MECHANIC FALLS — A teenage girl died and nearly two dozen people were hurt Saturday night when a holiday hayride crashed into a tree. Investigators are looking into mechanical failure as the cause of the crash.
Two of the 500 people waiting to go on the haunted hayride told CBS 13 they saw a trailer being hooked onto the back of a Jeep; and a group of mostly teenage girls getting on that trailer. Minutes later, both Jeep and trailer were racing down a hill out of control. Several teens suffered a variety of injuries including broken legs, arms and backs, as well as head wounds.
Investigators say the runaway hayride sped down a steep hill, on the trail through the woods, with apparently no way to stop it.
“It appears there was a mechanical issue and the vehicle could not stop,” said Sgt. Joel Davis, with the State Fire Marshal’s Office. “The operator attempted to stop the vehicle, but could not. That’s when it left the roadway.”
The Jeep towing the trailer full of people hit a tree, sending its passengers flying into the woods. Mike Willett and his friend ran to help out.
“We took off down over the hill once we got there. It was complete chaos out in the woods,” he said. Willett and Don Poisson were on the hayride right behind the one that crashed.
“There was just people everywhere on the ground bleeding, people coming out of the woods, couldn’t walk. And we just tried to help them out as best we could,” said Poisson.
“There was a young girl receiving CPR,” added Willett.
That girl, 17-year-old Cassidy Charette of Oakland, died early Sunday morning at a hospital.
“This is hitting everyone very, very hard. It’s affecting us all. We all have kids. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families, especially the family of the teenage girl,” said Scott Lansley, a spokesman for Harvest Hill Farm, which operates the Gauntlet Haunted Hayride. Lansley said most of the hayrides are pulled by tractors.
CBS 13 asked Lansley why a Jeep was used to tow this hayride last night.
“I don’t know,” he said. “You’re the one who told me state police said it was a Jeep. I’m not exactly certain why.”
According to investigators, they were told it was a 1979 Jeep CJ-5, which has been used before to pull hayrides.
That Jeep has since been taken to a secure facility and is now the focus of the investigation. Once investigators get a search warrant, they say they’ll go over every inch of the Jeep to see why it couldn’t stop.
“We will be doing a complete vehicle autopsy to see if there were any mechanical defects,” said Davis.
Haunted hayrides are not licensed by the state, so there are no regulations or required inspections. Investigators say this sort of accident has never happened in Maine before.
It looks as though everyone else who was injured on the hayride is going to be OK, officials said.