WATCH: Silverwood Heights maze offers spooky Halloween thrills

Shawn Hitchcock’s front yard looks quite a bit different than others in Saskatoon’s Silverwood Heights neighbourhood.

His Halloween display started small last year when he set out a tent adorned with creepy decorations for local kids to explore. The response was so enthusiastic that he knew he had to up the ante in 2024.

“I knew exactly what I had to do,” he said, enthusiasm bubbling over like a witch’s brew from a cauldron. “I’m making a maze!”

Hitchcock’s maze stands eight feet tall and sprawls across nearly 2,000 square feet of his lawn at 111 Marcotte Crescent.

“I spent three hours alone just plotting it out on paper,” he recalled.

Hitchcock said he’s spent almost every evening over the last month out on his front lawn assembling the maze, then filling it with lights, fog, and plenty of scares.

Passersby can step into Hitchcock’s labyrinth free of charge. He said his reward for his efforts is the reactions from  the visitors.

“Every time I hear someone scream or laugh, or come out and say it’s amazing, that just makes my day,” he said.

He reassured hesitant young visitors that the maze is kid-friendly.

“If they go with grown-ups, they have tons of fun!”

Hitchcock’s maze stands eight feet tall and sprawls nearly 2,000 square feet across his lawn at 111 Marcotte Crescent in Saskatoon. (Alex Brown/650 CKOM)

Hitchcock took critiques from his young visitors seriously.

“One of the best pieces of feedback I got from the neighbourhood kids was about the fog. ‘Ugh, it stinks!’” he said with a laugh.

To remedy the situation, he added pumpkin spice essential oil to his fog machines

“Now my fog smells like pumpkin spice. It’s awesome! You want to eat it. It’s foggy and it smells good.”

As Halloween night draws closer, Hitchcock’s maze promises to be a bone-chilling highlight for kids and families alike.