SoMinn Favorite Haunts

SoMinn

By TOM NELSON Guest Contributor

Southern Minnesota residents looking to experience a few thrills and chills during the upcoming Halloween season will certainly be in for a treat as several haunted house attractions will be making their annual appearances around the area in 2022.

“We think people like interactive experiences. People like to get out of the house, especially after COVID, and get back into the mix of things,” said Matt Dunn, owner of Scream Town and the Abandoned

Hayride attractions in Chaska. “This is like being inside a movie. It’s something that only comes around once a year and I think there is a lot of excitement for people that want to come out and be part of something like that.”

One of the top haunted house attractions in the United States,

Scream Town has been entertaining and “terrifying” customers for 15 years. In recent years, the

Abandoned Hayride has been added to the venue offering customers two different ticketed haunted experiences.

“The Abandoned Hayride has been described as the Haunted

Hayride reinvented. Very unique, very different. It is a theatrical, haunted, terrifying experience. And then we drop you off in the woods and you have to find your way back, so that’s kind of neat,” Dunn said. “Scream Town has seven huge separate attractions, consisting of different mazes and another woods walk that is filled with all kinds of sets and actors.”

Dunn added, “We have two new attractions at Scream Town. We totally tore down what was there before, so we have a great new one called the Psycho-delic Circus and then we have the

Zombie Apocalypse attraction. We totally rethemed, reinvented this year with lots of new animations…they’re very intense and much more intense then what they were before.”

In St. Peter, the Mill Pond Haunted Hay Ride will take visitors on a spine-tingling jaunt through the spooky Minnesota River bottom woods. In its seventh season of bringing frights to the area, the Mill Pond Haunted Hay Ride is an annual benefit event for the Nicollet County Trail Association snowmobile club.

“We have tractor pulled hayracks and you sit on the bales of hay during the ride,” event coordinator Kenny Johnson said. “We load up in the park and then the hayracks travel down into the river bottom woods through trails along Minnesota River.” Johnson said the “haunt” level of the hayride is PG-13, which makes for a somewhat family friendly experience with a few scares thrown in to keep things interesting. A food truck will also be available at the Mill Pond park during the haunting season in 2022.

He added, “The Nicollet County Trail Association is the main group putting this one, and the we have other volunteer groups

The spooks are in large supply coming out to help us put it on too. The proceeds are then distributed out between the at Scream Town groups that help volunteer each year…and we in Chaska. are always looking for more volunteers to come out and help with this event. “The city of St. Peter works well with us on this, so we would like to thank them for allowing us to do this and we would also like to thank all our volunteers who help us each year. The people we get to help are the people who are truly interested in doing something fun and “Halloweey” for their community.” Another popular haunted attraction in Scream Town also includes an abandoned hayride. the area is Fright at the Farm in Zumbrota. Located on a homestead that was built in 1920 and began life as a Minnesota dairy farm, the property was bought in 2015 and named Willow’s Keep Farm with the purpose of moving a Rochester based haunted attraction from the History Center of Olmsted County to An animated creepy clown greets visitors at the Mill Pond Haunted Hay Ride in St. Peter. permanent location. The farm also grows industrial hemp and the cannabis fields surrounding the facility features a seasonal hemp/cannabis maze that plays a part in the haunted attraction along with a “canna-disc” golf course. “We have our hemp maze, which is our cannabis maze, so during the day the cannabis maze is open and we also added this year a

Fright at the Farm in Zumbrota includes a haunted circus and cannabis maze.

“canna-disc” golf course. Basically you are playing frisbee disc golf but you’re playing it in a hemp field. Along the fairways of those holes, we have cannabis growing, so you are playing a golf course through a cannabis field,” said owner Ted Galaty.

“And at night, the maze turns into the haunted cannabis maze. We have an old dairy barn that is split into two levels and that is mazed out. We also have a couple buses and a granary that has been turned into a haunted attraction. There are really elements throughout the farm.”

The attraction will begin its 12th season in 2022. Galaty’s first haunted houses took place at his home in Rochester back in 2008. In his last year at his house location, the attraction had over 2,000 visitors before it moved to the History Center of Olmsted County for a three year run. The move to the farm in Zumbrota along Highway 52 has allowed Fright at the Farm to grow into a Halloween season favorite.

