Ghostly Encounters and Eerie Tales: Wisconsin’s Haunted Heart (Hour 2)

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Broadcasting live from the Civic Media Studios in Green Bay, this is Night Light with Pete Chwabba.

Your inside source on everything entertainment from Wisconsin to Hollywood.

And now, a guy who still likes to build a fort, Pete Schwabba.

Welcome back to Nightlight.

We kick off act two here.

I just saw that it's Winona Ryder's birthday.

Yeah.

You know, she has a connection to Marinette.

Oh, whoa.

Marinette has more infamous and weird connections to stardom or people of note.

It's really strange, but her grandmother lived there and lived in the house that used to be my dad's law office.

Really

interesting.

Yeah, Rosie O'Donnell's daughter got arrested there several months ago doing drugs Eugene Hasenfuss for the CIA was arrested all kinds of fun stuff Great people for Marinette some really fun people too though producer Arthur Gardner who created f-troop and the rifleman

Marinette's on the map, baby.

It's a fun night here at Nightlight, folks.

We're kicking off act two.

Jon Roach is my guest at the moment.

We'll be back to Jon in just a minute.

Just a quick recap here on the show.

Carl Serecki will be here at 7.20.

He is the chief spooky storyteller in Door County, and he gives Door County ghost trolley tours.

I might actually take one on Saturday.

They're probably all booked up, but I'll just...

hitchhike or something, but we'll figure something out.

Karl will be here at 720.

Always fun to talk to Karl and he's got some really outstanding stories.

So that's coming up and our question of the night, as we get closer to Halloween, what is your Halloween double feature?

I will say that ever since I moved back here to Wisconsin, when my kids were still trick-or-treating, we had horrible weather.

It was rain and wind and it just seems like the minute they stopped trick-or-treating, we've had great falls for like the last five years.

So

I equate Halloween with bad weather and wanting to be indoors.

So what is your double feature, your scary movie double feature?

I say rear window and the shining Conrad says the Wayans Brothers.

It's

a haunted house and haunted house too.

What did those pull on rotten tomatoes?

I'm just curious.

I'll have to look that up.

Go to the Google.

So yeah, lots of great stuff here.

So let us know what your answer is.

Always looking for a new scary movie to watch too.

I also recapped

the movie A House of Dynamite, which I saw.

I finally finished it today.

I watched it in two sittings, which I don't like to do, but a pretty good movie from Catherine Bigelow.

Good thriller.

What are we looking at?

I want you to just take one

guess.

9%.

You're really close, actually.

So the first one is 10, 10%.

Wow.

And the second one, 8%.

So

they couldn't quite achieve the success of the first one.

They couldn't get 11.

That's very often the case with sequels.

All right, Carl Sarecki, Ghost Stories at 720.

Let's get back to our guest, John Roach, who made the outstanding documentary, A Road at Night.

We were talking about that as we closed the first hour.

And just a quick reminder, John, it's November 8th, Saturday night at the Mineral Point Opera House.

You can see this movie at the Driftless Film Festival.

It's a great venue.

I've been there before.

It's absolutely beautiful.

And break a leg.

It sounds fun.

It's going

to be a fun night.

Thank you so much.

Yeah.

Um, no, go

ahead.

Lucky to be a part of it.

Yeah.

Well, you know, it's funny.

I remember when you guys, I think it was during the Wisconsin Film Festival on opening night, maybe five years ago, you guys made a pitch or an announcement to the studio, the audience studio audience, the audience that was there for opening night.

I remember talking about Howard Moore.

I'm almost sure.

Does that ring a bell?

Because I thought that's what there was a

present.

I don't think it was me.

It might have been someone else.

It might have been the guys

you were involved with.

It wasn't a movie yet.

Yeah.

But it's really great to see that it happened.

So keep us posted too on when we can stream it at home, because I think everybody should

see it.

It will be coming on the heels of the theatrical run in Madison, hopefully Milwaukee as well.

I mean, depending on how it does, it could go a little wider in the state.

Yeah, absolutely.

So I've, the last few times you've been here, John, I feel like we've run out of time.

We might have touched on the sports writers on TV, but like you've had a really interesting career.

