Yes, Please
BY CHRIS JAY & SARA HEBERT JOIN SARA HEBERT AND CHRIS JAY AS THEY GO ON DATES AND SHARE THEIR LOCAL RESTAURANT CHOICES AND ACTIVITIES.
Sara and I look forward to October all year long. As lifelong fans of ghost stories and cheesy horror movies, we love October for its haunted houses, pumpkin patches and silly, over-the-top yard decorations. So, for our first column, we thought it’d be fun to celebrate a couple of our go-to places for food and fun in October.
Speaking of “cheesy horror”: Stocky’s Pizza in Haughton may be the South’s first haunted pizzeria. In July 2012, several employees reported experiencing poltergeist-like activity. One employee reported being hit in the back by a bottle of Tabasco sauce while alone in the restaurant, and security cameras captured some convincing evidence. That video footage made national headlines, and the little pizzeria briefly became an Internet sensation.
While a quick YouTube search for the restaurant will produce some startling video, it’s worth a trip to Stocky’s Pizza to visit with the staff about their personal encounters. As it turns out, the kitchen isn’t the most haunted area of the restaurant; the most haunted spot at Stocky’s is actually the women’s restroom. Sara and I spoke with two staff members at the restaurant. A night manager told us about a female customer who reported the toilet paper unspooling by itself. A waitress said one of her customers ran from the women’s restroom after her hair was pulled by an unseen force.
Haunted bathrooms, levitating Tabasco ... it’s enough to make even the most diehard “True Blood” fan roll their eyes. But, if you’re looking for a great place to eat while celebrating Halloween, Stocky’s is a fantastic choice. The thin crust pizza here is terrific, and draft beer is served in frosty mugs. Sara and I loved the Stocky’s Special, a crispy, thin crust pizza loaded with every imaginable topping, including jalapenos and anchovies. The service during both of our visits has been exemplary, and prices are comparable to other pizzerias in the area. And where else does the manager swing by your table to share ghost stories? And if you feel guilty for munching on pizza and sipping frosty beer, you can always work off some of those carbs by running for your life at Sara’s favorite Halloween destination, the Dixie Corn Maze.
– Chris Jay
When Chris asked for a date night at the eight-acre Dixie Corn Maze last year, I thought this seemed like the perfect way to get into the spooky spirit of Halloween. Unfortunately, at the heart of it, I really am a scaredy cat. So, I spent the majority of our date yelling at teenagers dressed as spooks, lurking behind the corn. There’s a rule at the maze which states you are not allowed to touch the spooks, and they’re not allowed to touch you. Regardless, I was the crazy nut yelling, “You can’t touch me!” at the top of my lungs while running through the fields.
If you’re screaming your head off like me, you may not notice the level of artistry and care it takes to create the maze’s path. The design of the maze changes each year. In 2012, corn was cleared to create the outlines of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney’s faces. This year, the maze pays tribute to the courageous 2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale Air Force Base with a maze modeled after their emblem.
The corn maze is everything that’s right about Halloween: fake chainsaw sounds, long scary hayrides in the darkness and children sobbing behind the legs of their mothers. Did I mention the maze is about 30 minutes north of Shreveport, in Dixie, which could easily be the setting for a bad 1970s horror flick? It also happens to be the best place to take your significant other on a hilarious date in the month of October.
We have a few tips on how to visit the corn maze with someone special:
1) Holding hands only increases your chances of falling over, either into the corn or into the guy with the chain saw.
2) Running away from the guy trying to chop your head off with an axe is a recipe for a sprained ankle. Not running will get your head chopped off. You choose.
3) If you are directionally challenged, be prepared to double back a lot. This can be a true test of your marriage/relationship/ domestic partnership. If it doesn’t work out, you can always abandon your companion. Like the old saying says: “There are other fish in the sea, but you can’t fish if you’re dead.”
The maze is open seven days a week, Sept. 28-Oct. 31, and is only haunted on Fridays, Saturdays and Halloween night. We recommend purchasing tickets in advance at dixiecornmaze.biz.
– Sara Hebert
Sara Hebert is the marketing director of Moonbot Studios and Chris Jay is the public relations and social media manager at the Shreveport-Bossier Convention and Tourist Bureau. Chris and Sara have been married for 5 years. Email them at hello@allyallblog.com
