![]() ![]() ![]() For as long as Bloody Run Hollow was inhabited a spring hole was referred to as Spook Hole. The hollow that now supports a bucolic campgrounds alongside Bloody Run, was once the community of Beulah - a true ghost town. Your tour guide and captain will also regale you with legends of the attraction's founder: Gerald Mielke. Making up the difference are tall tales of alligator sightings and the evidence of scratch marks on the cave walls by Old Joe - a solo cave explorer who reportedly capsized his boat and managed to drown in the bathtub deep waters of Spook Creek. It lacks the sort of educational lectures you might be treated to at Cave of the Mounds. Spook Cave is less than a geological museum. Farther back, now 120 feet beneath a cow pasture, you are presented with a final chance to look up and inspect the high ceilings of Spook Cave before turning back. Rounding blind corners, the chambers open up to an infinite chimney and a 35 foot high dome room that presents a frozen mineral waterfall. As your boat is deftly guided through the tight quarters of a meandering elliptical stone tube of close to a half mile in length you are forced to hunkerĭown beneath jagged Dog Tooth Formations and hairy stalactites. A zebra striped flowstone wall presents white stripes of pure calcite along with black stripes of manganese. The entire region is speckled with sinkholes, dolines, and underground rivulets.Ī rich geological history of the driftless region is preserved and on display in Spook Cave. In all probability, stalagmites and stalactites grow in similar damp and dark chambers nearby that remain hidden from humans to this day. The cave dubbed Spook Cave was first unearthed in 1953. Not only does the main attraction continue to delight and charm off-the-beaten-path travelers, but the surrounding campgrounds and leisure-park seem frozen in a time when kids waded carelessly through streams attempting to net minnows, climbed on waterfalls without regard, and jockeyed for turns on the pinball machine.Ī trip to Spook Cave is a welcome respite in a world of buzzing smartphones, facetime marathons, tablet games, and all of the flashy go-go-gadgetry that pretends to deliver a superior interactive, engaging, and learning experience.īuried under the karst topography of the driftless region of Wisconsin and Iowa lie treasures waiting for discovery. It includes garish tongue and cheek humor, hand painted signage, a scripted tour narrative, and all of the razzle dazzle you would expect from the by-gone romantic high period of American tourism. In fact, the seven punts used to glide tourists through the caverns are the original boats commissioned for this tour. ![]() This original 1950's roadtrip attraction remains unchanged today. This unique cave tour floats adventurers on a 40 minute boat tour of the flooded Spook Cave. Spook Cave is a privately owned and operated show cave and campground located along Bloody Run in McGregor Iowa. ![]()
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