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Good evening.

There are things that happen in the dark of night that are not discussed during the day.

This is the season of the haunting and this is the business of scaring people.

[laughter] I'm Ken and this is in business.

Thank you for joining us.

Halloween is the second most popular holiday of the year.

Christmas of course is big for gift giving, but Halloween more money is spent on that than any other holiday other than Christmas.

beating out Mother's Day just a couple of years ago.

And that's right, it's a business of scaring people and it's big business.

And that's what we're looking at this week on In Business.

We'll talk to a person that calls himself Mr.

Halloween.

And we'll also take you to an attraction, a spooktacular that unfortunately is going through its final stages.

And we'll be here at the William A. Irvin, the haunted ship on the water.

Excuse me.

It's a great show.

It's coming up.

It's in business.

And it's the business of scaring people.

Be afraid.

Be very very much afraid.

This week, we're looking at the business of scare and how local attractions bring a little fright to the spookiest time of the year.

First, we take you to a popular local attraction that you can now experience after dark by the light of lanterns.

This week on in business we are looking at the business of scaring people or taking them to places that are different because of the Halloween season.

Dustin Hecman is our guest.

He is the director here at Glensheen the Duth Historic Mansion.

and thank you very much for being on In Business.

Yeah, thanks for being here.

Ken, you've got the lantern.

Tell us about it.

Yes.

So during October, we have our lantern tours and so this is a very popular tour that people come from all over.

We get a lot of folks from the Twin Cities.

It's a great tourism draw for this time of season.

So you get to go through the mansion only by the light of a lantern or a flashlight.

So it's a guided tour.

You get to see some things in different light than what you normally would see on any other tour.

Now, one of the things about the uh lantern tour, of course, is because of the history of Glen Sheen and what happened here, the double homicide, does that bring more people in now that it's night and dark?

Uh, it does bring a few more people in, but as we do with all of our tours, we don't go into that history at all.

Um, just out of respect for the family members and those victims of that evening.

And so, we really do be very specific that this is not the focus of it.

You're learning about the history of the Cognum family, why they built this great mansion, and all the great details you get to see.

And you see it quote unquote under a different light, which is kind of exciting.

Exactly.

And that's the thing is like our tour guides have really taken the time to learn how to properly light things up so you can actually see them in the dark and make sure that all of our guests get a chance to see those fine details rather than just like, "Wow, I'm in a dark room.

What is that like?"

One of the things Dustin that you said right off the top which is about the business of tourism and that this is a destination.

Glensheen has always been a destination at times it ranked as one number one tourist attraction in not just Duth but in all of Minnesota.

So what happens when someone comes to a destination attraction takes your tour?

What does that do for the other businesses in the area?

So it's a great draw because what it does is other people can tag up on it.

So, when we think about this season, folks come up for a lantern tour on Friday night, maybe they stay over, do something on Saturday, and then they go to the haunted ship or some other attraction on Saturday evening.

And it just builds that entire economy.

So, it helps our hotels, our hospitality industry.

And that's what we're really trying to do is bring as many people from outside of Duth in the area as we can so we can help that larger economy in this area.

Glen Sheen noted for a lot of events, whether it be music on the pier, the grounds, or some of the other great events that you do throughout the year.

How does the Lantern Tour fit in as far as its revenue for the establishment?

Yeah.

So, what a lot of people don't know is we are part of the University of Minnesota, but within that, we are a self-sustaining unit, which means we have to pay our own way.

So, 95% of our budget is earned revenue.

So tours like this is what brings folks in and they get to experience that and help us preserve this amazing estate.

Uh for us that October to end of the year is really busy where some other attractions fall off.

We stay very busy right through NBA weekend and right into that fall season.

So this was a way for us to boost that a little bit.

We did it as an experiment a couple years ago is just like a one weekend thing.

100% sellout.

So, we started moving it to twice a week, Friday and Saturday nights for a month, uh, starting last year and this year, and it's gone over amazing.

So, uh, just the lantern tours themselves have brought over 900 people [music] to Duth just for that.

Um, so it's a great thing for us and it really builds up that revenue as we're entering into that slower tourism season.

So, what you've done is you've taken a down season and made it a shoulder season.

Exactly.

