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Justin Brady: Come with me to a magical place where being labeled the pork queen is a compliment. Where being nice is just a way of life and where all leaders of the free world must pass through. Welcome to Iowa. Whether you’re a current Iowan, an Iowa expat, or an Iowan at heart, this show is for you. This is the Iowa Podcast, real Iowans, real talk. No drama.

Rob Newton: Hey, I’m Rob Newton, filling in for Justin in the Brady Dental Care Studio. Uh, Justin’s out of town this week asked me to do it. I am part of another podcast. The What’s Up Des Moines podcast. You get to know Des Moines, it’s people and what’s going on around the city. My goal is to keep the community informed by highlighting news, various events and changes within the Des Moines Metro. And so you’ll hear interviews, stories, and entertainment episodes drop Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. You can listen to what’s up Des moines@talkdsm.com or. Follow. What’s up Des Moines? Wherever you get your podcast. Well, this week is a hot one and kids are going back to school, which even though we don’t feel it, we see it. A new season is coming. We do still have a little time. With summer as far as like what we’re gonna feel and see outside, but the fall season is around the corner, which means the spooky season is around the corner and I’m already seeing it all over. Social media, uh, people are already ready. They’re already posting their stuff about what they’re gonna do to get ready for Halloween and what they’re gonna do, what events they want to go to, and they’re, they’re excited. And if I’m being a little honest, I’m pretty excited about it too. And it’s not just because it’s so hot in Iowa right now. Um, it’s, and I love the coolness of the fall, but it’s, it, all that stuff is a lot of fun and it’s even more fun I think when any of like the stories and stuff that’s spook you or maybe real, or maybe there’s something more to it than we thought. It’s not just somebody writing a book or making a movie and maybe it’s happening in your backyard, in your hometown, or maybe. Your home states. With us today is Cedar Falls Ghost Tour host Lauren Reci. Welcome to the Iowa Podcast. Thanks,

Lauren Riensche: Rob. Happy to be here.

Rob Newton: Ooh, and I bet you’re excited because I, well, you know what, before we get into all your excitement and your, your past and all that fun stuff with this, can you give us a quick 32nd commercial of what the Cedar Falls Ghost Tour is? Let’s just say someone’s just, they got so much time there on the road, but they gotta go and what, what is this?

Lauren Riensche: Yeah, I would love to. So the Cedar Falls Ghost Tour is an opportunity to explore the historic downtown area of Cedar Falls like you never have before. And so during the tour, myself, as author and host, takes you around on a one hour, one mile or so walking tour as I recant the local history and hauntings of the area. So if you are a history buff who likes spooky stuff, this

Rob Newton: tour is for you. And that, and that is such a great mix for me. I do love history and, um, I more and more each year I was, I grew up as a kid that wasn’t allowed to, like we were allowed to trick or treat and all that fun stuff, but it wasn’t what, I was not allowed to read any stories of, you know, anything spooky, wasn’t allowed to watch the movie. So as an adult, of course, I’m like, I could do whatever I want now. And so this sounds very appealing.

Lauren Riensche: That makes a lot of sense. ’cause in my household growing up on a farm, we weren’t allowed to watch the movie signs. ’cause then maybe we’d be a little too afraid to go out and do chores. So I do that.

Rob Newton: Uh, that makes sense. Ooh, just, uh, for a tease, none of those stories have anything to do with that. Do does it?

Lauren Riensche: Nope, there are no horror stories about cornfields on the tour. I think just for much my sake as anyone else’s.

Rob Newton: Okay. So, Lauren, tell us, um, before we get into, ’cause I’m gonna ask you, obviously not wanting to give too much away in any story, I’m gonna ask you about some of the stories. Um, but first, what is your connection to Cedar Falls?