In addition to a road at night, you co-wrote, is it the or a straight story?

It's

slipping my

mind at the moment.

The straight story with Mary Sweeney directed by David Lynch.

Great movie.

And I rewatched it the last time before you were on the show when I was in Madison and you came into the studio.

Such a great movie.

I'm kind of in awe of you that you've tried these different things and been successful at all of them.

But the first thing

The sports writers on TV in the 80s on Chicago television with these four columnists as you said They were chomping cigars and they had fedoras on it was a dark room with newspapers on the desk and they were just talking Sports that was kind of the first time I had ever seen that format and I want to say it was pre sports radio Maybe on some level an inspiration for sports radio But my question for you was where did you get the idea for that?

Was there inspiration before that?

Well,

um,

uh, so it was actually a radio show on WGN.

I had just started working at WLS television in Chicago.

We were commuting back and forth from Madison and I would come in on Sunday nights from Madison to I was working on a show called AM Chicago, which was the morning.

Oh, yeah.

And I heard these guys talking on WGN radio was Bill Gleeson, Bill Giles, Ben Bentley.

And I can't remember the other guy who's from the sometimes Rick

Talander,

but.

No, it was before Rick.

I added Rick.

Thankfully for

you, but

Yeah, well, I said he's the only guy I said we need someone on the show doesn't it doesn't have a prostate problem So so anyhow, I did a piece for a magazine show at WLS

essentially as a pilot.

And they smoke cigars.

I try to shoot it as cinematically as possible.

Pitch WLS, they waved it off.

Then I moved on to work with Steve Dahl and Gary Meyer on a TV show.

But I kept developing this show and finally got WFLD Chicago to run it.

And it ran for about 50 episodes.

They canceled it.

And we got picked up right away by a thing called Sports Channel.

which was in the early r and all of a sudden we were on he just pushed it to all t were up and coming.

I s

And it just became a cult hit.

David Letterman talked about it.

We were in the New York Times.

I had much to my brother's chagrin.

I had my picture and sports illustrated and all my three Irish brothers said, well, you're the worst athlete in the family.

How can that happen?

And you know, just as an aside, I don't want to seem, you know...

too self-serving, but much to my surprise, the straight story was named as one of the top 300 films of all time by Rotten Tomatoes last month.

Wow.

I

believe that.

Which I just blew me away, especially because some of the films after us on the list, I were like, no, that can't be.

But still, you know, that's been a wonderful, quiet little

Jim,

but anyhow,

this, but the streets, but the, the sportswriters, they became the fodder for the second city sketch to bears the bulls that was based upon the sportswriters super fans.

Yeah.

Right.

And when those guys were in at, at, um, at second city, and then they took that with them to, um, to Saturday Night Live and

Two of the guys in the sketch regulars were Chris Farley, who's a Madison guy who played football with my brothers and I knew him.

And George went who I worked with when he was at Second City.

And then he went on, obviously, to do remarkably well and a tremendous guy.

But, you know, all these little, you know, it's all these little pathways like a

multiplier.

Well,

You know, and I'm at the age where you start looking back and going, man, I can't believe I worked that hard.

I'm tired thinking about it.

Oh, that's great.

But but I'll tell you, I wrote it tonight.

Going back to that, it's just I just hope a lot of people get to see

it.

You know what, John?

You're you've had so much success with sports in Chicago and Madison.

You're a Madison kid through and through.

Yeah.

You're the guy that should have made this movie.

So whatever it was you did, it worked.

It's great.

If I could just ask you one more question about David Lynch and the straight story.

Did you see Mulholland Drive?

Yeah, actually, my writing partner, Mary Sweeney, who brought me into the project, she did a special screening of Mulholland Drive at the Union Theater down in Madison.

So I saw it.

very early on.

And then I said, wow, Mayor, that was confusing, exciting, frightening, funny, and it will haunt my dreams.

And she goes, oh, that's great.

Why don't you call Dave and tell him?

And I, you know, I knew Dave working a lot.

So I called him up and I said, Dave, it was confusing, frightening, funny, disturbing, and sweet.

And he goes, Oh, John, thank you.

