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According to Lopez, one of the things that sets it apart from the other “haunts” is the experience of its actors.

“I’m very proud [that] the average age of the actor here is at least 30,” he said.

Many of the actors are Lopez’s personal friends, and almost all of them share his enthusiasm for the spooky and kooky.

“I like to think that every day is Halloween,” he said.

Inspired by old horror films, Lopez creates elaborate set designs for Fright Farm. This year, the sets include an asylum, a crematorium, Frankenstein’s laboratory and a haunted castle, among others.

Both the actors’ costumes and the sets are custom-made. Design planning goes on throughout the year, and volunteers begin construction in August.

Though the set design and layout changes from year to year, Lopez always brings back his favorite elements of scare.

He also pays great attention to detail.

In “Frankenstein’s laboratory,” for example, there is a small framed picture of Mary Shelley; in the “crematorium,” bones are scattered on the floor; and in the “funeral parlor,” a mortician’s tools hang on the wall.

Lopez said that many people miss these little touches of creativity when they visit Fright Farm, often because they are simply too afraid to stop and look.

“People really don’t pay attention to a lot of the little details when they’re running through here,” he said.

Fright Farm’s content is not geared toward children, and Lopez said that it often proves too scary for many adults.

Those people usually slip out one of the many emergency exits.

But actors like Bob Leo, who plays Leatherface at Fright Farm, are there for the scare.

Leatherface is a character he always enjoys to watch on the big screen. “Some of my favorite movies are the whole group of Texas Chainsaws,” he said.

Leo chose to portray the character after having a surgery that would no longer allow him to wear costume make-up around his eye.

Leatherface, he explained, doesn’t need make-up.

“It’s authentic that way,” he said.

Since Leo works as a music teacher during the day, many of his students come to visit Fright Farm.

Most of the time they don’t recognize him.

“I scare people pretty bad sometimes,” he said.

This marks Leo’s third year as Leatherface. Lopez said Leo’s portrayal of the classic horror character is pretty unnerving. “People try to get as far away from him as possible,” he said.

Many of Fright Farm’s actors choose their own characters and supply their own costumes, especially those who are “really into it,” Lopez said.

Like Leo, actor Jeff Furchner also loves frightening an audience.

“I think I have seriously messed some people up,” he said. “I like seeing people that are just wide-eyed
and don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Furchner sees why people come to Fright Farm time and time again. “You go to some other haunts, and it’s like, okay, little kiddies, nice try,” he said.

Lopez, Leo and Furchner love “haunting” so much that they attend a Halloween conference in Chicago every March. They also watch horror movies with others from the Fright Farm cast.

The worst part of the year for the Fright Farm-ers is when Halloween ends and its time to take down the set.

“It’s a bummer,” said Lopez.

“It’s very, very depressing,” said Furchner.

“I go to the psychiatrist’s office,” said Leo.

In its ten years of operation, Fright Farm has made nearly $125,000.

The haunted house is sponsored by the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department. Its proceeds go to the
D.A.R.E program. Lopez has worked on it from the beginning.

Tickets for Fright Farm are $6. It is open on the weekends through Monday, Oct. 31st from 7-11 p.m.

Fright Farm is located in Maplewood, on the corner of White Bear Avenue and Frost Street.