Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
THE IRON County Historical Society Museum is illuminated as the sun sets on Saturday.
By MEGAN HUGHES
Hurley - The annual Haunted History Flashlight Tour at the Iron County Historical Society Museum takes visitors on a tour through the building, during which they hear stories about the dangers of the Northwoods - either real or legendary - while exploring some of the new displays installed over the past year.
This year's tour took place on Saturday.
According to event organizer Robert "Bobby" Massoglia, museum volunteers look for tales to tell from old publications such as newspapers. This year, the stories included that of a lumberjack hit by a train, a woman who fended off a bear from her home, and a dog that was brought in to testify in court.
"We have had a couple of hiatuses over the years, but we have been doing this since 2016," said Massoglia, "In 2017, we received an award from the state of Wisconsin for the event. In the beginning, it was just touring the museum at night."
He said organizers then decided to add storytelling as a way to share the area's colorful past and unique characters.
On Saturday evening, visitors lined up and checked in for the tour at the Iron County Senior Center before being escorted over to the museum by volunteers in costume.
The tour took groups in through the basement of the museum, up into the courtroom, and into several of the other display rooms, many of which were decorated to fit the spooky theme.
Massoglia said that "countless volunteers," both behind the scenes and in public, make the event happen.
"For this event, we have a handful of storytellers, tour guides, ticket sellers and more," he said. "We even had people come up to us today, asking if we needed more help. It is a community event."
This was Massoglia's first year as head event organizer.
He said that, each year, the group tries to tell new stories, but sometimes they continue on from previous years.
"I have been compiling a list of story ideas - from newspaper clippings, old newspapers, books about the area and other written histories," said Massoglia. "Anytime I see something that could possibly be a story, I write it down, and we pick from the list. It is nice to bring these stories back and say 'this happened'."
For more information about the Iron County Historical Society Museum, visit its Facebook page.
