Family lost in Massachusetts corn maze calls 911

BOSTON (Reuters) - A fall outing to a Massachusetts farm this week turned frightful for a family who got lost in an elaborate corn maze and called 911 to be rescued.

The call for help came on Monday evening from the family lost in the dark in a seven-acre corn maze at a farm in Danvers, about 25 miles north of Boston, police said on Wednesday.

"I don't see anybody. I'm really scared. It's really dark and we've got a three-week-old baby with us," a woman can be heard saying in a recorded call to 911.

The husband, wife and their two children were actually only about 25 or 30 feet into the maze, but they panicked as darkness fell, worried the farm had closed, police said.

"We thought this would be fun. Instead it's a nightmare," the woman said in the call. The name of the family was not released.

A police canine unit responded and found the family by calling out. The dog on duty, Falco, did not have to track them down, said Danvers police spokesman Sergeant Robert Bettencourt.

While people have been known to lose their way in corn mazes, Bettencourt said he did not know of police responding to such a call before.

This year's corn maze at Connors Farm is called Salem Village-Headless Horseman and typically takes about 45 minutes or an hour to wander through, said manager Richard Potter.

In past years, the corn maze has been crafted in the shape of Clint Eastwood, the Family Guy and a scarecrow.

The farm attracts thousands of visitors who traipse through the cornfields each season, Potter said.

Potter said staff members had not left the farm when the family called police and knew there were people were in the maze. But he said he did not hear anyone call out for help.

"We want to have positive family experiences here," Potter said. "We don't want anybody to go through what they went through."

(Reporting by Lauren Keiper; Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Greg McCune)