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For some people, the best part of Halloween is getting a good scare. For one rural Moorhead man, scaring people has become more than fun - it's his business. Mel Nygaard's haunted farm is considered one of the top 10 Halloween attractions in the country.

	Mel Nygaard's haunted farm features four acres of scary scenes, frightening noises, and monsters hiding in the woods. Last year, some 8,000 people visited his farm just south of Moorhead.Take a tour of the haunted farm. (MPR Photo/Bob Reha)

A spook in a straw hat and bib overalls rests on the mailbox. A giant black-robed ghost towers in the background, tending a cauldron. Welcome to Mel Nygaard's "Haunted Farm."

"It started out with a horse-drawn hay ride," says Nygaard. "Then Halloween come along and I decided to do something for the kids, and put together a haunted hay ride. The next year I decided to build a little haunted house - the next year I put in a cemetery, and it just kept growing."

The "Haunt," as Nygaard calls it, now covers most of his four-acre hobby farm. A self described pack rat, Nygaard has broken-down vehicles and rusty equipment littering the grounds. Most of the junk eventually becomes part of the tour. For example, the dinosaurs preparing to put a fright on visitors were - in a previous life - parts of an old auger system.

The tour starts in the kitchen of old an farm house. A sign on the door advises customers that Depends undergarment shields are available for a $1.50 apiece.

A group from a local elementary school weaves through the house. They totter across a narrow ledge, which gives the illusion of crossing a bottomless pit. The house is filled with doors hiding scary monsters - you need to be careful where you step. Switches hidden in the floor trigger special effects, like spring-loaded dummies hidden behind mirrors and doors.

There are tunnels and graveyards. And when you least expect it, something is bound to jump out at you.

For most visitors, a trip to a haunt is an escape from reality - a little harmless thrill-seeking. That might be changing. Dr. Philip Rice, a psychologist at Minnesota State University-Moorhead, says since the terrorist attacks last month, paying someone to scare you might not seem so attractive to some folks.

"The face of evil is a little bit too palpable at this time," says Dr. Rice. "And the line between fantasy and reality has become a bit more blurred."

	Mel Nygaard has operated his haunted farm for several years. For the second year, it's been ranked by America Online as one of the top 10 Halloween attractions in the country. (MPR Photo/Bob Reha)

But Rice says, in the right context, a little scare might be just thing to relieve stress.

"Getting kind of a jolt to the system periodically can help us actually operate a little more efficiently," Rice says.

Back at the farm, Mel Nygaard says his staff are careful not to make it too scary. Nygaard discourages kids under 12 from visiting the haunted farm at night. If they do visit, some of the most frightening elements are eliminated.

"One thing I have noticed - I see more families where the kids are with mom and dad," says Nygaard. "Several times we've had college students with mom and dad, and I had not seen that before."

Nygaard says actors who haunt the farm at night are limited to portraying more traditional spooks. Even to the most hardened cynics, it can be a bit unsettling to walk down a dark, tree-lined path and come face-to-face with the Grim Reaper in the pale moonlight.

The man in the costume, Merle Hanson, has stalked "victims" along the trails of the farm for the past 12 years. He says it gives him a chance to express his mischievous streak. His costume is simple - a black robe, skeleton mask and hands, and an old scythe he had hanging around the house.

There's nothing to it, really. You just let the people scare themselves. You just sneak up behind them and stand there and let them frighten themselves," Hanson says.

The Haunted Farm has borrowed liberally from popular movies. Fans of Scream and The Blair Witch Project will recognize a lot. The trick, Nygard says, is to keep people moving. If people linger too long, there is little room for subtlety.

Last year 8,000 people toured the Haunted Farm. Not bad, considering it's only open three weeks a year. Owner Mel Nygaard says the constant challenge is finding new thrills and chills. So far he's been successful. For the second year America Online has ranked the Haunted Farm among the top 10 Halloween attractions in the nation.