The Haunted Pumpkin Patch
Okay, another crazy country story to go with this pic. All weekend I
have been shooting stock. We were tooling along the main highway
looking for pretty country things to photograph, as we live in the
city and never see lots of grass and trees. We were having fun being
out there, when I spied a 4 foot tall orange sign on the side of the
road that was cut into the shape of a pumpkin. The sign boasted of a
pumpkin farm with a 300 lb pumpkin. Thinking that we might find a
quaint photo opportunity we traveled down the side road, past acres of
corn fields, towards the famous pumpkin farm.
Being as city-fied as we are we never expected what we found.
It was like the perfect X Files or Steven King setting for a Halloween Farm thriller. A dingy, run-down farmhouse with junk strewn allover the lawn, and an old rickety barn that was overstuffed with hay, and falling apart. Lots of broken down cars and trucks everywhere, garbage, old furniture and bathtubs on the front lawn, and 3 tiny little wire cages that barely contained 3 forlorn baby cows who looked so pathetic I wanted to go free them immediately. I think they were meant to become veal. Their sad brown eyes begged me to free them from their tiny, torture chamber pens, which kept them immobile, but standing up. There was a creepy looking pumpkin patch next to the ramshackle, but there wasn't any driveway or parking lot, and of course, no signs of human life around. Just sad little calf eyes peering out at us from behind the bent up, old wire cages. Needless to say, I shot this pic from my car window as we passed by, there was no way we were going to get out of the car and fall victim to some one-eyed, hunchback, chainsaw-toting hick. We were impressed by the size of the pumpkins, though. My husband suggested that they grew so large because of the rich fertilizer that human body parts provided.
I would venture to guess that there's something wrong with the water in McHenry County, Il.
Comments and faves
jodice, Dead Air, Here for the Art ...I'm Still Here.., Kathleen Popa, and 253 other people added this photo to their favorites.
pvzm/ Peter von zur Muehlen (57 months ago | reply)
is there such a thing as an unhaunted pumpkin patch?
►i.Anton (57 months ago | reply)
wow............good work you have done here!! i like the tones, the atmosphere and the different layers that lead the eye from the foreground to the back.
--seen in my contacts photos--
Sister72 (57 months ago | reply)
Gorgeous! Oh yeah, and did I say Awesome? ;-)
--
Seen on my Flickr home page. (?)
jodice (57 months ago | reply)
Wow, this is spooky, creepy and wonderful :-)
Dead Air (57 months ago | reply)
Of course, scary as it is, I can't help thinking of Linus spending the night out there waiting for the Great Pumpkin...
Solitaire Miles (57 months ago | reply)
Linus would probably end up in one of those little cages with the poor veal calfs!
Greetje vT (57 months ago | reply)
Beautiful
Here for the Art ...I'm Still Here.. (57 months ago | reply)
You composition and framing are great..let alone the subject matter. Even though it was spooky it sounds like a great photo op. Did you take pics of the poor calves and send them to the ASPCA anonymously?(kinda kidding here..kinda serious...)
patia (57 months ago | reply)
Fabulous picture, funny (and sad) story.
grizzbass [deleted] (57 months ago | reply)
great shot and mood
anideg (57 months ago | reply)
nice photo and story :)
always cool to find such creepy places
artphoto2005 (57 months ago | reply)
like a dutch master
docbryantusn (57 months ago | reply)
I was going to say that the pumpkin patch doesn't look very sincere.
vandallus villianus (57 months ago | reply)
Cool!
hans s (57 months ago | reply)
horror! great story
Lisa-S (57 months ago | reply)
Spooky picture and story.
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Found in a search. (?)
Solitaire Miles (57 months ago | reply)
The sad little calf pictures and directions to the farm have been sent to the ASPCA.
sophie.addison (57 months ago | reply)
Love the sky and trees!
MyLovenArt (57 months ago | reply)
Wow! Freaky story, and so sad about the calves. Turned out as a really great shot though! I love this!
Fer Gregory (57 months ago | reply)
wow wow wow.!!!
love it!!!
icemomo (57 months ago | reply)
I love the creepy atmosphere.
SS&SS (57 months ago | reply)
Great mood shot ------beautifully finished as always miles-------------------------faved of course
elijah northen (57 months ago | reply)
Whoa, creepy cool!
Gareth E (57 months ago | reply)
cool
songedeluxe (57 months ago | reply)
oh !
.Kikaytete.QNK (57 months ago | reply)
Please add this great photo to Natures Finest
Tag your photo with "NaturesFinest"
Invited with SIC
Iryna (SF Bay) (57 months ago | reply)
what a wonderful photo!
Mister-Solo (57 months ago | reply)
Beautiful shot :o)
:+: efly 飛鷹人e-fly :+: (57 months ago | reply)
This photo is great and we'd love to have it appear in our group*Betray Second-Life 背叛→第二人生. We also invite you to join the group.
iam_merlin [deleted] (57 months ago | reply)
You are invited to display your image in:
Better Than Good
Invitation Only
Steven
'Syo [deleted] (57 months ago | reply)
eh, for a haunted image... this is gorgeous!!!
how are you doin', miles? still love the cds you sent... second album's out? in case there is... let me know :)
hugs, dear friend :)
katifelkai (57 months ago | reply)
Gorgeous capture and wonderful story
dlangshaw ~ top of old Shasta. [deleted] (56 months ago | reply)
Wow...wonderful fall painting with light....this is the best pumpkin patch...I can feel the magic of fall by just looking at this wonderful capture!
sigmathguru (56 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called photology - invited images only, and we'd love to have your photo added to the group.
Awesome shot!
gmalras (56 months ago | reply)
Excelente trabajo, enhorabuena
ocloclop (56 months ago | reply)
All pumpkins are magical. Pictures like this just make me feel satisfied with my inner picture of them.
SignFire (56 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Good Liars Club, and we'd love to have your photo added to the group.
I love the story that corresponds with this photo... makes it even more interesting... Thanks!
jodice (56 months ago | reply)
You are my winner!
Please add this photo to
www.flickr.com/groups/mywinners/
djune (56 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'd like to cordially invite you to ye-haw, you're so country!, hoping to see more of your excellent work soon!
KvonK (56 months ago | reply)
Nicely done...love the depth of colour.
Robert Weissner (off/on) [deleted] (56 months ago | reply)
This is just amazing work ... live the rich color tones!
Crick3 (54 months ago | reply)
There is something about this....
I Think this is Art !
5 Star image.
Great Shot! Please join us at:
Invited with SOS
Eddy Roy (51 months ago | reply)
The picture is awesome and set the tone for the great story! Thanks for sharing this. I'm moving on now feeling bad about those baby cows. That seems abusive to me!
sugarsharrk (49 months ago | reply)
Great photo and story to go with it.
Beth.Fernandez (45 months ago | reply)
Ouch!!....I just came across your stream looking for pumpkin photos to boost my fallish mood. I myself live in McHenry County, IL and there are certain parts of the county, Marengo, Harvard (and a few other towns I will leave out) that I wouldnt wander around in the dark in. But lets not give McHenry County a bad name ;-) there are plenty of a nice "normal" non "hick" towns in the county.
The cows being caged is pretty sad part of the story, I probably would've set them free myself.
valentino * (45 months ago | reply)
bella fotografia
13SPUN (45 months ago | reply)
Great shot!!!!
DAJanzen (45 months ago | reply)
Beautiful image... such depth!
*GE* (45 months ago | reply)
Great picture!
Jofel Tobias (45 months ago | reply)
Fantastic and interesting! ;-) Like the scene in Lord of the rings! I like this..........