You know, he was such such as God bless him.

He was such a sweet guy.

A very sweet man.

Incredible.

And the last time Mary Sweeney was at UW Cinematheque, I think it was just like four or

five

months ago, and she

did a Q&A.

I was doing my show in Madison, and I was going to go over there, but I would have gotten there.

I know it was standing room only, because she's so interesting to listen to.

But I would have asked her, and I'll ask you, what in the heck was going on with the end of Mulholland Drive?

And I understand that David Lynch wanted to keep it kind of vague, and have people draw their own interpretations.

But what did you think was going on there?

Well, I think you have to start with the fact that David Lynch makes films, you made films at a different level.

I always, I feel like they're dreamscapes.

Yeah.

Right.

And they're more about our subconscious minds.

You know, he's the most non literal film director.

Yeah.

He's the least on the nose of anyone who ever made a film.

Right.

Well said.

And yet there's some beauty and artfulness.

You know, one of the things I love about him is

Blue Velvet and Mahon Drive, you can't tell when it happened or where it happened.

It's hard to put a date on at a time.

So it just drifts out there in this space that is undefined, right?

But no, I mean, you're asking me to explain the end of Mahon Drive.

That's not going to happen.

Well, just because you are

closer to them than any of us, I

mean, you can't, you know.

Sure.

No, I think.

the best explanation.

I mean, I think it's for you to decide.

Yeah, that's why

I've heard more than anything.

I mean, I think Dave took everyone on a journey in all his movies, but he never mandated how you should think or feel or solve his movies, whatever it might be, right?

And I think so much of what he did was,

He was a very, very, very good filmmaker.

I saw him crawl under a dolly and fix it while we're doing the straight story.

You know, he was a graduate of the American Film Institute.

He's a great, great craftsman.

But I feel in his screenwriting and directing, it's almost like visual jazz.

Oh,

that's

great.

It's unstructured in a genre that so many people wanted to be exactly structured and explain everything to me.

And David was the antithesis of that.

He was a true, true artist.

And his passing was just a gut punch.

Oh, the fact that he could do that.

within the studio system is really pretty incredible.

Oh, my God, you are so right, Pete.

I mean, you know that you've had, you know, you've worked in the biz and you've worked out there and you know how he got away with what he did is jaw

dropping.

I remember notes that my partner and I would get on a script from MGM or Warner Brothers or whatever.

And I'm like, what on earth?

And to think about what David Lynch was able to accomplish within that system, it is mind boggling.

John, thank you so much.

Good luck with the screening at Driftless.

It's a great

film, and keep us posted.

It's always great talking to you, man.

Likewise.

We have yet to have that beer at the rail, and we have to.

We'll do it.

I'll be back in Madison soon.

Hey, we're having a big screening there December 4th.

I'll text you and give you the

deeds.

Oh, call me.

Yeah, please let me know.

You got

it.

All right.

Thanks, John.

Thanks so much.

Thanks so much.

Anytime.

John Roach, ladies and gentlemen, check out A Road at Night as soon as you can.

We'll keep you posted as to where you can stream it.

And if you're in the Driftless area, check out

a road at night on November 8th at the Opera House.

They're in Mineral Point.

Gorgeous little place.

We are coming right back with some spooky talk from a, well, I don't know, a trolley driver?

A scary storytelling trolley driver.

How's that for creepy things?

Thanksgiving stuff.

Halloween stuff.

We're coming right back.

It's Night Light with Pete

Schwabba.

Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.

Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get

started.

Right with Pete Schwab, Halloween is just around the corner, folks.

Our question of the night is, what is your Halloween double feature?

It's rainy, it's windy, you're inside, you got a fire going.

What two scary movies are you watching back to back?

Let us know.

I will read your text on the radio.

Always more fun when you guys participate.

Jim from Appleton in the 920 says Psycho, the Alfred Hitchcock original and a nightmare before Christmas.

Excellent choices.

Well done, Jim.

Matt from 608.

Oh, Matt Rothschild.

Hey, buddy.

He says, Bates Motel and Wait Until Dark.

Oh, my God.

I forgot about Wait Until Dark.