So that's what we're always trying to find is how can we build these little things in on those shoulder seasons and how do we make it so that we keep that tourism economy going keep people coming through seeing Glensheen learning about it and helping us support the preservation here as a destination that means people are coming to Duth to Glensheen what do they say after taking one of these tours uh so we've had great reviews on these folks just enjoy seeing Glen in a different light um some have been here for daytime tours so they want to see something a little bit different uh and with a guided experience, they get to learn a little bit more as they go throughout.

And this really focuses on the details of the mansion.

And I think that's what people are really wanting to see is like what are those fine details that maybe they miss in the daylight or now they want to come back and see it in the daylight.

I've heard many people say that after a lantern tour like, "Okay, now I got to come back during the day, see what it looks like."

We've had some folks that will come one night for a lantern tour and come back the next day for a daytime tour because they want to see the difference between the two and pick up on things that they missed.

Dustin Hecman is our guest on in business.

We're at Glensheen.

They have their uh wonderful lantern night tours going on right now.

But as you told me, your staff, a lot of volunteers from the university just love this event.

Yeah, we have students that just really get into this.

Uh when we had this opportunity to have like a cloak master or like the guide for the tours, we had some students that were jumping at the chance.

They're like, "Yes, I want to do this.

I want to dress up in the cloak.

I want a guy with the lantern."

and it's just been a phenomenal thing to see their investment in it just as much as uh what we uh have for paid staff.

Glen Sheen is such a wonderful resource to the community because it's been so wonderfully preserved.

And not only does it have the lantern tours, obviously in the summer, the regular tours, the ground tours, the music on the pier, and now coming up, if you don't make the lantern tour, grab a candle.

Tell us about that.

Yeah, so as we're going into this next season, Glen Sheen gets all decked out for Christmas.

25 plus Christmas trees.

We actually start decorating next week for this.

It's a great season.

Uh so you can come through and actually see tour by day with all the Christmas trees or you can come at night for our candlelight tours on Friday and Saturday evenings.

And you can see the mansion lit up just by the lights of the trees.

It's a great experience.

It's a family tradition for a lot of people.

And again with tourism, it brings a lot of folks to town to do many different things.

Maybe they're coming for Winter Village, Bentleyville.

It's all part of that scheme and that's what we're trying to do is build up that business and that's what InBusiness is all about.

Dustin Hecman has been our guest.

He is the director here at Glen Sheen.

Thank you very much for being on In Business.

Yeah, thanks for having me, Ken.

This week on In Business, it's the business of scaring people.

Halloween is big business.

The National Retail Federation predicts that this year Americans will spend over $13 billion on everything from candy and costumes to decorations and experiences.

It's the latter that brings two guests to our studio to talk about the fright in the night.

Patrick Stoyovich came up with the idea of the haunted shack in Carlton, just outside of Duth 33 years ago.

It's staffed by volunteers and all the proceeds are invested right back in the community.

This is Patrick's and the Shack's final run.

Matt Rasmuson is a Halloween enthusiast and affectionado.

He's a member of the always fun Twin Ports Ghostbusters and has starred in the production of several independent fright films.

Matt is the king of Halloween.

And last but not least, Zach.

We're honored to have all three of you with us on business.

Patrick, what gave you the idea to create the Haunted Shack 33 years ago, and why is it been remained so popular?

It uh actually started in my yard and then uh Gary New Community Club asked me to do a local haunt for one day for the kids in the community.

So we gathered some props together and uh school teachers were Dracula and we hung little ghosts around and the kids came through for a day and the following year they wanted me to do it again and I uh said I'd like to do it for a cause um and I would need a building for a month.

So they gave me the skating shack which is known as and Gary Noodle and the Hunts the name the haunted shack.

It's evolved over the years from there and it's uh grown from something I never imagined would ever happen from that little tiny building to a 3,400 square foot building with pneumatics, animatronics, uh 16 channel soundboard outside uh corn maze, haunted trail, and a haunted um maze fence maze that we had set up.

They had to find their way through.

All of the proceeds go back to the community.

What organizations have benefited and how much have you raised over the years?

Um, I just found out we did 25 years with the Ben Ford Coats for Kids.

I started with Carla Ringo at the time and they have raised over 28,000 coats and today when we brought them our coats, we made the effort and we have donated over 18,000 of those coats for them.

Chum food shelf.

We brought down the other day an entire pickup load of food for them and it now topples over three semi-loadads over the 33 years that we've been doing the haunted shack.

