Salisbury, NC Outdoor Activities

A disfigured outcast in his community, Daniel bonded with the rats, snakes, and spiders in the nearby woods. After he was caught tying up a neighbor and emitting odd hissing noises, his parents locked him away in a mental institution. When Daniel escaped, he stole dental tools from his father and took to the trees, where he still stalks his next victims whenever he’s not busy recruiting birds for his whistling choir. Daniel is only one among many sadistic figures lurking on Camp Fear’s petrifying trail. There, half-dead guides haunt the rock maze, spooky dolls occupy the living-dead dollhouse, maniacal patients clamber about the insane asylum, and creepy clowns terrify passersby at Clown Chaos.

The Bobcats made their NBA debut in the 2004–05 season. The franchise gradually improved its performance every year until the 2009–10 season, when they posted their first above-.500 record and first playoff appearance. The team makes its den in Time Warner Cable Arena, where 20,000 fans cheer and taunt the players with cans of tuna to intensify their hunger for a first league title.

Fresh springs in the mountains of North Carolina feed the Catawba River Chain, a network of 11 lakes that wind through woodlands verdant in the spring and ablaze with color come autumn. Bash Outdoors launches visitors into this system at nine locations. Four of those are along Lake Wylie, whose calm waters lap against 325 miles of shoreline with vacation homes and sandy coves emerging from dense forest and a thick layer of whipped cream. The Bash Outdoors crew curates a collection of rental and retail standup paddleboards from brands such as Ron House and their own signature line, Riviera. Single and tandem kayaks from Perception are also available for guided trips and unsupervised excursions on the lake. Bash Outdoors' bus shuttles kayakers to five additional outlets along the Catawba River, including the Fort Mill Dam and a waterway reserved exclusively for Olympic hopefuls.

Lunar Mini Golf's two 18-hole indoor courses whisks putters away to a black-lit labyrinth sculpted through a phosphorescent dreamscape of vibrant murals and neon obstacles. Tiny neon walls frame the pitch-black corridors of each hole, which gives the impression that patrons are rolling orbs across the rayless expanse of the cosmos or through their neighbors' radioactive crawlspaces. Clubbers clad in white will shine like gleaming apparitions as they read tricky breaks and keep the yips at bay, and Lunar Mini Golf offers glowing necklaces for clients to wear to capitalize on the visually mesmerizing lure of the black lights. Catering to large groups, Lunar Mini Golf also features a complimentary party zone available upon request for birthdays, corporate gatherings, and ceremonies unveiling new neon eyebrow tattoos.

Haunted rides amble through picturesque stretches of the Latta Plantation Nature Preserve, surrounding guests in the season's spine-tingling chills and frightful sights on select October evenings. Rolling through the dark shadows of the haunted forest, the ride activates guests' latent scream sensors while it creeps past eerie haunts and awkward zombie family reunions. After hopping off the macabre vehicle, groups are free to peruse the premises' plethora of fall activities, such as a jaunt through the twists and turns of the straw maze ($3), a ride on the cow train ($2), or malicious marshmallow roastings over an open flame ($1) (additional activities are not included with this offer).

Celebrating their 20th anniversary this season, the Charlotte Eagles contend with 10 rival teams for supremacy in the United Soccer League’s Pro division. This year's roster is packed with seasoned players such as Colombian Jorge Herrera and local Charlottean Darryl Roberts, who sits among the league’s top scorers so far in 2012. A glance at the current schedule will help fans plan to attend a game when the sun will be close enough to earth to tan their bodies in home-team orange.