Two young boys were run over and killed in separate tragedies with tractor-pulled haunted hayrides this weekend — including one who was trying to scare other Halloween revelers.
Samuel Jessen, 12, was killed just before 11 p.m. Friday at the Haunted Hilltop in Harrison, Tennessee after he and a group of other kids jumped out of bushes onto the hayride to try and scare passengers, the Chattanooga Free Press reported.
“Deputies were told that one of the juveniles had attempted to jump on the trailer and had possibly slipped and fallen underneath the wheels and was found unresponsive,” the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department said.
“Sadly, the juvenile succumbed to their injuries and was pronounced deceased on the scene.”
Witnesses told the Free Press that passengers on the ride sprung into action to try and help after Jessen’s foot became caught under the tractor’s wheel.
“As soon as his foot got caught under the wheel, we started screaming at the tractor driver to stop,” Caitlyn Birch said, noting that the driver kept driving.
“Everyone was freaking out, and we still had to sit through that ride for 10 minutes” until it ended, she added.
One day later in St. Augusta, Minnesota, another young boy was killed at an annual Halloween event after he was run over by a trolley wagon being pulled by a tractor.
Authorities were called to the Harvest of Horror Haunted Hayride around 7:37 p.m. on Saturday after receiving reports that 13-year-old Alexander Mick had been run over by the ride’s tractor, the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
“Staff and bystanders, including an off-duty police officer and an off-duty medic, immediately started to render aid,” officials wrote.
Despite lifesaving efforts from first responders, Mick was pronounced dead at the scene, the statement said.
Mick, from the nearby town of Rice, was an “amazingly unique child who loved Jesus with all his heart,” his mom, Teri Mick, wrote on Facebook, according to WCCO.
“He was full of life, a junior black belt in taekwondo, played drums for the worship team, he was in band, sang in choir, in robotics and soccer and almost was an Eagle Scout,” she wrote.
“Hold your babies tight. I would do anything to hold my baby again.”
The incident is currently under investigation, officials in Stearns County said.