And over the past five years, I started a program for youth organizations, adult organizations, um, where they can provide me so many actors and we pay their group or organization, especially in these tough times where Minnesota just cut over 7 million for school funding.

Duth now is facing almost a $3 million deficit.

And that funding is going to come out of some of these places.

And it's it's hurts hurts that I'm not going to be donating anymore.

This is uh the final run.

The shack closed last week.

Um and we'll get back to that in a moment, but I want to go to Matt.

Matt, uh you've been a Halloween guy for a long time.

What makes the holiday so popular?

Man, I'd say that Halloween is the most magical and the most creative holiday out there as you get to be whomever you want.

There are no limits.

Nobody can tell you who you are and who you aren't.

And it really gets you get to discover who you actually are on Halloween.

Maybe something that you've been a little too frightened to produce the other 364 days of the year.

Uh Halloween really brings out the wild person in all of us.

Matt Rasmus is our guest.

He is the king of Halloween.

Self-proclaimed but still apppropo.

Uh and then Patrick Stoyovich is with us.

He uh originated the Haunted Shack uh back in the day.

Let's go back to you, Matt.

You and Keith Hopkins uh created several independent films on the Gravedigger Dave series.

And you played Gravedigger Dave.

Why do people pay money to go to a movie theater to be scared?

Man, I I think it's because people enjoy that little thrill, right?

And if it's a safe scare, you know that it's not going to ever like weave into dangerous territory.

you know that you are safe and the boundaries are set there.

You're never really in any danger.

So, it's fun to just kind of take a peek behind the curtain.

What's your favorite besides Ghostbusters uh Halloween movie on the fright variety?

That is a that is a a big question.

I'd say uh bar none the greatest Halloween film that was ever made is the 2007 classic Trick or Treat directed by Michael Doherty.

that that film, it just eats, screams, breathes Halloween every single frame.

And it's it's just so perfect.

And it it has actually given us a brand new mascot for Halloween named Sam himself, Sam Hayne.

Um, one of the things that of course is measuring that is box office.

Yes.

And the box office winner is Stephen King's It.

Uh, and what was that?

2017 did $720 million worldwide.

Yeah.

Um, a lot of people that create characters like gravedigger Dave, uh, say that when they create these scary characters, they actually get nightmares from having created that.

But Stephen King's great quote was, "I don't have nightmares.

I sleep very well.

I give my nightmares away."

That was Stephen King's quote.

So, Patrick, back to you.

the shaft cracked up this uh season last Saturday and uh is moving or you're moving on because of health issues and we certainly wish you the best and uh and thank you for 33 years of great screams.

How do you feel about the run and having it all come to an end?

The run was was really great this year.

We had a tremendous outpouring.

I mean even the two nights that we had downpours of rain, we had almost record-breaking crowds on those evenings.

Um, people came out to support us for our last year.

We even had people travel over eight, nine hours and then drive back just because they want to see the final show.

Um, it kind of saddening it's ending, but you know, 33 years is a long run.

I've been doing haunted displays for 46 years.

Um, so I'm I'm no spring chicken at Halloween.

And hopefully somebody purchases the building and whole operation and moves it to their location and either continue on what I've been doing over the years or add it to their haunt that they're currently doing.

And you do a Christmas decoration in your yard as well.

Yes.

Yes.

That's another thing that we were just discussing earlier that Halloween and Christmas should be like a sixmon aa in between.

So, um, how Christmas time I do about 40,000 lights in 14 different scenes and out in my yard.

It's a mini Bentleyville and, um, with all the neighbors come out and help and friends and so it's kind of a community thing to bring back to people again.

Matt, uh, you've gone to many, many Halloween attractions.

What's your favorite and why?

Well, you know, uh, poor went out for the haunted shack, my friend.

Uh, I think probably the next most favorite one I' I'd say it has to be the haunted ship because it is right there.

I just live inches from it.

So, it's always it's always omniresent and I love the unique uh location.

Like, where else can you tour a haunted ship?

Uh, so so that that alone really brings it something different that a lot a lot of the hunts even in the US don't have.

Uh, so so that's always a fun one.

Patrick said some people travel up to nine hours uh to come see the Haunted Shack in Carlton, which is certainly an honor.

Matt, what's the furthest you've ever traveled to see an attraction, and what what made you go the distance?

Oo, I'd say Halloween Horror Nights.

Uh either California or Florida?

