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Conner Prairie launches 36th year of Headless Horseman

Headless Horseman event at Conner Prairie in Fishers, Indiana

Sierra Hignite | All In - News 8 at 4 p.m.

FISHERS, Ind. (WISH) — Conner Prairie museum’s Headless Horseman festival has become a fall staple for people in Central Indiana with about 40,000 guests a year.

The festival is going on it’s 36th year.

“Our Headless Horseman festival is based on Washington Irving’s tale of ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hallow’ where Ichabod Crane tries to woo the heart of Katrina Van Tassel with a ghostly twist,” said Christine DeJoy with Conner Prairie.

One of the top attractions for the festival is the Headless Horseman hayride. People can get an interactive experience with the Headless Horseman himself.

“It depends on how you experience it. When it is lighter out, which is when most of the families come with the smaller kids, you have one experience. Then if you come a little bit later, get a later ticket time for your wagon or haunted hayride, it is a little bit different of an experience because it is darker so there is the whole element and the mystery of the unknown with what you can and can’t see,” DeJoy said.

Other than the hayride, the festival offers other games and activities for family with kids of all ages like Halloween-themed carnival games, a hot air balloon and monster making.

“There is a little bit something for everyone here at the festival and the hayride, too,” DeJoy said.

The festival runs from Thursdays to Sundays through Oct. 27. The doors open at 6 p.m., and most attractions close at 9 p.m.