Jason and Brandy Ridley’s friends and family often walk or ride four-wheelers and motorcycles through the woods near their Eton home in rural Murray County.

About three years ago, they were walking through those woods when it hit them: “We should make a haunted trail!”

Add about 40 of their closest friends, some spooky lighting effects, scary costumes and realistic scenery and you have the makings of some first-class terror. The resulting “Trail of Doom” opens for its third season this Friday.

“We started with 15-20 people working with us the first year, and it’s just gotten bigger and better every year,” Brandy Ridley said.

That first year, the Trail of Doom was open just one weekend, with about 300 visitors. Last year, it was open three weekends, and 800 came out for a fright. This year, the fun will be held all four weekends in October, beginning Friday at 8 p.m.

“The full moon is giving a lot of light right now, but after that, it will be pitch black in there,” Jason Ridley said. “We’ll send tour guides in with a lantern, but that’s as bright as it gets.”

The outdoor venue gives the Trail a distinctly “Blair Witch” flavor.

“We’ve added more hair-raising items in the woods each year, including a new platform and a tunnel at the end this year,” Jason Ridley said. “We have new sound effects, and we’ve added Deborah Hickey as our makeup artist.”

Patrons start the night on tree stumps, circled around a large bonfire. Concessions and legal waivers will be available from workers wearing “Trail of Doom” T-shirts and featuring bright red eyes. Rope lights and other decorations will either sooth pounding hearts or give the place a spine-tingling feel from the start.

Things only get worse once you’re in the woods.

Visitors are kept on the trail by tall black walls made of carpet backing. One scene includes a real wooden casket. Another, a real hangman’s noose. A woodsy cemetery includes real tombstones dating to the early 1900s — available because they are factory misprints.

Beware demented individuals roaming the woods with real chain saws, and — fair warning — don’t leer too long at demented scarecrows or ghostly clowns floating through the misty woods.

The Trail of Doom is just one of the seasonal attractions in the area this month:

• The River Maze