Very cool. Is there a link to the article you can post?

 

Thelittle "Magazine" is published by: Sauk Valley Media
3200 E. Lincolnway
Sterling, Ill.61081

There is no on-line features that I can find for this, sorry.

 

Thought this would be Emperor Palpatine...

 

It "Pays!"

To pay attention to those coming through your Haunted House or your displayed yard.
Recently a young man returned with his new girlfriend because she had never been here before. As soon as the group got to the dark, possibly scary part of the house I was ready for him. He's a nice guy, but once he gets to this part of my house he must become somewhat .scared"?
His fright manifests itself as he becomes sort of "Rammy". Since he has been here many times, he knows where a certain hidden door is so when he pushed against it rather quickly with strength, I was leaning against it with my shoulder. If I had been mentally "Coasting" he might have slammed it open smacking me pretty hard...against some part of my body.
Later when he let out a loud scream it did scare HER! (And I think that was the point of him screaming like that), since he has been here So Many times!

 

Gym,

I love the stories of patrons that come through your place!

 

Muffy, we saw quite a mix of people here today and tonight. One small but important "Victory" tonight was when a stuck-up "Pretty " girl was exiting her boyfriend quickly whispered to me ( "I'll be back.")

 

"October" was Here Tonight!

"October" is a tiny baby girl. Her first name is "October!" They call her "Toby".
She went through Ravens Grin tonight with her two Parents (First time visitors-all!)
Toby remained alert and awake for the entire house tour , only just once becoming slightly "scared" from an unexpected loud noise, but did not cry.
Her Parents had been headed home to Wisconsin, they were almost 100 miles South of us when the Dad realized we were (sort of) on their way home!
He saw us on-line with a 4.9 rating (of a possible 5)
As everyone was at the ticket window the couple were having trouble getting into their car until they realized it was not :Their Car!" It was my Wife's car!
When the house tour was concluded and they were walking to their car, my Wife was waiting to see their reaction to the sign she had placed on it that said:
"Correct CAR!"
(The two cars resemble one another but one is a Nissan, the other a Toyota?)

 

I was buying some Lunch...

Ready to go out the door when a young man came in, carrying his small child. He stopped talked to others and myself.
Then he said."I have been meaning to tell you this for a couple of years now. After my Dad's funeral when the family came through your house,.. at first I couldn't "get It", why we would be doing that? But when the house tour was over, and everyone was "different", happier, more relaxed, we all came together and it was a great thing! Thank you so very much!"
He was still shaking my hand. His Father was a native of this town (older than me) he had served in Vietnam, he was a very popular teacher at this school, teaching History, everybody liked him, I considered him a friend and an obvious wealth of knowledge.
His humor was laced with irony.
My Haunted House tour is a funny time for most, laughter is a common sound here.
I was fine on the drive home. At my own door it overwhelmed me, I got "Choked Up", Overwhelmed by the feelings, the feelings that "I" merely doing what I have done for so many years , that it could ever do such a service for such people, people overcome with grief, people in mourning.
This revelation just added a whole new positive feeling, to go with the other feelings of just whimsy and silliness.
Helping such as those in the saddest of possible situations as life hands us....I felt like I got some kind of a "promotion!"
This felt like the ultimate compliment! (To be always Treasured.)

 

Such a nice story! Things like what you do, is so worth while, especially when you hear what an impact your creation has had on others! WTG!!

 

That was so nice of the man to share that with you. I hear so many stories on here about people who were effected by someone's haunt, but it seems they never told the haunter. This guy was nice enough to tell you now, so you can feel proud about making others feel good. Good job Jim.

 

Many yrs, ago a couple of young Policemen came through my house. About a couple of months later the one was waiting at a landing strip waiting for the owner of an Ultra-lite, he wanted to fly it, maybe buy it.
Becoming impatient he flew it before the owner arrived, crashed it-Died!
His Family came out from the East Coast for his services, then all came through my house because he had really liked the house tour.
This "Village" sees a few tourists. Sometimes they are relatives of elderly people who have recently died. They would come through here , I might make a joke about a coffin, and nobody would laugh, But Nobody Told Me why they were in town! Sorry.
I have been on both sides of this, I much prefer the "Side" described in my first post, of course!

 

Ravens Grin, busy this weekend

And much fun for me, Jim! We saw quite a few "First Timers" who really seemed to be very appreciating of my efforts here.
The night's last tour was heavy with our past employees coming here for sort of a "tour". there were so many non-employees there that we actually had some private time to yak.
Our employee, "Hecktor" inspired me to come up with a few new things, i had him laughing too!

 

Gym...you are so lucky to have that halloween thrill all year long! Hope you have a really good Halloween season this year!

 

Tonight-Sept. 26 --16

A young couple came here (newbies)
Not long after they entered the first room she said that I had made her cheeks hurt (from laughing)
I asked her to clarify which cheeks?
Which then made her cheeks hurt more!
(Odd how pleasure /pain are sometimes traveling companions?)

