Haunted Michigan, Episode 9: Nate Thompson
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00:00Haunted Michigan, Terrifying Tales.
00:05Welcome to this episode of Haunted Michigan.
00:07I'm your host, Meltdown.
00:09This time around, we head to Monroe, Michigan, and talk with Nate Thompson.
00:13Nate's the owner and proprietor of the Museum of Horror.
00:16And now he's expanding to late night haunted walks,
00:19as well as crazy escape rooms that he's planning on opening in the fall.
00:24This and much, much more with Nate Thompson on this episode of Haunted Michigan.
00:30And we welcome in Nate Thompson.
00:32Nate, how are you, my friend?
00:33I am doing well, sir. How are you?
00:35I'm great. I have a good time at Uncle Sam Jam.
00:39I was thinking Arts Beats.
00:40But yeah, Uncle Sam Jam, I saw you.
00:42That ripped, man. I love seeing Jack.
00:44That was the first time I got to see him live.
00:46And yeah, definitely, definitely worth it.
00:49I didn't mislead you.
00:51Did I have told you you were going to love him?
00:53Yeah, yeah. No, you're right. You're right.
00:55And then Jesse brings me up on stage.
00:57Were you there for the chainsaw?
00:59Oh, yeah. I had to be there for the chainsaw.
01:01I wasn't leaving until I seen it.
01:04There you go.
01:05Well, you have a lot of things that happen at Don and Monroe.
01:07First of all, for people that don't know,
01:09you have this really cool place called the Museum of Horror.
01:12Tell everybody who's never been there before what that's all about.
01:15Yeah, yep.
01:17So the Museum of Horror, it's Michigan's first two-story, year-round annual horror museum.
01:23Basically, it plays off not only the horror in terms of, like, theater and movie memorabilia,
01:29but also real-life horror.
01:31So human bones, serial killers, you know, different, like, true crime artifacts, stuff like that.
01:37But, you know, it's pretty much a place that if you're into the weird, unusual, or creepy, it's a must-see.
01:44Yeah, and the second story has pretty much stuff from funerals gone by in the past and everything, doesn't it?
01:51Yeah, yeah, yep.
01:51So we had a funeral exhibit.
01:53We still have some funeral items up here.
01:55We're actually getting ready to do a huge mural upstairs,
01:59and then we're bringing in some more movie artifacts.
02:02So things are going to be constantly changing.
02:03And, you know, every six months, I hope to have at least some sort of new exhibit cycled in and cycled out.
02:10Yeah, so where are you getting these exhibits from?
02:12People put them on loan to you?
02:14I mean, you can.
02:16I haven't really recently, like, on loan.
02:19Most of it's just, like, buying artifacts myself or, like, you know, going to, like, different prop auctions
02:23and just purchasing them and then, like, kind of building the exhibit from there.
02:29Yeah, you get people that donate stuff to you, too.
02:31Usually, that's haunted things.
02:32Like, you know, hey, this is a haunted mirror.
02:33I don't want this anymore.
02:34And I'm like, oh, great.
02:36Yeah, I guess I'll take it.
02:39You're putting all these haunted things into one place.
02:41Like, that Ouija board you have, would you say that's the most haunted thing you have
02:45or the thing with the best story?
02:47Yeah, I would say that's the thing that I'm most, you know, I guess fearful of, I guess,
02:54would be the right thing.
02:55Protective of?
02:56Yeah, yeah, because, I mean, the witch that donated it to me, she didn't ask for any money.
03:01She didn't ask for any recognition.
03:03She didn't ask for, you know, not even a picture.
03:05She just said, the only thing I ask of is if anybody breaks that seal, that it's not my responsibility.
03:11It's not my fault what happens after that.
03:13So, her telling me that, you know, kind of played in my head, like, she's 100% like
03:19intentful on that.
03:20Like, she means what she says.
03:22So, you know, whatever happened with that board, man, I'm just going to leave that seal there.
03:27Yeah, right.
03:28And so then, of course, you have that special room as well where you can walk, you go through
03:32the, I don't know what that is, the body bag.
03:35Yeah, yeah.
03:35So, that's a real body bag you walk through and that's the red room.
03:39That is the most graphic and glorious photos you've ever seen in your entire life.