Lauren Riensche: Yeah, so I moved to Cedar Falls in 2020, but I’ve been living in the Cedar Valley area for much longer than that. We grew up on a farm, my family and I, outside of Jessup, Iowa. It’s a sixth generation corn and soybean farm. And then from there I went to college out of state and moved all over the place for about a decade. And then when the pandemic hit, it brought me back home. And at the time my then fiance was living in Cedar Falls and a little studio apartment, and I came back here and moved in with him thinking that it’d all blow over in two weeks. Well, We all know better than that, and I’ve stayed here ever since, and I’ve really come to fall in love with the community of Cedar Falls and have been here ever since.

Rob Newton: It, it, uh, that, that is, I am similar situation, but me in central Iowa, um, in the Des Moines area, but Iowa is infectious it, and it’s the, it has to do a lot with the people in the charm of the towns and the sense of community. And so you kind of just like you got sucked in and there’s just no leaving and you don’t even want to. I

Lauren Riensche: completely agree. I think Iowa offers a peace and a pace of life that is inherently delightful.

Rob Newton: Now, that may not be true around October in Cedar Falls, though for some of us. I dunno. I mean, I don’t know how peaceful it is if I’m, you know, freaked out and scared and thinking I hear or see something. Um, but so what is the history of Cedar Falls that makes it so, that makes it spooky enough to have, you know, this kind of tour.

Lauren Riensche: A lot of the spookiness comes from the fact that the town was built along the Cedar River. It’s the lifeblood of the community and has been for going on almost 200 years. And there have been, of course, therefore a lot of tragedies related to work along the river. And so there are certainly a lot of spooky stories along the Cedar River. So many that I think I could probably make a tour just about. That river. But of course there have been so much, there’s been so many families and people who have come to live in the town of Cedar Falls over time, that have left their mark for a hundred years or more, that create that, uh, allow for an interesting, um, tale to be told.

Rob Newton: Yeah. And so how f how old would you say some of these stories are?

Lauren Riensche: Hmm. Well, I start at the beginning. I start about, I start with the founding of the town in 1845 by William Sturgis and kind of walk you forward and backward through time as we stop at each location along

Rob Newton: the tour. Okay. So, and going into the, the oldest part, um, and, and, and I know that people will, you know, if they go on this tour, they’re gonna get like the lowdown, but can you give me kind of a summary of that oldest story?

Lauren Riensche: Hmm, sure. My oldest story on the tour, I. I’m gonna have to say that my oldest story on the tour is the one that I tell at the very beginning. I talk a little bit about our starting location in Overman Park in Cedar Falls, and talk about an entity that’s been spotted there. And what I like to do on the tour and why it’s a historical haunted tour is because I try and take the stories of hauntings. The stories of hauntings that I prefer, of course, being ones that have been corroborated by multiple people independently, they get weeds for a much juicier tale. I take those stories and then I walk back in time looking through historical archives and records, matching up those hauntings to people in places in history, and so in Overman Park. That land originally belonged to Native American tribes in the area before it was bought by the state of Iowa. Um, perhaps for a greatly discounted rate, unfortunately. And then people were allowed to come and do land claims on it. Um, and so there’s an entity that’s been spotted in the park and when you walk back in time, potentially could be the entity of one of the founding members of the community, John Overman. Or perhaps it is a Native American come to walk the land again. That was. Once

Rob Newton: there’s. And so this entity, is this a kind of a calming, quiet kind of entity, or does it get spookier than that for, for people who have maybe seen them?

Lauren Riensche: Yeah. Well, it sounds like it’s at least spooks some people’s dogs, right? Mm-hmm. So in Overman Park, late at night, the people who have come to the park just for a walk take their dog out or live around the perimeter of the park, have reported seeing a dark shadowy entity walk across the park swiftly from, there’s a little red. House storage shed unit on the property. Um, and the entity always seems to start there, walks swiftly towards the center of the park and then disappear. It’s tall. Perhaps it’s a man, and that’s why I went back in time to try and figure out who could be attached to that area. Well, perhaps John Overman because when he originally laid out the town, he intended for Overman Park to actually be the location of the county courthouse, which. Of course it is not, it’s a park. And I am happy to tell you more about that story on my tour, or again, maybe it’s one of the Native Americans who originally populated the land.

