miss the unconnected loops, but eventually you'll loop back to where you started.

[fishwax]

42. that won't necessarily help if you're already lost in the middle of the maze, though

[uppityperson]

43. That is very true. At that point you are screwn!

[hyphenate]

57. Naw

You can't get into an unconnected part of the maze if you hug a wall all the way through without busting through the maze walls. There had to be a way you got into an area, so you are going to eventually use that entrance as your exit as well.

The only way to get into a portion unconnected in the maze is to break through, and as others have said, they could have used that strategy to get out of it completely.

Of course, city people shouldn't venture onto a farm other than for picking apples or blueberries anyway! Imagine all the things on a farm that can scare the wits out of someone from a city in the first place. (It also works vice versa as well.)

[Tesha]

59. This only works if you start doing it from the entrance.

Mazes can be designed with disconnected islands and
if you started following "the right-hand rule" while
such an island was on your right, you'd be stuck.

The corn maze in the picture has some islands, but
the ones I initially spotted are all small; I didn't
look for bigger islands.

Tesha

[LiberalFighter]

28. Exactly! I learned that technique years ago.

[Xithras]

51. There's a much faster way to leave a corn maze.

Point yourself in the direction of the sun and just start walking. You'll find the edge of the cornfield quick enough.

[4_TN_TITANS]

65. Hell, they couldn't even find the sun!

http://images.cryhavok.org/d/14126-1/Implied+Facepalm.jpg

[FarCenter]

7. Use the machete, Luke.

[slackmaster]

60. Not even necessary in any corn field I've ever been in

You can walk in pretty much a straight line in any direction.

[tularetom]

8. That poor baby.

He really doesn't stand much of a chance of turning out OK with fools like this for parents.

Ditto heads most likely.

[Uncle Joe]

9. Some people should just stay out of the corn.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_of_the_corn

Thanks for the thread, Liberal_in_LA.

[Liberal_in_LA]

12. that movie is always playing on Syfy channel.

[Uncle Joe]

13. Not being a fan of horror flicks, I've never actually watched it.

The last one I watched was "Carrie" when it came out at the movie theater.

Having said that I do enjoy a good science fiction but I make a distinction between the two genres.

[Liberal_in_LA]

14. I haven't watched it either. Watched a bit of "Jeepers Creepers II". THAT WAS SCARY!

couldn't watch the whole thing. Don't see how people enjoy horror.

[hyphenate]

58. Probably for the same reason people

do extreme sports or any other form of creating adrenaline. It makes your heart beat faster, and an adrenaline rush can be quite stimulating. It's a way to make you feel truly alive.

[1monster]

32. That scene of Carrie pulling Amy Irving into the grave got to you too, hmmm?

:evilgrin: :scared:

[Uncle Joe]

34. I'm not too proud say, it scared the Bush out of me.

:scared: :hi:

[FarCenter]

10. NASA's 7 wicked cool crop-circle corn mazes

http://www.networkworld.com/slideshows/2011/101211-corn-mazes-layer8.html

[uppityperson]

26. That is fun, I like the crop circles in the final photo.

[Xithras]

50. I'll be going to the third maze in that slideshow next weekend!

I usually take my kids out to Del Osso every year. The maze is lots of fun, their haunted house isn't too cheesy, and you can shoot pumpkins out of cannons!

[WinkyDink]

15. I hate mazes! They're scary!

[xmas74]

16. 1) Why did they have a three week old

in a corn maze? That's just idiotic.

2) Our corn mazes hand out papers that include a phone number for the business. If you get lost in the maze you call the number and they'll talk you through it-or even come rescue you. Don't they offer the same?

3) She panicked because it was getting dark? I didn't know people went in corn mazes during the daytime!

[uppityperson]

36. Why not take the 3 wk old with them? Guess leaving him/her in the car would've been better?

3 wk olds get taken all sorts of places, outside in the fresh air is a great place for them, much better than inside with stuffy air and people coughing all over.

Funny that they panicked though, city slickers it seems

[xmas74]

39. I often took my baby with me to the park

but a corn maze can be a whole different thing.

Then again, I'm thinking of corn mazes in Missouri where they tend to be muddy, buggy, and if you have any kind of allergies it'll hurt. I have to triple up on my allergy meds to go through the maze. My kid is the same way and I've watched a few of her classmates over the years have breathing problems from all the hay in the mazes. And a few in my area will not allow children under a certain age in the mazes, so I'm also used to that policy.

Three weeks just seems too young to go through a corn maze. I'd rather take baby on a nice walk, to a nice park during the day and give it a couple of years before they're ready for the corn maze.

[uppityperson]

41. I lived in the bush in AK with mine. Bears, berries, salmon fishing, crabbing, etc.

Handwashing diapers in a bucket, etc etc etc. I can see limiting the ages of participants and young kids can run off and get lost (amusing what with this story) but having a 3 wk old either on a parent or in a stroller seems ok. I see what you mean about allergies, but again that is up to individual parents.

Sorry, thought you were talking along the "how dare anyone take an infant out" etc thing I've heard and read. My apologies for assuming that.

[xmas74]

49. I'm a big advocate of children out in public.

As a matter of fact, I believe that children should be exposed to as many experiences as their mental ages can handle. And I think children should spend more time in nature environments.

I'm just thinking of the whole corn maze atmosphere. I went to corn mazes before I had my child so I knew what to expect-itchy hay, bugs, rapid temperature drops, etc. Oh, and some have big bonfires, which could also cause respiratory problems, especially in a baby. Sometimes common sense is the key. (I believe the "no strollers" rule around here is because October is usually rainy and strollers will leave huge muddy tracks.) We waited until she was three-old enough to enjoy everything involved, knew to hold on to Mommy, and we also knew what her allergies were.