 

I had a call this morning, a young woman asking if we had strobe lights here?
No we don't. She is epileptic and of course can not handle strobes. She said every haunt she called uses strobes.
Gee? This must mean that I don't have a "Real" Haunt? (But when the door knob turns and no one is there, a woman screams in the next room at 2AM and no one is there, and electrical devices turn on and off by themselves, and people see a Lady in a long white dress appear and disappear and Orbs get photographed in the Wine Cellar, and a voice calls your name, all inside an 1865 Inn that has had quite a "History", well? What can you say to convince some people then?
I can talk for hours about the Haunted History of this house and none of it is "Fiction".
... but then, a great "Chunk" of this little town is also "Haunted"...........

 

gym, you do tell wonderful stories & appear to be a gr8 public speaker / communicator ... i get this impression from all of your posts here & enjoy every single anecdote or visitor experience that you've graciously shared with us all!

would luv to drop by your place some day ... but it's kind of far & out of the way 4 me :-(

amk

 

Never Underestimate the power of "Stupid"!

We had a very nice busy day and night , then two guys tore apart my bench along side of the house, the bench made of railroad tracks, heavy steel pcs.



WHY? (This post was duplicated here So Painfully S L O W ) (???)

 

You are never gonna figure out why people do things like that. Have no respect for other peoples things...maybe they have nothing that holds some meaning of their own.

I will say I been lucky in life with things I have done for the public, I only lost a Huskavera chain saw and one wagon wheel in life. As we have discussed I'm still hauling that wagon wheel fence around with me cause I just can't seem to let go of it. Took it out of the ground 16 years ago. Since those were real wagon wheels I always felt like I should of left them in Nebraska, like they belonged to Nebraska, they are a part of Nebraska's history. BUT...when people started pulling them out of the ground stealing them that was it. I know now that I will get those wheels back to my ex husbands nephew....his farm is about 5 miles from where our cafe was and I have no idea how long those wagon wheels were in the ground there while Verna Nelson owned the place. We bought it from her.
She had quite a local reputation, when you ordered cottage cheese it always came with the pepper already on it......she was known for trying to salvage left over food from your plate when you were done.

I also just wanted to mention I saw the very same wagon wheels for $350.00 a piece at the antique flea market in St. Charles, Illinois, and everytime someone comes in my yard....Jerry had a lawn mower business and people were always coming here...everyone wanted to buy one of those wagon wheels. I'm gonna get them home safely.

In the 9 yrs. of haunting with folks coming through my house NOTHING has ever been stolen. There are so many little things but they are all in place when the evening is done.

 

I have a bunch of like items on display in a bedroom of my haunt and recently I was told those things are now selling for around $200 each.........

 

The Male? Or the Female?

Which sex attends Haunts more?
Here it has always been the female. I just wonder if this holds true across the country or not?
Guys back off, say no, add some lame excuse . the females just go for it!
The personal factor with many guys I tend to think) is that "Macho"-thing might be in peril if they act scared ,especially in front of their woman!
Guys are supposed to be invulnerable to fright and unwilling to scream with terror.. right?
And then, a group of guys will sometimes pick upon each other , females don't seem to do that.?

 

After my first season I was discovering that many small items were gone... then I consoled myself with this thought:"Have you ever made this much money in one month before in your entire life?"
No, I had not, and I was 39 years old, been working since I was 15.
The real butt-kick to me was those small items were all"One-Of-A-Kind" things designed and made by ME!
One was just a very special Watch that I guess no one has ever thought of making before?
(Still have not!)

 

The safe way for me in putting things out is to make sure that none of the items are something that I could not live without. If it disappears it's ok. Most of the things I can't replace are shown in the Spell & Potion Room which I reside in all evening as the people pass through.


Of those things you make Gym....set up a small display case featuring works of art by Gym Whourlfeld. You would probably be surprised what they would buy but more so by what they would pay!

 

We have six different designs of Ravens Grin Tee-shirts, also available on-line from our website and etsy.

There is the cut-away "Map" of the internals of this house."Is it"Vic" or is it "Tim"? (It's Victim!)
There is Mr. Tuxedo waiting for his load a "Whites" to dry.
Mr. Tuxedo climbing up the Pterodactyl's beak to see if birds are living within his skull? (They do!)
There is a black shirt with "Ravens Grin" in orange with a Pterodactyl skeleton
Then last but not least, the always popular Mr. Tuxedo at The BAD DREAM BED!
And we will always have our bumper stickers!
.. and then the custom image of a dog wearing a bone-paterned dress and heels, cig holder, big hat, purse--"Mutt Carol, whatta *****!"(Female dog)

 

"You Never GeT A Second Chance...

"to make a good first impression."
Is a very old saying.. but it is Very True!
I like to ask people at our ticket window how they found out about Ravens' Grin?
...I liked her answer yesterday afternoon:"I'm here because everybody I know, can't stop talking about it!"
I realized many "Moons" ago that I would never have much money to spend on advertising, so I had better be giving it my "All" otherwise to impress the customers I had the good fortune to entertain.

 

Totally agree with you, it is always true and works to make a good first impression!