12-year-old dies after falling underneath trailer at haunted Halloween hayride

HAMILTON COUNTY, Tenn. — A 12-year-old boy died late Friday night after accidentally falling underneath a trailer while trying to scare people at a haunted hayride.

Deputies in Hamilton County, Tennessee, which is on the state’s Georgia border, went to The Haunted Hilltop, a local Halloween event, where they heard about a child being hit by a tractor.

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A chaperone with the boy and other kids told deputies that the kids had been playing near a hayride tractor route and hiding behind bushes trying to scare riders on the tractor.

Deputies say the boy appeared to have jumped on the trailer and slipped and fallen beneath the wheels. He was pronounced dead at the event.

The Hamilton County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed to Channel 2 Action News that the boy was 12-year-old Samuel Jessen.

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“The HCSO family extends our thoughts and sympathy to the family of the deceased juvenile, as well as the others who witnessed the tragic event. We ask the community also keep this family in their prayers during this difficult time,” they wrote in a statement.

The Haunted Hilltop closed on Saturday after the Friday night incident.

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