Rob Newton: Ooh. What, what I find, uh, really neat about this, uh, what you said earlier about the research that that’s been done is it almost feels like not just a tour and you get to see the landmarks and possibly maybe see something else, but it’s, it’s really kind of sounds like almost like a, a detective thing.

Lauren Riensche: Oh yeah. I would totally frame it that way. I had the opportunity to start with hauntings and receive so many stories from people who live, work, and play in downtown Cedar Falls. Then narrow them down to stories that, like I said, could be corroborated independently or have strong ties in history, and then walk backward from there to do research to try and figure out who’s haunting this place

Rob Newton: and why. Walk me through how this all started. Um, what, because I’m assume you started this, this tour, right? I did, yep. So what was, what was the day one thing, how did this all come to be where you just, just, you heard a story and then you’re like, I’m gonna do the research. Just kinda like what you just said you were doing to create the tour, but did it, how did it start to, uh, just walk me through the beginning.

Lauren Riensche: Sure thing, Rob. Um, the way that it started was, I had been living in Cedar Falls for about a year. It was 2021, and as many of us in the pandemic felt that we got up every day, we went to our jobs, those of us who were perhaps fortunate enough to be working from home, and we did our job all day, and then we looked at another screen before bedtime and went bed back to bed and did it all over again. And I was starting to feel tired of the monotony of those type of days. And so I wanted to lean back into a hobby. And when I thought about what brings me a lot of joy, well, one of the things I like to do is to go on the Ghost Tour in communities that I visit. I think that the lore that finds itself embedded in a community’s history is just so fascinating to me. Whether it’s true or not, I think it has something to say about the communities that you’re in. And so I’ve taken dozens of Ghost Tour all around the world, Venice, London. Um, but all around the United States, you name it. And I just think that it provides you such a unique perspective on the places that you visit. And so I thought, well shoot. I wish there was a ghost tour in Cedar Falls that I could take so I could learn a little bit more about the history and maybe some of those hauntings and lore. And then about 30 seconds later, I thought to myself, well, what if that was my hobby? What if I started this up? And so I started floating the idea to the tourism office in town and few other places, um, and was met with enthusiasm. So just wanted to make sure that, um, you know, my idea would be met with, um, With, uh, what open arms in the community, and I am pleased to report that my tours have been sold out. I’ve gotten great feedback and people have come out to support a small business ever since.

Rob Newton: And this is year three, that, that, that, that this is going on, correct? It is, yep. Third year. That’s pretty exciting. It’s great to see, I mean, we, we are fortunate in this state that it, I, from what, from just from my perspective in my own work. It is a business friendly state. I would say Iowa is, and the fact that there’s so many unique types of businesses all over and it’s really cool that you were able to. You know, one that’s such a great entrepreneurial, uh, idea. You know, you wanna just like, Hey, it’s not here. I’m gonna make this myself. And the fact that you’re able to do this, this is far more unique than, I mean, I love going to every single restaurant and I want to eat all the delicious food, believe me. But, uh, this is, this is part of the entertainment business, what you’re doing, and which is really cool. But it’s, it’s not just that you’re also letting people. In Iowa know about, uh, one part of its state’s history, and that’s, that’s really neat.

Lauren Riensche: Thank you. Yep. That’s my favorite part of the tour is getting to share these stories, seeing the expression on people’s faces and being able to answer questions. I just like that this helps our own, um, tour goers become more educated in our town’s history.

Rob Newton: And so before you started doing a deep dive into Cedar Falls and looking, um, looking for ghost stories, were there already a bunch of stories about the town that just kind of, everyone in the neighborhood in the community was like, yeah, I wouldn’t walk down that street, or I always go by this place because I see or hear something. Is this just part of the legend of Cedar Falls?