Probably California was the furthest one I went because uh a lot of their attractions are based on movie properties that that I know and love.

And they did have a Ghostbusters scare uh set up one year and uh that was fun to go through.

Chucky, Sam Hayne, they have all these different characters and they really bring it to life.

So uh that's that's that's for my money.

And what will you guys be doing on Halloween, Patrick?

Um I'm going to got some displays set up in my yard with a little maze the trick-or-treaters walk through and um giving them a little scare and like I always like to do on Halloween.

And Haunted Shack has only operated on three Halloweens throughout the years because I want people to go out and enjoy what the holiday actually is and getting out and trick-or-treating and getting around.

Uh Matt, uh you probably have a full schedule.

I mean, being one of the official Duth Ghostbusters, I know you're you're active particularly this time of year, but you know, the haunting goes on all year, but what will you be doing this Halloween?

Well, usually we we get in the car and uh it's a good way to just give away the rest of the candy that we have after our trunk or treats.

We have one actually coming up on Friday and then whatever's left after that, we just drive around and hand it out to whomever may or may not be around trick-or-treating.

Uh, and it's a good way to give back to the community and to just get rid of our extra load and then uh just chill and then we watch Halloween specials and, you know, pass out on candy after that.

And then you just wait until uh next Halloween or what?

You're busy during the year.

Yeah, super busy during the year.

I've got three different movie shows I'm always cranking out new content for every week.

Uh, so I I stay pretty busy throughout the year, although The Crown never really comes off.

Patrick Stoyovich has been our guest and uh he is the uh ghoul behind the haunted chief ghoul behind the haunted shack and of course Matt Rasmmanson is known as the king of Halloween.

Thank you both for being on in business.

Thank you Ken very much.

Now here's a look at some business news from around the region.

The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce has named Doug Stang its next president and CEO.

Stang has experience in both business and government, including time at 3M and four terms in the Minnesota House.

He'll take over December 1st, succeeding Doug Lon.

The Small Business Administration is offering lowinterest disaster loans to businesses and nonprofits affected by this summer's Boundary Waters wildfires.

Eligible applicants in seven Minnesota counties may qualify for up to $2 million.

Meanwhile, plans for the proposed Embagi Trail Energy Center natural gas power plant in Superior have been cancelled.

Dairland Power Cooperative has asked Wisconsin regulators to withdraw the project's permits after years of opposition.

And St.

Louis County leaders are backing Deloo 148 Fighter Wing in its bid to receive a future F-35 Lightning 2 mission.

The county also encourages residents and businesses to display green lights November 4th through the 11th to honor veterans.

That's a look at some of the latest business news from around the region.

And for our last segment, we're heading out on the water.

The Iran is getting into the Halloween spirit with a spooky look of its own.

This week on In Business, it is the business of scaring people.

And we started out at the William A. Irvin for their haunted tours.

And with us is Dan Hartman.

Dan is the executive director of the Duth Entertainment Convention Center which controls the William A. Irvin and [music] back in 1992 started the Haunted Tours which Forbes magazine now says are one of the seven scariest places in America.

Yeah, we are we're pretty thrilled about that ranking for sure.

And you're also the oldest and largest of the haunted tour boats anywhere in the United States.

Actually, we're actually one of the largest haunting experiences in Minnesota in general now.

And that's kind of a cool piece of pride.

So it started in 1992.

What was the original idea?

Just to scare a few people on Halloween.

So they actually worked with the university theater department and they had this whole kind of like academic program associated with it.

And after a few years they realized that the team here is like you know I bet we could just do this.

Um and I I like today that most of the haunt is actually built by by maintenance team.

So the same guy who are fixing different things all over the building is the same person who's actually working on the robot to try to scare you on the tour.

Uh which I think is kind of cool.

Yeah.

Now this is big business and Halloween is big business for the Duth Entertainment Convention Center and the Iran 20 to 30,000 people a year will pay up to $75 for VIP tickets.

Yep.

$25 for general admission, 10 bucks if you're a kid.

Um that's a pretty big revenue source.

Yeah, it's actually one of our single biggest revenue sources of the entire year.

If you look at the deck finance finance, it's managed probably almost too much for us, but this is a really big deal in the month of October and you see us pushing it pretty hard.

Yeah.

And what does that revenue allow the deck to do then in its other areas?

Uh pay payroll.

