MOORHEAD, Minn. — When Dale Nygaard’s dad started the Haunted Farm back in 1995, none of the Nygaard family was what you’d call a pro at this haunting business.

Melcolm Nygaard was by no means a showbiz guy; instead, he’d run a hardware store out west.

But that wasn’t stopping him, says Dale, who shortly thereafter moved back from Washington state and decided, with his wife Paula, to pitch in.

“When he started, I wondered what the heck is he doing here. Then, it took off,” said Dale.

Ardis Nygaard is Dale’s mother, and says her husband saw right away when they bought that first farm building in rural Moorhead that there wasn’t much for the littlest kids to do there around Halloween.

So Mel hitched up his horses and hay wagon, and with the help of their daughter, put the neighborhood k

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