Lauren Riensche: It seemed a bit more disparate than that when I first started, but I will say that there are locations where people all seem to agree that they were haunted, right? Because some of my stories were corroborated independently. And so what I did to begin this research and to look into finding ghost stories to include on the tour was I literally just walked up and down Main Street with a little flyer that said, got ghosts and my email address on it. Um, so sorry for stealing that brand in got milk, but. Um, you know, and I walked into all the shops, talked to the people who work there, um, the owners, and I’ll say that so many, so many of the owners and people who work in those shops were, um, Just game to tell me their stories. I’d heard something go bump in the back. I’ve seen a guy down the hall, et cetera, you name it. And a lot of them, it seemed, felt like it was an opportunity to get off their chest, which, I mean, I had my notes out. I was ready to hear their stories. So there’s certainly ghost stories to be found by poking around in town. And, um, In the future if I should expand these tourists. I’ve got some pretty good ones lined up from the University of Northern Iowa as well. There’s some, there’s a few more known ghost stories over there.

Rob Newton: Oh wow. That’s really, and that’s what I was gonna ask. When you did this year one, how many stories had you found and are using on the tour? Oh

Lauren Riensche: my goodness. What a great question, Rob. I collected so many stories that my first iteration of the tour, when I pulled it all together and my Word document was two and a half hours long. And I just thought, I only know one person who maybe wants to spend that much time on ghosts, and I’m her. So I whittled it down. I’ve collected probably over, I. 115 or 120 ghost stories at this point, um, which has given me a pretty rich catalog to select from, and definitely made it tough to try and narrow down which ones I want to spend time on the tour and time researching.

Rob Newton: I. So is, is it a situation where, um, like year one or even just now, like depending on when you go on this tour, may they get a different story than they did if they, like maybe someone just loved it and wanted to go the first time and then I know it sells out so fast and they’re like, so I’m booking two ’cause I’m, I have another friend who’s going, who’s available on, uh, later on in the month. And so is there a chance that they would see it or and hear about a different story?

Lauren Riensche: You know, we stick to the same script for all of the public tours, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t ask questions along the way. ’cause I’ve certainly got a lot of Cedar Falls history and hauntings rattling around up here. Now that I’ve been working on this for so

Rob Newton: long, I. Oh, that might open a can of worms because it’s like, if you like, you’re either gonna get someone that’s like, you know what? I’m scared enough and I’m ready to go home. Or you’re gonna have someone like, tell me more. Okay. Tell me another one and tell me you’re like, eventually I’ve got to be able to go to

Lauren Riensche: sleep. Well, I do love sticking around for a little bit after the tour too, because I. Plenty of people who do live in Cedar Falls come up to me afterwards and say, you gotta know about my grandma’s house, or you gotta know about the house I grew up in. Um, could you do some research on this? And I catalog them all the way for future opportunities. But I like that it brings us together that, um, maybe we don’t have it all figured out and we can share bond

Rob Newton: in that. Yeah. That’s really neat. And so when you say, you know, you sold out and sold out quickly the past two years, about how many Iowans came, came to town for this, like how many people does that mean I.

Lauren Riensche: Hmm, well, there are 20 tickets a tour, and there are six tours. So about 120, maybe a few more, um, Iowans or even some out of staters. I had one woman who drove from Kansas City to take the tour last year, and that was so, so flattering. Um, so about 120 people or more come out to take the tour every a year. Oh

Rob Newton: wow. It’s gonna, it may, I’m, I’m sensing it might become something you’re gonna have to start in September and go into October. Uh, because like I said, I, you know, going on social media, people are already just desperate for this season to come. And so if you’re, you’re selling out that fast, yeah. You’re gonna have to expand and hey, you got plenty of content for it.

Lauren Riensche: Oh, that’s right. And you know what, selfishly a little bit I. I am thinking about that. If I scale, then I don’t personally have the opportunity to tell the tales, um, to every single tour group, which I love doing, but I also wanna make it accessible to more people. So in the future, I’ll consider either expanding the tour at my current location or expanding into some new locations as well. But I. For this year I’m sticking to Main Street. Um, and of course we’ve got the six tours again this year and there’s always the opportunity for groups to get together and book a private tour as well, which has been pretty fun to do. I had some great groups last year.

