The Minnesota State Fair's Haunted Mansion has been giving people frights for 42 years

For nearly a half century, the Haunted Mansion at the Minnesota State Fair has been scaring people silly.

In this week's Finding Minnesota, John Lauritsen got a sneak peek into how dozens of monsters bring fright to the fair.

For 42 years, Johnny Burns has been giving people jump scares inside the Haunted Mansion.

At this point he could open his own scare school. But when he's not in costume, he's making sure the mansion looks monstrous.

"We've been working on this for the last couple years," said Burns while showing off the the laboratory room. 

Burns is a manager and one of about 100 monsters who play a role in this scream factory. The mansion opened in 1977 and Debbie Kohnen's dad bought the building in 1984.

"When he approached me and said, 'what do you think Debbie?' I said, 'You know nothing about a haunted house,'" said Kohnen, who now owns the mansion with her sister.

They built a family business through fright.

"I enjoy the people who work for us. And the kids, the monsters too. I enjoy people's reactions," said Kohnen.

Molly Mlynarczyk began working here when she was 15-years-old. Her job is to hire this year's Freddy Kruegers and Michael Myers and get them into costume. It's a process that begins in May. There's a two-hour orientation and plenty of rules to learn before the new spooks are set free.

"We have lots of varieties of different rooms. Two stories, 16 rooms. Lots of different themes and they just get you from every angle," said Mlynarczyk. "Even grown adults will drop to their knees. They can't move and they're petrified."

Burns is to blame for much of terror. He helps carve out hiding spots for monsters.

The mansion buys many of their props and mannequin zombies at Halloween stores, or they order them online.

Throughout the entire fair, security cameras monitor what's happening inside and out for safety reasons.

"Sometimes kids get scared, they get stuck in the corner. We have to go find them and bring them out to their parents," said Burns.

But the ones who do make it to the end often want to go through again. And that's just fine with the ghosts and goblins because they're always ready and waiting.

"We've had a lot of fun. It's been a ride. And we'll continue on," said Kohnen.

The Haunted Mansion opens at 9 a.m. every morning at the state fair and runs all day.