http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/14/science/14maze.html

A local family had to be retrieved by the police on Monday when they were unable to find the exit to Mr. Connor’s maze before the sun set. The parents, toting an infant and a small child, panicked and called 911, setting off a chain of events that soon turned them into a target for late-night jabs from television hosts like Jay Leno and Chelsea Handler. (The punch line, Mr. Connor said, was that the family was about 25 feet from the exit when they called for help.)

Modern corn mazes are complex systems designed with the aid of sophisticated computer programs. But they are meant to be challenging, not life-threatening, according to maze builders, and getting out should never require a police escort.

Mr. Connors, the proprietor of the Massachusetts farm, said that in five years of hosting visitors at corn mazes, he has never before had one who needed to be rescued — probably because he gives every visitor a “passport” with clues on how to get out. There are also signs posted within the maze advising lost customers to send a “corn text” from their mobile phone to a help number.

And if all else fails, he advises the simplest way out.

“It’s not like 100-acre field out there,” he said. “Just cut through the corn.”