That's a very scary movie.

And that's a classic as is Bates Motel.

Great stuff.

Thank you, Matt.

We'll get to the rest of your text.

But please be part of the show.

Let us know your Halloween double feature.

Right now, folks, I'm excited to welcome back to Nightlight, a gentleman we had on last year at this time.

He is the head spooky storyteller for Dork County

Ghost Trolley Tours, and he joins us now over the stream, Mr. Carl Sarecki.

Hey, buddy.

Hi,

how

are you?

It's good to

have you back.

How are you?

It's good to be back.

It was a lot of fun last year, so I assume it will be again this year.

Yeah, well, I'm surprised.

Are you not doing tours tonight?

Do they not happen on Wednesdays?

Not a big night.

Not a big night.

So, you know, this time of year,

We have a different crowd in Door County as the locals save the newlyweds and the nearly debts.

So

whatever fills up

the

hotels, I guess,

right?

Exactly.

So we get the youngest at the end of the week.

So

yeah, all right, that's great.

Well,

Tell us a little bit about, well, first of all, do you have a favorite scary movie?

Is there a double feature you could share with us that you would like to watch?

I was thinking about it as you were running that.

And it's a scary movie, but it's not a Halloween, but The Shining, of course.

Yeah, that was mine.

Jack was fantastic.

And another favorite, my wife and I stumbled on years and years ago.

I've never really heard much of it since, but it was 1964.

Hush, hush, sweet Charlotte.

Oh, wow.

I've never

seen it.

Olivia de Havilland and Betty Davis.

And Betty Davis is terrifying.

I believe that.

That's awesome.

Thank you, Carl.

Let me ask you this, too.

Before we get into the trolley stuff, you're also a high school history teacher.

What is more scary at times leading people on ghost tours through beautiful dirt county or teaching teenagers?

That's a fine question Much much scarier for the trolley tours.

I think because I'm responsible for life and death Drive through the dark And you know what high school kids aren't that scary.

They're more

If only they will engage more and it's scary when they can't come forward.

I think the little ones are the scary ones because they're all over the place.

Oh, that's a great answer.

My wife is a kindergarten teacher, so I could see what

you're

saying.

daughter was in high school recently.

I miss that high school energy.

It's so infectious.

Like when you're in a high school, and especially this time here, you hear the band rehearsing and there's just school spirit everywhere.

I bet you absolutely love your job and I'm sure you're great at it.

Well, it's it is great.

It is great to be with those kids every day and this is the spectacular time of year You know at the end of the school day you if the windows are open you have the smell of the leaves you have the whistles from football practice and It's it's just it brings me back to high school days every day.

That's great

Well before we jump in too much give us a little background and tell us how you ended up giving trolley tours And then a little bit about what people could expect

All right, so, oh, seven years ago or so, I was looking for something to do during the summer, because my wife, the hardworking nurse said, Carl, hey, if I'm working, you're working.

So, summer's off is not an option.

And I had had other jobs, but I thought, well, where do I love?

And Door County is the place.

So, I actually live south of Door County in Manitowoc.

So anyway, I started looking at job things and there was this blurb and it was, you know, drive trolley, talk to people and I'm like, this sounds wonderful.

And so I sent in my application and boom, the next day I got a call at school from AJ Frank, the owner and he had me in for an interview and he said, I can tell you're a good storyteller.

That was in the interview.

He hired me on the spot and it's been wonderful ever since.

That's so great.

From the scary stories to history of Dorr County and the rest.

So it's a great job.

So when do they run?

Like how often, like you mentioned summer, do they do the trolley tours and the ghost tours or is that seasonal only leading up to Halloween?

Oh no.

So I mean, it's pretty slow in the winter, but they still have trolley tours, wine tours and things like that.

winter wonderland or spring blossom when people want to see that.

But then hit around the end of May and early June, really start to hit the stride and we have 13 different tours, 14 different tours.

From scenic tours, as I say, history tours to the drinking tours, wine spirits and brew to sampling chocolate, wine chocolate and cheese experience.

Uh, it's just all over the ghost tour and murder in mayhem true crime.

Yeah,

those run all season.

