Five hundred people came through the Field of Screams at Spitz Stadium on Saturday night. Five hundred racing hearts — and almost every one of them walked out laughing.
National Geographic ran a piece I keep thinking about this week: “Scary good: Why it’s OK for kids to feel frightened sometimes,” by Heather Greenwood Davis. The experts she spoke with make a case that will sound familiar to anyone who has ever built a haunted house.
Sociologist and fear specialist Margee Kerr says the right kind of fright “is such a great opportunity to help kids grow and develop.” Pediatric neuropsychologist Sam Goldstein adds: “Scary fun allows you to explore activities or experiences that in the real world you might avoid.”
The key is safe fear. The scares are real, but so is the safety net: the kids know the way out is always open, and they face it all in a place they already love — the ballpark where they spend their summers. Then comes the best part: the “I did it” on the other side. That confidence travels with a kid long after Halloween.
That’s exactly how Dave and Katie Ankermann and their crew of aspiring baseball players and other volunteers turned scary ghosts, vampires, and other Halloween villain characters build the Field of Screams — scary, but looked after. It’s why we give families age guidance, why younger kids come through with an adult, and why nobody is ever pushed past their limit.
And it all happens at a ballpark that wears a lot of hats. On Friday afternoon, the Lethbridge Longhorns played one of their last games of the fall at Spitz Stadium. When the game ended, the parents and players who were not working the haunted experience headed home — and the ballpark began its transformation. By nightfall, the home of the Bulls and the Longhorns had become the Field of Screams. A polite tip of the cap to our Mayor and Council: it is great to see a community-owned facility play such a diverse role in the life of this city — summer baseball, fall ball, and, for a few weeks each October, a Lethbridge Halloween tradition.
I wrote about Dave and Katie in a Friday Feature earlier this month. And all of it raises funds for the student-athletes who come to Lethbridge to play baseball.
We’re into the final week — the Field of Screams runs through Halloween night at Spitz Stadium. Come get safely scared, Lethbridge.
Read the National Geographic article: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/family/article/scary-good-why-its-ok-for-kids-to-feel-frightened-sometimes
Field of Screams details and tickets: https://utlse.com/field-of-screams/
Published: October 25, 2026
