The best hook is fun—scare—fun—scare,” Nikki Johanson said. “People don’t know what to expect.”

Johanson made that observation while walking through a wooded area near her home, Pheasant Fields Farm. By day it was a peaceful forest, but by night, it becomes Wild Woods, the only “haunted” forest tour in Kitsap County.

Wild Woods may be unique, but several other farms in Kitsap County are offering opportunities for families to select their own jack-o’-lanterns-to-be and traipse through a maze of corn, or maize maze to be accurate.

Corn mazes and pumpkin patches can be found at Pheasant Fields Farm, a few miles from Silverdale, Minder Farm near East Bremerton, Scandia Valley Farm near Poulsbo and at Suyematsu and Bainbridge Island Farm on Bainbridge.

The chance to visit farms, see where pumpkins come from, pet animals and navigate a corn maze draws thousands of visitors from across Western Washington to the county, the farm owners say. All the farms offer family activities through Oct. 31, as well as fresh produce to take home.

Many visitors have willingly entered the dark Wild Woods at night, ready to be scared out of their wits. Johanson and a large crew of helpers are happy to oblige.

Planning and executing the complicated special effects, from witches and clowns — yes, clowns — to coffins and things that go bump in the night, is practically a year-round job.

“We have some really good ideas this year,” Johanson said, her child-like excitement obvious as she points out locations where this year’s horrors will be set up.

Visitors will first be greeted by the Grim Reaper before encountering a haunted house, the mad butcher and “Jason,” from the popular horror movie series “Friday the 13th.”

Pheasant Fields has been offering a pumpkin patch, corn maze and farm tour for years, but Johanson said the idea for Wild Wood came from watching “The Blair Witch Project.”

She wasn’t that impressed with the movie, but realized the “hook” was in the anticipation.

“That’s what you see when a bunch of 13-year-old girls get out of the car screaming,” she said. And that’s before they hit the dark trail.

There are also laughs along the way to diffuse the fright, with skeleton-based jokes and “deadpan” humor.

There are five campfires along the trail, with storytellers at the last one.

For the younger set “No Ghoul, No Gore, No Scare,” Oct. 14 features a walk around the farm to tuck in the animals for the night followed by a trip through the corn maze with flashlights and storytelling around a campfire.

For older kids and adults there is “Tales for the Deep Dark Woods,” an evening of scary tales around the campfire Oct. 13 with Jo Walter of Bremerton and Raven of Port Townsend.

Johanson said their corn maze is the “first, best and biggest corn maze” in the county. The two acre design is in the shape of an actual maze, with letters along the way that spell out what you need to complete a maze.

“The whole family gets involved in solving the puzzle,” she said. “It’s a lot of fun.”

Fun is the operative word over at Scandia Valley Farm, where “Farmer Jensen” and his wife Mary Lou offer a corn maze, pumpkin patch and lots of animals to feed.

Farmer, aka Ken, Jensen, dressed in overalls and a straw hat was eager to boast about his corn maze recently.

“It’s a world class corn maze,” he said. “It’s made with candy corn, the most beautiful corn in the world.”

It’s not corn made of candy, but a sweet, edible variety with a dark red husk.

On a recent sunny afternoon Farmer Jensen entertained a group of preschoolers with a story about where pumpkins come from, a tour of the farm and a guided walk through the corn maze.

The maze was planted as a group of circles with connecting paths.

“It’s a system of galaxies,” he said. “There are no straight lines and no deadends.”

He noted that adults can have trouble while “kids seem to make better choices. It’s not really complicated — people say it’s fun.”

He attributed the appeal to the fact that “they think they’re lost and get scared. They call that fun,” he said.

The corn maze at Minder Farm, clearly visible along State Route 303 near the Brownsville turnoff, is three-plus acres and was designed in the shape of the Seattle Seahawks insignia, using Global Positioning System to map out the pattern.

Owner Jim Carlson said there is a more than a mile of trail through the maze, and it can take up to an hour to navigate.

“You’re gonna get lost,” he said. However, there are six checkpoints within the maze, each of which has a map, if that helps.

Minder Farm also offers several acres of pumpkin and sweet corn.

On Bainbridge Island the jointly owned Suyematsu and Bainbridge Island Farm has a corn maze that was designed the old fashioned way — with graph paper, a tape measure and machete, farm worker Karen Selvar said.

It’s in the shape of Bainbridge Island, with historic information at various checkpoints along the route.

“People say it’s the best it’s ever looked,” she said.

The farm also offers a wide variety of pumpkins, from the round, red “Cinderella” pumpkins, which resemble the fairy tale coach, to pale green “ghost” pumpkins and Atlantic giants. If you think bigger is better, this is the pumpkin for you — they can top 100 pounds.

With three weekends left before Halloween families should be able to find a sunny weekend to enjoy a day of fun and frights on the farm. Or, just bring the rain gear and rubber boots.