It's not a Halloween specific,

but when you say

all

season, you mean like in the summertime, you can take them too.

Absolutely.

June, June to June 1st and November 1st, essentially.

I mean, it's a little less than June 1st, but yeah, yep.

Well, that's outstanding.

Yeah,

yeah, that's great.

All right.

Carl Soraki is here.

He is the head spooky storyteller for the Dork County trolley ghost tours.

We're going to hear some of those actual ghost stories when we come back.

We had a lot of fun with Carl last year and had to have him back.

And we'll jump into some spooky talk after the news.

Let's get a quick text in here.

Steve from Florida says, I have to say, a winning combination for the Halloween double feature is The Shining, followed by Conrad's great uncle's famous movie debut, Freddie Krueger, a nightmare.

That's

why we changed our last name to Krieger.

So you don't make sure you don't have that DNA or whatever.

Exactly.

All right.

We're coming right back after the news, folks.

It's Nightlight with Pete Schwabba on the Civic Media Radio

Network.

Great to have you with me here on a Wednesday edition of Nightlight Folks.

Halloween is just around the corner.

This is great fall Halloween weather too.

It's a beautiful day today.

A little crisp tonight.

What better way to celebrate Halloween than to talk about some ghost stories.

And here to help us do that is from Door County trolley ghost tours, Mr. Carl Sarecki.

He is their head spooky storyteller.

And he's got just great stories about this fun gig side hustle he's done for seven years now.

Carl, it's great to have you here.

Can you give us an example of some of the stories you tell?

Sure.

But I got a question for you first, Pete.

Sure.

Do you believe in ghosts?

Oh, that's funny.

I was going to ask you the same thing.

I'm too scared to say no, because I don't want to be proven wrong.

I do believe in that there are spirits.

I don't know that they necessarily haunt you, but I believe there's something in the air, kind of, if that's an answer that's acceptable.

I think that's a great answer.

And I think that's really what sets our tour apart from

A typical ghost tour that we don't have people jumping out from behind trees with chainsaws.

It's not a jump scare thing.

It's a connection to stories which came to us from the families to which they happened or they're documented in periodicals and such or even government records.

the

government documented ghosts, believe it or not.

And they're not, they're all scary because, right, it's ghosts and it's unknown, but they're not scary ghosts.

They're spirits, as you put it.

There's something out there and there's a reason they're around.

Maybe we understand a little bit, probably we don't.

And we kind of convey that through our stories.

For instance, we have a couple of them about children.

There's one Huey Melbourne, we'll get to him, I think a little later, he is really a star of the tour.

But there's one that I think it's short shrift in a way, little Ruthie Lundberg.

Her dad ran the general store in Fish Creek and she got tuberculosis, consumption back in the day they called it, but it was tuberculosis.

It was a horrible, still is, it's around again, unfortunately,

a horrible respiratory disease, really, really painful, especially for little kids.

And Ruthie went from August to December fighting this and died literally on Christmas Day.

And her dad found her.

And then they, because of the time, you know, this was back in the 18, well, it was 1901.

you didn't have undertaker, well, you didn't have mortuaries.

You had the funeral at home and the undertaker came and measured the dead and made a coffin and then relatives came to visit to say goodbye.

And because this was a protracted disease, Ruthie's coffin was preset for her.

So on Christmas day, they put the coffin in the parlor, we call it living room today, and they

had her lay there for the holidays so relatives could come and say goodbye.

Now that's the sad part, that's the death part of the story,

but

the ghost part is people talked about even visiting the relatives then and every Christmas they talk about waking up at night to hearing a little girl crying, pain from the disease perhaps, and then wait on the bed that they are sleeping in her bedroom.

and tugging at the sheets and people are like, oh, this is terrifying.

She's hot.

But you know, isn't it really different?

I mean, this is a little 14 year old girl and she was taken in the blossom of life and she doesn't know what life's about.

And it seems to me she's reaching out and trying to get attention and talk to me, share with me, those kinds of stories.

Wow.

That, you know, spin.

Now, not every guy spins it that way, but that's my feeling of it.

Yeah, I think it's not just here for fun.