03:43Guaranteed.
03:43So, that's, it's a pretty, it's a pretty over-the-top room there, but people love it.
03:49And it seems to be a good attraction point.
03:52Now, you're a horror movie fan yourself.
03:54I just went and saw Insidious, the red door the other day.
03:58Yeah.
03:58And I was a little bit skeptical because it was, it was PG-13.
04:01I'm like, hmm, I want to go see this.
04:03But I did.
04:04And there was one scene, a jump scare that got me.
04:07And my stepdaughter said, yeah, your legs flew off the chair, which is true.
04:09Like, you're up on the refiner and stuff.
04:11And my legs went like, yeah, it did hit me.
04:15One thing that they did extremely well, because I haven't seen the actual movie yet, but one
04:19thing that they have done extremely well, and you know, this goes without saying, but is
04:24the promotion aspect.
04:26All the marketing that they did with actually having like the red door in certain places
04:30around, you would open it up and jump scares.
04:32And that's very clever.
04:34They did a really good job on that.
04:35Yeah.
04:36And then Terrifier 3 is coming out.
04:38I liked the Terrifier movies so far.
04:40Those are pretty good.
04:42What are some of your favorites?
04:44Yeah.
04:44Yeah.
04:45I love, I'm a fan of the classics that kind of like got me inspired on everything.
04:50You know, like Return of the Living Dead, Creepshow.
04:53Creepshow did come out with kind of like a, not necessarily a remake, but like an addition
04:57to where they made it into a series, I believe it was on Shudder.
04:59That was pretty good.
05:00Um, and I think recently, oh, I haven't seen it yet, but the, the trailer for it, the Pope's
05:08Exorcist, uh, yeah, at least from the trailer, it looks like it'd be pretty gnarly.
05:14Maybe I didn't see that one.
05:15I saw a different one now that just came on and I see so many of my, I get them confused.
05:19Uh, the evil dead movie, the last one is really good.
05:23Yes.
05:24That's what I, I haven't seen that one yet either, but that's what everyone says is like,
05:27that was like maybe even one of the best of the whole series, which is, it's very hard
05:33to do with, to kind of like, um, make something newer that kind of competes or does better than
05:39the originals.
05:40Yeah.
05:40And then I met, uh, at, uh, the Astronomicon, I met Bonnie who plays the nun and the new nun
05:45is coming out in September.
05:46Yeah.
05:47Yeah.
05:47So that's pretty cool.
05:48Uh, tell us about that.
05:50You, you make some short movies yourself, some short films, right?
05:53Yeah.
05:53Yep.
05:54I, um, yeah, so for the last two years, you know, I've been making a horror short films.
05:59That's kind of how this all started was, um, you know, we wouldn't sell out the local theater
06:03here and we just sold so many tickets that at some point we were like, wow, this is a,
06:07seems like there's a horror market, you know, right here around Monroe.
06:10And it almost, it's almost like they kind of need like a horror store or a museum or,
06:15and then they would just kind of, you know, kind of got on the track and then I opened up
06:19a store and, but yeah, man, we've been making horror films.
06:23We kind of like to do it right here in Monroe, kind of cast everybody that's as close to
06:26Monroe as possible.
06:27Um, you know, we'll get outside casting of course too, but, uh, it's just nice when we
06:31can have at least some casts that is kind of local to Monroe.
06:34And then, uh, yeah, we just kind of premier them at the local theater here.
06:37And then we, uh, we put them on our website or on YouTube, but, uh, we're going to get
06:41ready to film a, uh, another one here.
06:43And I think we're, we're going to probably make this one a full feature or a little bit longer
06:47than the short films that we've had before.
06:49How many have you done so far?
06:51Uh, six in total.
06:53Okay.
06:54The seventh one we start working on.
06:56Okay.
06:56Excellent.
06:56We'll have to include those in the story here.
06:59So, uh, you just mentioned that, uh, you know, people in Monroe kind of looking for a little
07:02bit of a scarier, darker side.
07:04So you've got this, uh, haunted walking tours.
07:06Uh, when did this start?