Rob Newton: That’s really neat. Oh, I’m all for you expanding because I’d love to know what, you know, what other spooky things are going on across the state. I can’t imagine what scary stories there are in Des Moines, uh, with Sure. And, uh, if you do it, I’ll be glad to go on that tour as well. This sounds, this sounds very exciting. I’m definitely gonna have to get some tickets and go to this ’cause I’m getting excited. I want to hear all the stories. Um, I don’t think I have a, have time for a hundred and something stories, but the, the, the ones you have, and, and that’s what’s cool too, is you’re not just, you’re, it’s a tour. So, uh, you get to walk around town about how, how far are people walking and, and, and what are they seeing?

Lauren Riensche: Yeah, so it’s just about over a mile and it’s a one mile loop. So you end up back at your car again. Don’t worry about that. But we start at Overman Park and then we walk on down to Main Street. We walk along the river, we come back out onto Main Street and end the tour back in Overman Park again. So we’ve got. Six or seven stops trying to think off the top of.

Rob Newton: That’s really cool. And so, okay, so you said that there’s people in town now in Cedar Falls that are like, uh, you know, coming to you with their stories and stuff. Has the town just become like, like Halloween town during October in support of this and just like they’re doing, like they’ve got some pictures of whoever ghost you’re talking about. I mean, is it just like, as soon as you come into this town, you know where you are? Oh

Lauren Riensche: man, that’s the long con is to turn this into Halloween town here. But, um, I certainly have a lot of ghost stories from all over town and I’ve certainly been recognized in town. It is so fun to be at a local bar and be called out as, Hey, that’s. It’s the ghost girl. I don’t mind that designation at all. I think it’s fun. I love starting up that conversation with people. Um, but yeah, I, I think that Halloween in the downtown area is pretty fun. There’s parades, cemetery walks, lots of fun things to do.

Rob Newton: Okay. So, um, yeah, I, I see, I’m thinking like I go there, people are coming from all over Iowa, or like you said, Kansas City and, you know, it’s, you know, from Des Moines. Uh, um, it’s probably what, a two hour drive and totally worth it to go on the tour, but it’s like, okay, well I, I’m guessing that Cedar Falls itself is worth the, the day

Lauren Riensche: trip. You’re talking to a biased person here because I think Cedar Falls is amazing. Yeah. I think there are great trails. There’s great shops, there’s great places to eat, which sounds of interest to you. And I think you could easily spend a weekend here in

Rob Newton: Cedar Falls. Oh, that sounds exciting. Okay. And so, I gotta know. Um, and I, I know that you can’t give all the details away and, and because, you know, obviously we want people to go on this tour and check it out, but what is the second spookiest store story that you have on this tour? Oh, the second spookiest. Yeah. I don’t want you to tell the spookiest because they gotta go see, you know? Yeah. Hmm.

Lauren Riensche: Well, let me think about that. I would say that the second spookiest story on my tour is related to the building where you can find the Blue Room Lounge right now. Some people late at night who all swear that they were two drinks or less into their night. So take it at their word. Um, swear that they’ve seen a man standing in the establishment staring out of the North Wall, which for many years. The north wall windows were boarded up, so where was this guy looking out to? Um, but as soon as they turn their head to try and get a closer look at him, he vanishes. And he’s been described by multiple people as, um, you know, he’s kind of balding. He’s got little rum glasses, a mustache along to hand trench coat. And so enough people told me this story that I started doing some research, and it turns out that a man named Roger Levitt. Worked in that building when it was a bank for about 50 years of his life. So this guy walked in the doors as a 20 year old and walked back out many decades later. And so of course he’s probably still sticking around there to check stuff out. But man, that was such a cool find to pull out the. Photo of Roger and show it to the people who told me that story and see them gasp and say, that’s him, right? So I’m not personally too scared of hauntings like that because you know, people are just sticking around the place that they knew best, and that’s fine. But it definitely can bring a chill down your spine if you’re not expecting

Rob Newton: it. Ooh. So I’m guessing the spookiest story you have, is it more like the, like, oh, okay. I not, thanks a lot. I’m not gonna be able to sleep tonight and, and so give me some coffee. Is it, do you have stories like that?