Right and what you say like the crying or the little whimpers or whatever they are I wonder if that's just some kind of weird universe Algorithm like it doesn't mean there's a ghost in the room But maybe it's something you hear because her spirit is there or what all I know is if I were a ghost Carl I would I would probably mess with people on a daily basis I would love to do that and I would take

great pride

in that

Well, we have those two on the tour.

There are the mischievous ghosts, for sure.

What is your favorite Door County ghost story?

Either one you tell during a tour or one you've heard.

And I love that that was so organic and that was real.

When I'm in Fish Creek or whatever, I don't think, oh, that stuff happened here, but now I will.

That's really interesting

to me.

Well, good.

Good.

My favorite is what I alluded to before that Huey, Huey Melbourne.

He's just, he's a little precocious lad.

He's six years old.

He got tetanus getting caught on a nail sliding down, sliding down the storm cellar door at his grandfather's.

And again, this was in August and he didn't last long.

I mean, tetanus lock jaw.

horrible disease that takes you painfully takes you the spasming of the muscles and whatnot, but beloved child and His parents They they buried him in the family plot and then they would bring gifts to him regularly the plot is in Peninsula State Park right across from the wee board campground.

It's just a hidden little family plot in the woods and

To this day, people bring gifts and leave them on little Hueys.

No kidding.

His gravesite.

So there was a family from Appleton who was camping.

They found the graveyard, which at that point, it was the 80s and it was overgrown and they stumbled upon it and they found the grave and there were still gifts from the community, the family, and they were moved.

It was the second week in August, same time they would, it's Wisconsin camping, right?

You go to the same place every year, you go the same time to do the same thing.

And so they made this part of their ritual to visit Huey because he passed on their time.

Well, they got rained out.

And so they went to a local inn, which happened to be the Thorpe House Inn, which was, in reality, his grandfather's home.

they stayed in a cabin there and at night, first night mom, second night mom and dad, they were visited by this light in the doorway and this vision of a little boy with his arms outstretched, come with me, come with me kind of thing.

And they, long story short, they're wondering why is this happening?

And then they figured it's Huey.

It's Huey coming to see them because they didn't go to see him in the cemetery that year.

And he missed them.

And

you tell this story on the tour, right?

Yes,

absolutely.

at his house.

That's so great.

My guest is Carl Sarecki.

He is the lead spooky storyteller for Dork County trolley ghost tours.

Check it out, folks.

Check out the whole thing.

They've got all kinds of trolley tours, but we're talking about the ghost tours tonight.

Carl, is there, you know, Dork County is so beautiful, but it is mysterious and it can be creepy.

Like there are lots of little wooden areas.

I mean,

Is there a part in the peninsula that is the most scary to you or a part that kind of creeps you out if you had to pick?

So interestingly, so to answer your previous question before, yes, I believe in ghosts because I have seen photographs that people take on our tours.

Almost all in the same place, almost all.

And that's at the Alexander Noble House.

You know it.

Everyone who is a regular to Door County knows as you head down the hill into Fish Creek It's the big white house right at the corner where you turn to go north on 42 So like you

go left and the white gull in is there and

then you're

right and you go through downtown Fish Creek

correct.

Whoa, and That is probably the most haunted house in Door County really and the property too now

I am not sensitive to the spirits, you know, but my daughter, early on in my career driving, I just took her there because she is an empath, extraordinaire.

And I just took her onto the property and all of a sudden she said, we gotta go, we have to leave.

She had no idea why we're there.

And I'm like, what do you mean?

She said, I don't feel well.

I feel like there's something all around me and I feel ill.

So then we left and I told her the story.

So there's a lot there, a lot there from possible haunting by, so Alexander Knoll will build the house and his first wife, many think it's her that's there.

His daughter who designed the house, some think it's her that's there.

The pictures I have seen are of him in a window.

Where do you see these pictures?

Where are these pictures?

It's crazy because people take pictures in mirrors and they take pictures looking at the house from the outside, looking at the windows.

And I know what people will say because who wouldn't, you know, their reflections of whatever's out there.

But these are distinct human faces.

And there are also some that, you know, people come up and, Carl, look, look, look.