Sounds like we're on the same page. Individual parents can make the choice but personally I'd have chosen a nice park or a drive to see the fall colors with a light snack for the parents instead of a walk through a corn maze with a tiny one. Sounds like they were city slickers who had no idea what to expect.

[Historic NY]

17. Somebody should have said you don't have to stay within the lines.

I was in one in Ct. over the weekend bright moonlit late night. Corn isn't a stone wall....sheesh

[Enrique]

19. best. corn maze. ever.

:thumbsup:

[Blue_Tires]

62. Need to burn that bruins logo, though

[Hassin Bin Sober]

20. He wants you too, Malachai!

[dana_b]

22. they were 25 feet away from the street

:evilgrin:

[Liberal_in_LA]

24. listen for the sound of cars. Push thru the corn in that direction.

[dana_b]

45. exactly!! lol

[Warren DeMontague]

23. sure, you laugh

but look what happened to this guy:

[Liberal_in_LA]

25. lol True. but someone would have rescued them before they froze or starved.

[dtexdem]

27. I tell you, these terrorist corn mazes have been cropping up all over!

They're even more insidious than crop circles!

Something must be done! ;-)

[LiberalFighter]

30. How did that family even find its way to the farm?

[uppityperson]

38. You make me laugh, thank you.

[eShirl]

40. +1

[Ruby the Liberal]

33. They should have stuck with the bunny slopes on the right hand side.

[SoCalDem]

46. It's always a GREAT idea to take a newborn on an "adventure" like that

:sarcasm:

Dad wants to go..older kids want to go..
Great..let THEM go..

Mom & the baby can stay home for this one adventure.


Or if Mom really wants to go too, maybe a friend or Grandma could watch the baby


Those huge mazes should have towers nearby & helium balloon-stations scattered throughout, so if someone gets lost, they could fill up a balloon & attach some cord to it so people could easily find out where they were..

Someone should be there to make sure everyone who went in...also came out:)

[xmas74]

52. Our corn mazes have maps handed to everyone at the gate with

the business phone number. They also have signs throughout the maze, telling you where you're at (for identification purposes). If you get lost you're asked to call the business number. You're also asked to write down the code at each sign as you pass it, in case you're lost. When you call you give the code for the last sign passed and they'll talk you to the end or escort you out personally. They also have employees at the quarter mark, halfway mark, and three quarter mark, if you need to ask a question.

[yardwork]

47. They took a three-week old baby into a maze as darkness fell.

Wordless.

[applegrove]

48. I couldn't open the bathroom door in the restaurant I was in today, so I tried to call

the restaurant but my cell phone was out of battery power. I finally got it open. But I do wonder how we ever survived without cell phones.

[Liberal_in_LA]

66. I witnessed a similar experience. Women was speaking in unknown language, shaking her stall door

Then I saw her get down on her knees and look at me from under the stall. I went over and pulled (hard!) on her door to release her. She was very grateful.

[hyphenate]

53. The secret to a maze

is to hug a wall all the way through. Or that's what what I've been told. People today don't have their wits about them as much as our ancestors did in this respect.

Henry Beston said this:

"Our civilization has fallen out of touch with night. With lights, we drive the holiness and beauty of night back to the forests and the sea; the little villages, the crossroads even, will have none of it. Are modern folk, perhaps, afraid of night? Do they fear that vast serenity, the mystery of infinite space, the austerity of stars?"
... — Henry Beston (The Northern Farm: A Glorious Year on a Small Maine Farm)


Seems appropriate, I think. He wrote that about 90 years ago.

[lunatica]

56. I think it's more that there are some pretty scary horror movies involving corn fields

[lunatica]

54. Jeepers Creepers!

[Liberal_in_LA]

67. yep. scary movie.

[Ikonoklast]

61. It was Nocturnally Carnivorous Monsanto Corn.

They were fine until It started growling at them.

[TwilightGardener]

68. They made it a whole 25 feet before panic set in. That's about a fourth of the way

down my driveway. That's only a little longer than my camper. I mean, really...teh soft.

[Wait Wut]

69. I'm very claustrophobic.

I would've gotten them outta there in 15 seconds. The broken bones they would suffer after being tossed over the damned corn would heal. They would've been more traumatized by the uncontrollable laughing/crying fit that their redheaded co-mazer was throwing than the thought of being stuck in a maze for eternity.

Oddly enough, I ran the maze at a Renaissance Faire for two years in a row. When kids would get "lost" I'd send one of the rennie kids in after them. :)

[logosoco]

70. Wrong to snicker over this? I hope not!

I can't stop laughing! And i am a pretty understanding middle aged woman!

How did the cops and the people who worked there keep a straight face?
Maybe these people watched too many horror movies growing up?

Will there be a ban on corn mazes now?

[piratefish08]

71. it's a corn maze. not a fuggin' BRICK maze. walk through it.

fucking city mice!

[PavePusher]

72. "Am I wrong to snicker over this?"

If you're wrong, my whole office is going straight to hell....

In my informal survey on an Air Force base, 100% of people polled think these parents and their kids should be sterilized so as to not spread the stupid.

And I can't say I disagree... :evilgrin: :silly:

[msanthrope]

75. No. You are not wrong. nt

[graywarrior]

73. We're all laughing at it here on the North Shore

Even the local talking heads were trying hard not to laugh when they reported the story. The owner of the maze was having a grand old time retelling the story over and over.

[msanthrope]

74. Meanwhile, the corn maize owners are going to reap the rewards of publicity.

Remember the scene in 'Field of Dreams' when the cars begin to come???