Teen dies after being run over by wagon at haunted hayride in central Minnesota

A teenage boy died Saturday after being run over by a wagon at a central Minnesota haunted hayride.

Organizers of the Harvest of Horror Haunted Hayride in St. Augusta, south of St. Cloud, have canceled the event for the rest of the season.

The Stearns County Sheriff’s Office said Alexander Mick, 13, of Rice, died at the event on Saturday night.

The initial 911 call, placed just after 7:30 p.m., “reported that a young male had been injured when he was run over by a trolley wagon being pulled by a tractor. Staff and bystanders, including an off-duty police officer and an off-duty medic, immediately started to render aid,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release.

The teen died at the scene. The sheriff’s office is investigating.

In a statement posted to the event’s website Monday, organizers said they “are cooperating fully with the authorities and are grateful for their support. We are deeply shaken by this event and are asking for thoughts, prayers and support for the family and friends of the individual involved and all those affected by this tragedy.”

The haunted hayride initially had been scheduled to run two more weekends. In Monday’s statement, organizers wrote that “out of respect to the family involved, the organizers have made the decision to cancel the remaining nights of the 2024 Harvest of Horror.”

An obituary for Alexander — known as “Xander” — said he was in the eighth grade at Sauk Rapids-Rice Middle School, and remembered him as someone who was “kind, very polite, unique, creative, investigative, and saw the good in everyone. He always tried to be first to say, ‘Love you more.’”

Funeral services are planned for Monday at Discovery Church in Sauk Rapids.

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