I'm like, mm-hmm.

Sure.

Got it.

But there are others I just cannot.

Carl, look, there's a silhouette of a sheriff leaning against the house with a hat on.

You see those all over the place, too.

Yeah, yeah.

What is the reaction?

Or let me ask you this.

Has there ever been an actual incident where you thought the paranormal was around on one of the tours?

Yes.

This keeps getting better and

better.

It doesn't it?

I get chills thinking about it and I lived it.

So at the house, the group goes in and there's a docent there who gives them the whole story on the house and whatnot.

And I hang out in the front by the staircase, right by the front door, which is separated from the group.

And this one day, October, night, I should say, all of a sudden the door opens up, the front door.

Now it's a windy day.

Sure, that's it.

It's

a

windy day.

And so this front door, which has a storm door in front of it, opens up.

And I like, okay, just that.

And so I go to push it closed.

And as I pushed it closed through the door into the dining room where the rest of the group is, suddenly I hear, uh, kaboom!

Crash!

And I'm thinking as a trolley driver, oh no, heart attack, end of tour, this is terrible.

And then I get to the door to go in and all of a sudden I hear laughter.

I'm like, okay, not as bad as I figured.

Come to find, the front door opened up.

I go to close it.

Inside this room where there are 25 people, a gentleman was standing by the table, got pushed from behind.

There was no one behind him.

pushed onto the table.

And then he knocked over something on the table fell to the floor.

Then in the kitchen, there were two pots on a shelf that came off the shelf.

No one's in the kitchen, right fell off the shelf onto the floor.

And then the back door opened

up.

Wow.

I kind of remember you talking about that last year.

That is really creepy.

Yeah.

That's great.

Carl, can we keep you for a couple more minutes?

We got to do a really short break here.

My pleasure.

Surely.

Surely, thank

you.

A couple more great questions.

We'll talk murder in Mayhem too when we come back.

My guest is Carl Sarecki of Dork County Ghost Trolley Tours.

He is their lead spooky storyteller.

Rin in the 608 says, more atmospheric than scary, seance on a wet afternoon and last wave.

Early Peter where?

Oh, there you go.

Nice text.

All right,

we're

coming right back, folks.

It's Nightlight with Pete Chihuahua.

I'm Pete Schwab, and this is Nightlight.

We're just about to close things down here, but let's get through some more texts here before we get back to our guest Carl Sarecki from Dork County Ghost Trolley Tours.

Paula, Conrad's mom, says, I hate Halloween movies.

I do not sleep after watching them.

Same.

Like mother likes son, that's good.

Terry from the 608 says, oh, this is in reference to John Roach.

When he was here, I saw a road at night at the film festival, back to back with no packers, no life, both excellent films and such a juxtaposition of how life can change in the blink of an eye.

Well said, Terry, very well said.

And Bridget from the 818 says, Halloween and poltergeist, scary.

And then on the stream, Sid says the conjuring and Halloween town.

not familiar with that one

halloween towns awesome

is

it disney disney movie there's like four

nice yeah little earth says conrad you have to try the mountain roller coaster that's

uh i'm not going to the uver gatlin bird but sneak away

yeah maybe sneak away do a water ride uh little earth says sid

and Sid Responzler of also says Misery and it's the great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.

Interestingly enough, that is my classic movie, Pick of the Week.

So check out New Wisco Weekend with Lisa Hale this weekend here on WGBW.

And Sid says Dave, nice picks.

All right, tomorrow night on the show, Emerson Layman from the WBAY Morning Show will be here.

Emerson's always fun.

He's going to make the popcorn pick of the week and be here in studio.

And then our pal, Todd Michaels, will be here.

He is a paranormal investigator.

So we will continue this.

spooky talk tomorrow night, but right now we have a few more minutes with our pal, Carl Sarecki from Door County trolley tours.

He tells great ghost stories on these tours as well.

Carl, tell us a little bit about the murder mayhem tour.

Totally different animal, right?

I mean, the ghost tours for everybody, kids from seven on up, I think would be okay with it.

Murder in Mayhem is what it is six of the most gruesome murders in Door County history.