“It has definitely leveled up since I started it as a home haunt,” Galaty said. “Every year we break the record for attendees.”

This year’s theme is the “Abandoned Circus and Haunted Cannabis Maze” and has been described by Galaty as “sideshow characters, freaks, clowns and zombie clowns…just a whole mix.”

Galaty said he teams up with a local arts group to help provide actors and actresses to populate the haunt each year.

“We work with the Pine Area People for the Arts (PAPA) and they provide the actors. We have some employees but the majority of the people out there are with that organization which is a performing arts group and it is a fundraiser for them as well,” Galaty said.

Unlike many of the indoor based haunted attractions, Fright at the Farm was able to continue running throughout the pandemic since much of the attraction was outdoors.

“We never closed in 2020,” Galaty said. “We just didn’t have our maze open inside and everything was outside that year. That actually has helped improve our haunt because we ended getting a bunch of party tents, so now we have both the inside maze and the outside party tents mazed out with pallets. The way I look at it, the COVID year made our attraction better.”

Galaty noted, “We’ve expand every single year and have changed it up every year, but for the most part - even during COVID - people just want to get out and do stuff. Obviously, we cater to more teens and adults but I think there are just a lot of people who want to get out because it is the fall Halloween season and it something to do with the family.”

Fright at the Farm - The Abandoned Circus and Haunted Cannabis Maze

47385 Hwy. 52, Zumbrota Phone: 507-491-2639 Website: rochesterhorror.com

The Abandoned Circus will be in town during the Halloween season to offer its share of scary clowns, circus freaks and creatures as part of this year’s Fright at the Farm Haunted House attraction, which is located on Highway 52 in Zumbrota. The venue also features a haunted cannabis maze during the evening hours and a unique “canna-disc” frisbee disc golf course on the farm’s grounds during the daylight hours. Tickets can be purchased online in advance by visiting the attraction’s website at www. rochesterhorror.com

Mill Pond Haunted Hay Ride

300 S. Front St., Mill Pond Park, St. Peter Facebook: Mill Pond Haunted Hay Ride

Experience a haunted hayride through the eerie river bottom woods along the Minnesota River near St. Peter’s Mill Pond Park. The Mill Pond Haunted Hay Ride will be open on Oct. 21-22 during MEA Weekend and also on Oct. 28-29. Hours each day are from 7:00 p.m. until 11:00 p.m. Tickets are available at the gate

A pair of skeletons looking to get one last ride on a snowmobile at the Mill Pond Haunted Hay Ride in St. Peter. The event is sponsored each year by the Nicollet County Trails Association snowmobile club.

(cash or check only - no credit cards). For more information on this event, which is put on each year by the Nicollet County Trail Association, please visit its Facebook page at Mill Pond Haunted Hay Ride.

Minnesota Zoo

13000 Zoo Blvd., Apple Valley Phone: 952-431-9200 Website: mnzoo.org

The Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular at the Minnesota Zoo is back - bigger and better than ever. This annual Halloween event will run from October 1 to November 5 at the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley, and it will feature thousands of carved and illuminated pumpkins on a trail at the zoo. This year’s theme is “Night at the Library” and an amazing selection of expertly carved pumpkins will be designed in the likeness of favorite library book characters and creatures. Of course, the zoo is also home to hundreds of species of animals on display for visitors to enjoy. For more information and ticket prices for this year’s Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular, visit mnzoo.org.

Monster Bash Haunted House

150 First St. NW, Harmony Website: monsterbashhauntedhouse.org/ the-haunt

Since 2012, the Monster Bash Haunted House has been offering scary chills and thrills at its location in Harmony, Minn. This year’s theme is “Slim Chance” and it will be open on Oct. 14-15, Oct. 21-23 and Oct. 28-31. Admission is $13 per person and it is a cash only venue (no credit cards currently accepted at the gate). This year’s theme has been inspired by old horror/thriller movies.

The Monster Bash Haunted House started as a fundraising to help support the music, theater and arts program at Fillmore Central Schools, which serve the communities of Harmony, Fountain and Preston. In particular, funds have been used to help fund music trips to perform around the country.

Student from the schools, with assistance from their families and other community members design and create the haunted house each year and it has grown into one of the area’s top Halloween haunted houses. Unlike sports or other student activities, the haunted house is the one time that students and their parents or guardians can participate together to help create and run the haunted house.