Um [laughter] um but no, it helps us work on other maintenance things all over the city.

So like part of the many things that really help us stay afloat.

So, I always tell folks, if you want to support the deck, get a parking pass, buy a beer, come on the haunts.

And with all those people coming and going, you're pretty much responsible for a lot of people.

Um, safety's got to be a big issue.

Yeah.

And so, every year we have the fire department come through and they do their safety inspection right off the bat.

Uh, but this is something we take very seriously.

There's the public doesn't know this, but there's a lot of secret exits almost throughout the entire ship.

So if at any point someone gets scared, we have people who can pull you out, bring you to kind of a safety zone, and then get you out of the ship.

Now, the haunted tours, like you say, have been going on since 1992, but they've changed over the years.

There was a point where you really went out and made the investment in it.

How did that happen?

So, we to this day still actually go to the haunting convention in Chicago where we find new props, we learn about new trends in the hunt.

Um, as my staff try to sit tell me, their goal is to scare you in all five senses.

And so you'll smell some things sometimes.

Sometimes you might get your foot wet and there's all these different things that may occur on your experience just to scare you in all five senses.

Yeah.

Now, the haunted tours are part of the Duth Entertainment Convention Center on board the historic William A. Irvin built in 1938 as an orboat [music] for the Silver Stackers, the US fleet.

Dan Hartman is our guest.

He's the executive director.

We're talking about the business of scaring people this Halloween.

Is this a growing attraction?

Um, I would say from pre-COVID to now it has grown significantly.

Pre-COVID, it's almost doubled in its overall sales.

So, Dan, we've seen the exciting growth of Halloween as uh now the number two most invested [music] in holiday of the year after Christmas.

Uh, the way May Urban has been growing since the pandemic, you said uh with [music] leaps and bounds in attendance.

What do you see as the future for the haunting and for the urban?

Uh, I think I can see an expanded footprint.

So, you see a little bit of this year of us taking over the Harbor Drive a little bit more.

And I can see us doing even more of that.

Um, but you're also seeing just Halloween in general expanded across the move.

And so, a lot of folks in Dooms don't realize this, but the MEA weekend is one of the biggest single tourism weekends of the year.

And so, usually right after that, tourism goes down.

Well, now because of Halloween, you're seeing that extend out even further.

And so, you know, you'll probably see us as attractions do more and more to connect with this whole experience for sure.

That's an excellent point.

Certainly, the haunting tours on the William A. Urban are a destination.

Yeah.

What does that mean for other businesses associated with the tourism industry?

Um, I think you're seeing things like the place I used to work at, Glen, taking advantage of this Halloween season as well.

And I think we all do better when we all do better on this.

I think Nate Bentley from Bentleyville says as well is like, I want people to have multiple excuses to come here.

They may come here for Bentleyville, but I you know that's only going to last an hour or two.

What are they going to do after that?

And so I think it's fun to see other elements of town.

The aquarium has a square a scarium at the aquarium.

Boo at the zoo.

Yeah.

The the things we used to do at the depot.

I mean there's a lot of great activities all throughout our community now all taking advantage of this Halloween season.

So Duth becomes a tourism destination for Halloween for scariums.

And uh what does that mean for the hotels, for the restaurants, for the gas stations?

This makes honestly more than anything it helps us all stay afloat.

I think summer's a busy time, fall's a busy time for a lot of us.

It's harder in these shoulder seasons and right after he in the past it was a harder season.

Now you're seeing it tick out a little further and that helps us have more restaurants, more hotels, more retail and all that is good for citizens too.

I think sometimes we lose track of it.

How do we get better restaurants?

Well, making sure more people show up to them.

And so you're seeing more and more of that that if we want a good place to eat, we got to have more people shopping at the William A. Irvin, a scary place any time of the year, depending on where you are in the boat, but now an attraction that is part of the business of scaring people and it is vital to the day.

Dan Harbin is our guest.

He's the executive director of the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center which runs the William A. Irvin.

Thank you very much for being on In Business.

Yeah, thanks Ken.

Yeah, I'm Ken Ber.

Thanks for watching In Business.

Now, if you missed any parts of tonight's show, you can always watch it at pbsnorth.org or listen on Mondays at 5:30 on the North 1033.

And if you have an idea for a future show on In Business, we'd love to hear from you.

Email us at askpbsnorth.org.

Thanks again for watching and until next time, let's take care of each other.

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