Haunted Corn Maze And More Await At Wicked Woods

ROYALTON (WJON News) -- For three years, a Central Minnesota attraction has been bringing Halloween scares to the community. Wicked Woods, near Royalton, started as family decorations around co-owner Randy Winscher’s home when his kids suggested they make it more outlandish and make it a haunted attraction.

Winscher says they put in a lot of research before opening Wicked Woods:

"If you're going to open any business, you've got to know what you're getting into and we decided to jump into this, getting the permits, making sure there is plenty of parking, and again, when you first start out you don't know what to expect and as we started getting into the first year our children became very involved."

Winscher says they are learning as they go, they learn more every year, and they have doubled in size already. Wicked Woods has two attractions. Nightfall is for people looking for a good scare with a haunted woods, corn maze, and actors dressed as monsters jumping out at you.

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Little Monsters is for younger kids with displays, activities, and interaction with the actors in a fun, friendly atmosphere. Winscher says Nightfall is not for the faint of heart:

"And another thing is we have an exit also because we do have guests that cannot make it through, they just get totally terrified, and then we have a protocol to guide them back out because the fact that they just cannot make it through."

Winscher says it doesn’t matter how macho you think you are; you will get scared in Nightfall, and they have people of all ages go through, from younger kids to people in their 70s. He says people in line often hear screams from the group going through ahead of them, which always gets some worried looks, but it is a great time for all.

Nightfall is open from 8:00 to 11:00 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays through November 1^st, and costs $20. Little Monsters is open from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. on Saturdays through November 1^st. Little Monsters costs $15 for kids 9 and older and is free for kids 8 and under.

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