“We do something very different every year. If you look through our history themes you can see how different the haunt is year to year. We are a good haunted house, having won the best haunted attraction award from MinnesotaHauntedHouses.com for the last 4 years the award was given. We try to engage people in the haunt fun from the time they arrive on site until they finish the haunt,” a Monster Bash spokesperson said. “I believe people go to haunted houses (in general) for two primary reasons. People enjoy being frightened in a safe way and people enjoy seeing their friends frightened. We get both screams and laughs from groups (often the same groups) each year.” For more information, visit monsterbashhauntedhouse.org/the-haunt.

New Ulm Nightmares Haunted House

Brown County Fairgrounds, New Ulm Website: newulmnightmares.com

The eighth annual New Ulm Nightmares Haunted House will present

Haunt at the Brown County Fairgrounds on Oct. 28-29 from 7-10 p.m. and on Oct. 31 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. This year’s event will include two haunted houses: The Farm and The Crypt, which is features a blackout with no lights and only a lantern to make your way through the “crypt.” A special black light night in the Farm Haunted House will be held on Oct. 29 from 10:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Groups going through this will be provided with one glow stick to help them navigate. On Halloween Day from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., a “light on” non-scary haunted house will be offered for kids before the evening scary fun begins at 6:00 p.m. that night. For more information, visit newulmnightmares.com.

Nickelodeon Boo-niverse

Mall of America, Bloomington Website: nickelodeonuniverse.com/ event/nickelodeon-boo-niverse/

Nickelodeon Boo-niverse is back again for the Halloween season at the Mall of America in Bloomington. The popular Nickelodeon Universe indoor amusement park will be transformed during the month of October to include a variety of Halloween season treats including favorite Nickelodeon characters in costumes along with several season events. Check out the Nickelodeon Boo-niverse website for all the details at nickelodeonuniverse.com/ event/nickelodeon-boo-niverse.

Rochester Trolley and Tour Company

972 14th Avenue SW, Rochester Phone: 507-421-0573 Website: rochestermntours.com

The Rochester Trolley and Tour Company offers two tours that delve into the haunted side of the Rochester area on selected dates in October. The tour includes visits into several of city’s locations with a haunted history including the Rochester Civic Theater, the State Hospital Cemetery and the noted Kahler Grand Hotel. Paranormal experts also offer their insight to highlight the tour. For more information on the tours and dates available, please visit www. rochestermntours.com

ScreamTown and The Abandoned Hayride

7410 U.S. 212, Chaska (Scream Town) 7525 U.S. 212, Chaska (The Abandoned Hayride) Phone: 888-317-7308 or 888-246-6783 Website: screamtown.com or theabandonedhayride.com

A popular haunt in nearby Chaska, Scream Town and The Abandoned Hayride offers two ticketed attractions that are guaranteed to provide a few Halloween thrills. Scream Town offers seven scary attractions that consists of mazes and a woods walk that is populate by a host of ghouls, ghosts and creatures. The Abandoned Hayride has been described as the haunted hayride revisited and includes being dropped off in the “haunted” woods and customers having to find their way back to the start. Both attractions will begin their Halloween season run on September 23. Due to the popularity of these attractions, advanced ticket purchases are highly recommended, and you can purchase them online at www.screamtown. com or www.theabandonedhayride.com/

Valleyfair Tricks and Treats

1 Valleyfair Dr., Shakopee Phone: 952-445-7600 Website: valleyfair.com/events/tricks-and-treats

The Halloween celebrations at Valleyfair in Shakopee will be changing its tempo a bit this year as the park will introduce “Tricks and Treats” in 2022, which is billed as “our all-new, over-the-top, large-than-life, gotta-bethere Halloween event.” Valleyfair willl only be open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday during the month of October with seasonal events designed to provide “fun and family-friendly eeriness.” Visitors can experience the Land of Tricks, which will offer two realms titled Ickyville and Spooky Spires. The Land of Treats will feature Everfall and Sweet Tooth Acres. In addition, the park’s popular rides will be open to provide their usual thrills and chills. Visit www.valleyfair.com/events/tricks-and-treats for more details. 

A few of the carved pumpkins on display at the Minnesota Zoo’s Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular.

The 2022 version of New Ulm Nightmares features two haunted houses: The Farm and The Crypt.