Lauren Riensche: Oh, certainly. I would say there’s a good mix of stories on the tour that are scary, some that are sad, and some that are a little heartwarming.

Rob Newton: And this tour, it’s probably not too much for children, I’m guessing.

Lauren Riensche: Yeah, no, my recommendation is that, you know, kids of any age are welcome, but maybe 12 and above is a good number because if there’s children on the tour, uh, the content doesn’t change for them. So just keep that

Rob Newton: in mind. Okay. And, okay, Lauren, now I, I have to know you’re doing all this research, you’re doing your detective work. That means you’re going and you’ve created the tour and where you’re walking and you’ve, so you’ve been all over. You’re doing it at night. W you’ve had to have seen something. What was your, do you have a spooky experience since you started all this? Oh

Lauren Riensche: man. You know, for someone who leads a ghost tour, I just don’t love a horror movie or stumbling into a ghost myself too much. But I certainly have some, um, unexplained stories from my own life growing up, which is, Probably why I got triggered into being interested in all of this in the first place. But as far as it goes for downtown Cedar Falls, I have personally not run into one of these ghosts yet.

Rob Newton: Okay. Well, the, the tour dates will be announced on what, September 1st. Right. That’s when I’ll be sharing ’em out. So I encourage everyone to follow Cedar Falls Ghost tour on Facebook and Instagram. Um, it’s at what cf uh, ghost Tours. Right. Yep, that’s, that’s the handle. We ghost tour

Lauren Riensche: on Facebook and CF Ghost Tour on Instagram.

Rob Newton: And uh, from there there is the link for when you can get tickets. And how fast did it, uh, get sold out last year

Lauren Riensche: in just about over 36 hours. So I’ll be posting the tour dates ahead of time so you can coordinate with your friends and be quick on the draw when the tickets go on sale at 12:00 PM Central on Friday,

Rob Newton: September 15th. See you have ample time to get ready. Make sure you follow, uh, uh, Cedar Falls Ghost tour on Instagram and Facebook, and just be ready to click as soon as Lauren lets you know that they’re up on September 1st. And then, you know, get your tickets and bring me as well, um, so that I can benefit from how quickly, quick you are on getting on these tours. Yeah. And, um, so this, this is exciting. This is fun. I’m, I’m looking forward to it and I’m sure a lot of other people are as well. Um, now last question. Okay. Um, you’re there, you know, we don’t know the dates, but I’m sure there’s going to be a tour on the Spookiest night of the year. It being Halloween. Oh,

Lauren Riensche: certainly. Come join me on all Hollow’s Eve. There will certainly be a tour on Halloween.

Rob Newton: Is there anything extra special that might happen on that tour?

Lauren Riensche: Hmm. The atmosphere is usually the spookiest downtown, and there’s usually something going on like music playing or special drinks that either before or after your tour. You’re welcome to stick around for.

Rob Newton: Right on. Okay. Uh, Lauren Reci Cedar Falls Ghost Tour this October. Thanks for coming on the Iowa Podcast.

Lauren Riensche: Thanks for having me, Rob. I’ll see you this

Rob Newton: October. Well, that’s it for this week’s episode. I’m Rob Newton in for Justin Brady. If you’d like to learn more about the Cedar Falls Ghost Tour and host Lauren Reci, the creator of the tour, you can visit Iowa podcast.com. You can also check out the article with all the information about the Cedar Falls Ghost tour. That’s Iowa podcast.com. You can also follow. Iowa Podcast on social media. From there, check it out and Justin will talk to you next week.