07:08So this started, uh, about four weeks ago, you know, this was actually a original idea
07:12I had where I was like, well, you know, it'd be nice if we can take people around on
07:15buses and have bus tours, kind of like the old, uh, like if you were to go to LA and
07:20you know, get a tour of like the famous locations and you'd be on a double decker bus.
07:26Well, you know, that's still in play.
07:29I still want to do that, but the bus tour, but until we can find multiple buses and figure
07:34out parking for the buses and where we're going to, you know, have all that in downtown,
07:38what can we do to make that idea happen?
07:41Um, still.
07:43And that's kind of where I was like, well, we can do haunted walking tours.
07:47And we kind of, we had original times in the day, but it was just getting to where it
07:52was like, so, so hot and so unbearable to walk throughout the heat that we were like,
07:57all right, we'll just do them at 10 o'clock.
07:59There'll be every Saturday at 10 o'clock.
08:01And, uh, it's a good time, man.
08:03You know, we have a bunch of people that meet up out front of the museum.
08:06And then of course the, the tour guide, it's, that was one of the best.
08:10His name is Zach Erie, Zachary.
08:12Uh, but it's one of the best tour guides.
08:14I've literally probably in the game today.
08:17I'll be honest with you.
08:18And it's just, I've been on the walking tour twice already.
08:21I'm going to go next week.
08:22It's just, it's so amusing to see him kind of have these mannerisms and these little
08:27like catchphrases to go along with the tour.
08:29It brings it all in.
08:30And, uh, you know, you are going throughout real haunted places in Monroe, places where,
08:35you know, people have seen ghost sightings, had things happen to them, places where people
08:39have been murdered.
08:40Um, you know, we keep it tasteful, but at the same time, we definitely keep it spooky.
08:44Now where, uh, where do you find Zach and who does all the research for all the stuff
08:49that, that you will point out during this tour?
08:51So I do all the research myself on this, uh, it's strenuous, but I want to make sure that
08:56it's not only, uh, legit and by, you know, like verbatim from the actual accounts, but
09:02I want to make sure that it's entertaining for people too.
09:04Um, but finding Zach man, and, you know, finding other tour guides and people in general, it's,
09:09it's difficult because not everyone is in, uh, is capable of really, you know,
09:14doing that.
09:15It takes a special type of, you know, presentation and, um, you know, like, like almost like a
09:20theater, theater lover to be able to get up there and, and perform like that.
09:25And, um, I think he came to me one day by a referral from a friend and I ended up, um,
09:32they were, they were like, Hey, this guy will do your tour guides and he'll, uh, he'll show
09:36up in a suit.
09:37And I'm like, wait a minute, suit.
09:38And then I ended up checking them out and it was like this, like dead, like haunted
09:41mansion style suit.
09:42And I'm like, Oh, this guy's, this guy's got it.
09:47So how many people, uh, are, are going each group every Saturday?
09:51Uh, so we've lately, we've been having about 50 plus each time and it's getting to where
09:55they're larger groups.
09:57Um, so what I'm working on now currently is I'm building a second route.
10:01Um, so you'll still be able to go on the route one, but there'll also be a route two that
10:06you can choose.
10:06So if you're a returning, you know, customer and you've already been on the, you know,
10:10the first one, you can go on the second one, but this will also help groups kind of be limited
10:14to maybe 25 or less at a time, because we have some people that say they really would
10:18like a more intimate, um, you know, situation, but at the same time, people love that there's
10:23a bunch of people around.
10:24So we've, we've kind of been looking at about 50 plus each, each week.
10:29And so I'm going to probably break it into two there.
10:32That way people can, can enjoy it, have some elbow room.
10:34Um, and this is the first year you're doing this.
10:36Yeah.
10:37Yep.
10:37This is the first month really.
10:39Yeah.
10:40So give me like, uh, give me like one or two of the stops.
10:42Like, uh, what, what would people experience without giving away too much, but like, what,
10:45what are some of the stops that they'd, they'd see?
10:47So, uh, one stop that they would see or that you could possibly see on one of the tours
10:53is, um, there's a, a water fountain downtown here, right in downtown Monroe across the street
10:58from the Monroe courthouse.
10:59And, uh, back in the nineties, basically when they were actually building the, um, like
11:04the foundation, like the land for the, um, the fountain to go into, they dug a hole and
11:10they found two native American skeletons buried face down.