There have been that many

gruesome Door County murders.

Oh There have been more we can't even fit them all it now.

There's some recent ones are waiting in line for them to finish litigating before we can talk about them, so But humans are horrible to humans.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean double murders

We have dismemberment.

Is this a

term life insurance policy or is this actual?

So are they all up in higher up in the peninsula and you just stop at these places?

No, we go from

Bailey's Harbor, essentially, to Sturgeon Bay.

And it's a three-hour tour.

So the minnow crashes and we're in bad shape.

Yeah, a lot of them down in Sturgeon Bay way, not a lot.

About half of them are down in Sturgeon Bay way.

And then a couple up by us, there's been some more recent ones up.

Sister Bayway, too.

I could see the Sturgeon Bay thing.

You know, a couple of guys in boat shoes squaring off.

Next thing, you know, one of them has a hatchet in his head, but like up when it gets up, more beautiful and serene.

That's surprising.

Yeah.

Hatchet.

Come on.

They're more, uh, sophisticated.

It's a samurai sword.

Oh, dear.

We have a story with it.

Okay.

Yeah.

That's, that ends poorly.

So when is that tour?

Is that year round or?

That's year round.

Year

round.

Yes.

And

is it on a day of the week, a

particular day of the week?

So we used to run it every day, and now it just runs, I think, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday.

Do you ever worry that people that sign up for these trolley tours, like for Murder in Mayhem or the ghost tours, are looking for pointers?

We talk about it.

Well, you get couples and you're like, you know why you're here.

Yeah.

That is

so

creepy.

Last question for you.

Have you ever lost anyone on a tour, Carl, to a vampire or a werewolf or something?

Yeah.

Well, I tell them when they get on that it is my job to get them to the other side.

And then I amend it and say, actually, it's my job to get you back.

And I have not.

I won't say that it's never happened, but it does not happen on my

tour.

All right.

I feel safe for knowing that.

Here's a great gag I think you should do.

Act like you have a flat and you're stuck in the most dark area, secluded area of Door County and it goes on for like 10 minutes and still people start crying.

Then you go,

kidding.

Well, we do.

My murder in Mayhem.

We're driving.

I'm telling this long story as we're driving and we get into the country part and there's a cornfield and I stop and I say, Malachi said, this is where you guys get off and he'll come pick you up.

Love that.

Oh man.

Yeah.

I bet you're awesome at that, dude.

In one of these days, I'll surprise you and I'll bring my wife and I will be one of those couples.

So we'll check it

out.

Awesome.

But thank you so much for your time.

You're always a blast.

And let's not wait until Halloween next year.

Come back sooner.

We'll talk more about these great

tours.

All right.

I would love to.

Love to.

Anytime.

Thanks for having me.

All right.

My pleasure.

That's Carl Sarecki, folks.

Check out Door County trolley tours and specifically the ghost tours or the murder and mayhem tours, especially around this time of year.

Sounds like a lot of fun.

Would you do one of those kind?

You know, most of the times, you know, I'm kind of scared of that stuff, but it sounds like a lot of fun.

I think you're in good hands with Carl.

Yeah, exactly.

I mean, I'm not saying, you know, in the dark.

Anything can happen, like if you're a ghost, oh man, I'd be all over that.

I think I'd wear one of those flashlight hats if I'm out in the dark.

Absolutely.

Steady Eddie from the 608 says, Pete, in the happy Halloween spirit of the late great Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks, who always said, let's play three, okay.

On Halloween, let's watch three.

The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, original 1956 black and white version, love it.

Number two, Aliens, Sigourney Weaver and the actor who said, game over man, game over.

That's Bill Paxton.

made the movie memorable for me, but that was actually Aliens 2, Steady Eddie.

But I'm not holding that against you.

Number three, another vote for Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein.

Scary and funny, could not agree more Steady Eddie.

Thank you, pal.

Have a great night.

John Murray from Madison checks in and says, Tim Burton's a nightmare before Christmas.

These have

been awesome texts.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being a part of the show.

Thank you to Carl Sarecki and thank you to John Roach on behalf of the lovable producer Conrad.

Good night, Wisconsin.

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