2026 Question and Answer With Monster Bash Haunted House

What does Monster Bash Haunted House have in store for the 2026 Halloween season? Bryan Berg is here to tell you!

What's new at Monster Bash Haunted House for 2026? Do you have any new rides, attractions, or special features that Haunt Seekers should know about?

We are very excited this year because we have added 2000 additional square feet of space for our Haunt as a part of a large, community supported project that upgraded our building dramatically! We not only have the additional haunt space, but more room for prop and equipment storage. The improvements were many years in the making, and we couldn't have done it without the amazing support of our area communities!

What are you most excited about for the 2026 Halloween Season?

Because we build a completely new environment for our Haunt theme - including different locations to enter the Haunt - we are always excited for the new set-up and preparing a very different experience for our Haunt Victims...er...Guests! But with that additional square footage we now have available to us, we are really looking forward to utilizing it to make our Haunt better and better!

What differentiates Monster Bash Haunted House from other local haunts in Minnesota?

I think one of the things that makes us unique is that we not only essentially start from scratch every year - tearing down the Haunt from one year's theme and then planning, building and setting up a new Haunt the following year with a different theme, a different walk-though (with different twists and turns) and scares from different locations - we also work very hard to make our Haunts wheelchair accessible.

How long has Monster Bash Haunted House been in business? Can you tell us a bit more about Monster Bash Haunted House's history?

Monster Bash originally began with the idea of providing a way for students and their families in our area to offset costs for the biennial Music Department (Band & Choir) trips, but instead of just handing over money, the Haunted Houses provide a way for those students and families to volunteer and be a part of the effort to earn those dollars. We are located in one of the lowest income areas of the State, and the Haunted Houses have helped students attend trips that they otherwise wouldn't have been able to afford. So, since 2012 - which started as a loosely organized effort and using the local Community Center gymnasium - to 2017 when Monster Bash incorporated into a 501(C)(3) charity and purchased its own building, and into the present where we have been so honored to win awards for our efforts the last several years, Monster Bash has continued to support Music, Theater & the Arts in our area, while being "Different Every Year!" and make those trips more affordable for area students.

What's your favorite experience since opening Monster Bash Haunted House?

I've been a part of the Haunted Houses since the first one in 2012, when I was asked to make some signage that the first Haunt needed, that led to doing a room (with my own children who were a part of Band at that time) in the second Haunt to being a part of the Board of Directors and having all sorts of roles in the Haunts that followed. My favorite experience over that time has been opportunity to get to know the students and their families and watch many of our students grow up over their multiple years of taking part in the annual Haunt efforts. I think one of the big pluses of what we do has been the fact that this is an activity where families don't just cheer on their kids from a sideline, they take part in the experience with them: from helping at the entry with greeting our customers and doing ticket sales to being on our "scare floor" together. That is a very cool experience that's "behind the scenes" somewhat!

How long is a typical haunt experience at Monster Bash Haunted House from start to finish?

We try to make it a "Halloween Experience" as soon as our guests get close to our building. We have a hearse outside decked out in lights and music to set the mood for scary fun, actors that mingle with our guests as they wait in line (which is darkened and has some fun signage and photo op areas), and then - of course - there is the Haunt itself. The wait time in the queue varies, and though we've had some really long lines a couple of times in past years, generally the wait in line hovers around an hour. The time in the Haunt has varied over the years (and some groups are slow, and some are fast!) but this year it'll be around a 10-15 minute experience. We break groups down to no more than four at a time, and try to space them out as best we can to try and prevent a group from catching up to another one so each group can get as full of an immersive experience in the Haunt as possible! Overall, guests can expect to spend about 90 minutes with us from when they park until they drive away, hopefully with smiles on their faces and their hearts still beating a little faster than usual!

On a scale from 1 to 10, how scary would you say Monster Bash Haunted House is? Why?

That's a tough one. We've learned that everyone is different. What frightens one person is "meh" to another! Because of that, we do try to mix things up within our different themed haunts to have something that will "get" every guest at least one good heart-in-the-throat scare! Over the years we've had individuals and groups so scared that they've dropped to the floor, ran out of the exit at top speed, fallen over each other knocking down props and decorations, screaming loud and proud, and we've even had some enter the first Haunt Space and refuse to go any further! The stories of fright are endless! But, with that said, our true goal is to entertain and give everyone a fun time in a spooky environment. I'd say that for most, Monster Bash is a good, fun scare at the 8-level, and for an overall fun, spooky experience, we make it to 10.

Does Monster Bash Haunted House's property have any real haunted history? Do you have a spooky encounter you'd like to share?

Our building was originally a lumber yard business in town, and we thought that there has to be some scary stories that go along with people being around large hunks of wood, not to mention saws. But if there is any, they didn't get passed along to us! Even so, we have our volunteers tell stories of strange noises and unexplained walking-like sounds when nobody was around in our building, so maybe there is a ghost or two from that bygone era still hanging out to this day?

Anything else you'd like to let us know about Monster Bash Haunted House?

We're excited for our upcoming 14th Haunted House effort in October of 2026! The theme's name this year is "Meltdown Medical", and while we have incorporated some aspects of creepy doctors and nurses, with some not so helpful exam rooms here and there over the years, this will be the first Haunt where we go full-out on the horrific hospital experience. I don't want to give away too much, but imagine a hospital that looks like a hospital but because of a nasty nearby nuclear meltdown, it's not a helpful place anymore! We can't wait!