11:14So, uh, just like, you know, any good horror story starts what they do while they left them
11:18there.
11:19And then they continued to bury the fountain or to build the fountain on top of it.
11:23So still to this day, you know, people and kids and families are throwing quarters in
11:26there, having fun and right on the side of the fountain, it mentions that there's, you
11:30know, two human remains, just, you know, mere feet just below there.
11:34And, uh, nobody, nobody knows about that plaque spent on the side of that fountain, but it's
11:39in a way to where nobody sees it.
11:41Nobody knows about it.
11:42Um, you know, another stop would be, um, there's a, I won't say too much about the backstory about
11:48this is, but, you know, we'll take them through old graveyards.
11:51So there's multiple graveyards that we can choose from that each one has their own story
11:55and different accounts of like paranormal sighting.
11:58So at some point during the tour, you're walked through a graveyard, you can kind of see the
12:02headstones and this is all at nighttime too.
12:04Um, and these tours, you know, these are just going to get crazy as, as time goes, because
12:09I really, um, I really have a plan that I'm hoping at some point that we can actually get
12:16into some of these buildings.
12:17So we'll be walking through late at night and, uh, there'll be somebody to let us into
12:21these buildings, do a little ghost hunt at some point and leave, go to the next building,
12:25you know, and so on and so forth.
12:27Either that, or we just get a bunch of scooters and there's just 50 people flying on scooters.
12:31Like a motorcycle gang or something.
12:34So how long is this walk from start to finish for people that, uh, want to do this?
12:39Uh, so it's about an hour long and about a mile and a half all together and walking.
12:43Okay.
12:43And, uh, uh, let's see my friends from Detroit paranormal expeditions, you know, those guys,
12:49right?
12:49Oh yeah.
12:50Yeah.
12:50Good guys.
12:50Yeah.
12:50They've told me a lot of stuff.
12:52Uh, so, so Monroe is like kind of a battlefield ground.
12:56So a lot of death happened there and there's a, there's a lot of stories that come out of
13:00that area right there.
13:01Am I, um, am I remiss in, in recollecting the story about there was a, there's like a, a grain
13:08silo or something down there.
13:10Yeah.
13:11Well, I mean, there's a, there is a few, and then there, I believe there was one that
13:14even got, um, taken down back in the day too.
13:18Well, I heard that there was some, there was some entity that was there and, and it was,
13:22it was always popping up and there was a lot of stories around it.
13:24Maybe I'm thinking of something else, but it was something down in, in that area.
13:28But, uh, uh, uh, have, uh, on these tours so far, has anyone, uh, witnessed anything
13:34or felt anything?
13:35Really?
13:36Yeah.
13:36So, uh, I had some people send me pictures of, um, the museum window and I won't say how
13:43the museum comes into play with the tour, but it does, but they, they've had, um, sent
13:48me pictures of the second floor and the third floor of the museum window.
13:51Um, I won't say what they caught yet because we're compiling it.
13:54We're going to put it in a post, but, uh, we've also had people in the graveyard that
13:59have caught orbs.
14:00Um, some people have said they like felt like getting touched.
14:04Um, and you know, me personally, I just, I just think it's a, it's a killer time.
14:08It's a cool way to spend, you know, at least an hour on a Saturday.
14:11Hell, you know, go walk around and hang out for a little bit and people dig, I dig it, man.
14:16I got to make it down there because I got to, uh, my, my Saturdays are full right now,
14:20but I will definitely, uh, what, when does this go until?
14:22Uh, it's going to go all summer and all fall long.
14:25It's really, as soon as I see snow for the first time, that's when we're going to, we're
14:29going to cut it.
14:30Okay.
14:30Yeah.
14:30I'll, I'll definitely be down there for a Saturday night.
14:32And also this coming Saturday, you got the haunted heat fest.
14:36That's a wrestling thing, right?
14:38Yeah.
14:38So on the 22nd, uh, that Saturday we're going to do, it's like a horror show too.
14:42We can have a bunch of horror vendors, different like Halloween vendors scattered throughout
14:46the building and throughout the backyard.
14:48We'll have food trucks, um, but you know, with any good festival or any good show, especially
14:53that I'm a part of, I want it to be wicked and cool.
14:55So I'm like, well, what, what would be cooler than have a couple of guys smack each other
14:59in the head with steel chairs?
15:00So we're going to have that set up too, for people to, to see and hang out with.
15:04And, you know, it's just going to be a good way to, again, spend Saturday.
15:09I get down there for the IWR wrestling matches.
15:12Do you ever get down there and see them?
15:13I love those guys, Gary.
15:15Uh, so Gary, the, the, the guy that I know Gary very well.
15:18Yeah.
15:19Great guy.
15:19He's actually what I attribute.
15:21Um, he's like my mentor behind all the festivals and the guy that I can fight into for questions.
15:26So I owe a lot to Gary.
15:27He's a good guy.
15:28And I love IWR.
15:29Yeah.
15:29Gary's fantastic.
15:30Rhino and I go back, uh, way back as a matter of fact.
15:33So people can, uh, they can sign up, do this, a haunted walking tour Saturdays throughout
15:37the summer and through the fall.
15:38So, and then, uh, you're working on something else, which, uh, is, is, uh, even, I don't
15:43know.
15:43I don't know if I want to say stranger, but it's strange for sure.
15:46Uh, an escape room of that's, that's, uh, uh, what's it?
15:50It's an image of Jeffrey Dahmer's apartment.
15:54Yeah.
15:54Yep.
15:54So, uh, it's called haunted.
15:56Uh, basically it's a, um, escape room, um, horror escape room experience and a very immersive
16:02experience.
16:02So, um, one of the, the rooms that we have there is a Dahmer's apartment.
16:07So basically you're, you're set up in a serial killer's apartment and you have to figure out
16:11how to get out before, um, you know, something bad happens.
16:14And then the, the room to the next to that one where you have set up, it's going to be
16:18Poe's Raven room.
16:19So basically it's like a black and purple room.
16:21It's very, um, Poe inspired.
16:24Um, and, and all the puzzle pieces will basically play into, uh, the theme of the room.
16:29So then the other one will be the morgue.
16:32And then, uh, you can kind of see the theme of this.
16:34It's very, very creepy and weird, but it goes, it was great with the, uh, the people
16:39that like to come to the museum.
16:40And when do you think you might have those, uh, up and running?
16:43I want to have that up, uh, before Halloween.
16:46That's, that's my goal.
16:47I'm working with the city right now.
16:48Basically, we just want to make sure that everything's built, um, not only up to code, but also
16:53that the fire department checks off on everything before we even try to do anything.
16:57That way there's no headaches in the future.
16:58Um, but once that's done, uh, we already got things set up and ready to go to get built.
17:03And so we're just waiting for that and hoping before Halloween.
17:07Yeah.
17:07Is there other escape rooms like this around the country?
17:11Um, I'm sure there are.
17:12Uh, I'm sure there are.
17:14I haven't checked really necessarily to see.
17:18Um, but yeah, I'm sure that, you know, the, with being the escape rooms, there's gotta
17:23be some that are horror inspired and I would like to go to them.
17:27Yeah, for sure.
17:28I've only done one and I didn't get out.
17:30So I'm lucky.
17:31I'm lucky that you're talking to you.
17:34The WRIF escape room.
17:36That's right.
17:37Yes.
17:37Yeah.
17:38There you go.
17:39Great idea.
17:40Well, haunted walking tours, uh, through Monroe happens.
17:43Uh, like I said, Saturdays, uh, until, uh, you know, until the snow flies, according
17:47to a Nate.
17:48And then of course the haunted heat fest and the museum of horror, which I've been to, uh, on
17:53a couple of different occasions, really cool place down there in Monroe.
17:56So Nate, good luck with everything.
17:58We really appreciate your time and, uh, we'll see you, uh, somewhere down the road.
18:02Thank you, brother.
18:03I appreciate you so much, man.
18:05Once again, a big thank you to Nate Thompson for taking the time out to tell us everything
18:08he's got going on down in Monroe, Michigan.
18:11Of course, you can check out the description of this show for links and more to the museum
18:15of horror, the haunted walks and everything else.
18:18And thank you guys for checking out this episode of Haunted Michigan.
18:21Haunted Michigan.