(people speaking indistinctly) - [Zosette] Coming up on "One Detroit," Halloween is here, and we'll take you inside one of the state's haunted attractions, Eloise Asylum.

Plus, we'll examine the impact of higher tariffs and rising costs on small businesses.

And in our "Destination Detroit" series, we'll hear from a Detroit chef whose family migrated to the city from South Carolina.

It's all coming up next on "One Detroit."

- [Announcer] Across our MASCO family of companies, our goal is to deliver better living possibilities and make positive changes in the neighborhoods where we live, work, and do business.

MASCO, a Michigan company since 1929.

Support also provided by the Cynthia and Edsel Ford Fund for Journalism at Detroit PBS.

(bright music) - [Announcer] The DTE Foundation is a proud sponsor of Detroit PBS.

Through our giving, we are committed to meeting the needs of the communities we serve statewide to help ensure a bright and thriving future for all.

Learn more at DTEFoundation.com.

- [Announcer] Nissan Foundation, and viewers like you.

(bright music) - [Zosette] Just ahead on "One Detroit," we'll talk about the concerns of small businesses as new economic policies threaten their survival.

Plus, a Detroit restaurant owner shares her memories of family and food in our "Destination Detroit" series.

But first up, just in time for Halloween, "One Detroit" visited Eloise Asylum, which is said to be one of the area's most haunted places.

The site is marking its 5th anniversary as a Halloween haunt destination.

"One Detroit's" Chris Jordan and Andrea Riley talked with a local historian and a paranormal investigator about the history and paranormal activity there.

A warning, some of the images may be frightening.

(dramatic music) (bell rings) - What do you think (indistinct)?

Well, we're gonna try to get you to talk with us, okay?

- Yeah.

(bell rings) - You know these ain't gonna hurt you.

You know, you've talked to me before through 'em.

(bell ringing) (static buzzing) - Who's ringing the bell?

- Me.

(static buzzing) - Who's ringing the bell?

- Me.

- [Chris] Eloise Asylum, the notorious psychiatric hospital in Westland on Michigan Ave, which is often said to be among the state's most haunted places.

- Just like the living, they have characteristics about 'em that just make them individual.

Some of them tend to move very quickly.

Some of 'em tend to be a little grouchy.

- I've seen shadow figures.

I've had equipment physically moved and manipulated.

I've been touched, I've been grabbed, I've had things whisper in my ear.

- [Chris] Eloise Asylum opened in the 1830s, a complex the size of a small city, which, at its most crowded during the Great Depression, housed about 10,000 people at a time.

- It actually started as a poor house in Hamtramck in the early 1830s.

And it was in that location in Hamtramck for a couple of years, and there was a cholera pandemic or epidemic that had gone through at the time, and that really caused an increase in the admissions and the number of people that were being seen there.

And within a couple of years, they realized that they were going to need to upgrade and move somewhere else.

And at the height of operations, it was more than 70 buildings across more than 900 acres.

It was enormous.

We were pioneering in the field of x-ray.

We had one of the first diagnostic x-ray machines in the country.

So people came from Ann Arbor and Detroit and Chicago for diagnostic x-rays here.

- [Chris] Its long history also has darker chapters.

Numerous patients admitted to the psychiatric hospital died there.

It is estimated that over 7,000 people are buried in unmarked graves in the asylum's cemetery.

- The biggest problem that was usually reported and is documented in our historical records is overcrowding, overpopulation, not having enough staff.

When we first started in the 1830s, we had no modern understanding of mental health conditions or psychiatric disorders.

There were still a lot of like spiritual and supernatural connotations associated with it.

So a lot of these people were just confined to cells that were in the basements of different buildings, and they were literally just chained to the walls and forgotten about, because we, as a society and culture, we just didn't know what else to do with them, right?

And then we started developing some of these other techniques, electroshock therapy, insulin shock therapy, hydrotherapy, music therapy.

Even though we may now think of some of these treatments as being barbaric or archaic, at the time, they considered it to be cutting-edge technology.

- [Chris] Eloise closed in the 1980s.

Now, it operates as a haunt during the Halloween season, and historical tours and paranormal investigations are conducted throughout the year.

A unique place where the art of fictional scares meet genuine reports of the paranormal.

- So we have two different attractions in our haunt.

We have the first level, which is our asylum level, and then the second level, which is the sub level.

And the asylum level is actually kind of the experience of coming through an asylum.

You come in, you see the day room, you get checked in, and then towards the end of the asylum, you find our max security ward where the patients have started going a little haywire.

(nozzle hissing) And then after that, we move down into the sub-level, which is kind of more of a sci-fi, experimentation area.

- [Actor] Well, well, well, what are y'all doing back here all by yourselves?

- As you're going through the haunted house, not only do you have the actors scaring you, you have the animatronics giving you stuff, getting loud noises pushed at you, bright flashing lights, fog and all that.

There's the extra activity that we can't even plan for or account for that will definitely happen throughout the haunt still.

- What is that extra activity?

What kinds of actually ghostly or paranormal things have happened to you or the staff, the people walking through?

- When I was first an actor and you know, just in my scene for the night, you hear the same soundtrack over and over.

So you know what cries and what wails and things like that that you hear throughout the night every night.

And then sometimes there's extra sounds that you're not sure of if that's part of the track or if that's something else that might be visiting us for the time being.

Other times we have actors that, at the end of the night, have scratches on them.

We've had actors show up with bite marks the next day.

- [Chris] Have you experienced anything paranormal here yourself?

- Random chills, (laughs) I guess.

You?

- [Sid] I've heard footsteps and seen nobody there.

And then I've heard a lot of the animatronics go off, but nobody's there.

- Down in the basement, a few motion sensor lights have gone off.

It's supposed to trigger when someone walks through the haunt, so we know when to jump out.

No one's showed up at all, and sometimes they'll get stuck repeating.

- [Chris] Have you had any paranormal experiences while you're working here?

- All the time?

Almost every day, if I can count it.

Little taps on my shoulders, whispers, some footsteps behind me.

- How about you?

- I am the paranormal, baby.

- I've gotta wonder what spirits who are here might find a haunt in their home annoying or disrespectful, and what spirits might get into it and kinda vibe off the energy or what have you.

- So from what I've heard from most of our paranormal team, they actually generally enjoy the presence here and the fact that we're bringing energy back into the building and bringing people around and doing stuff and making it a lively place again.

- If you're a paranormal team, you wanna go in after the haunted attraction shuts down.

I think that energy that builds up and everything... - [Chris] My Detroit PBS colleague, Andrea Riley, spoke to Eloise's resident paranormal investigator, Kenneth Ace Taylor, before joining him on an investigation.

Baby Benny is the mascot of Ace's paranormal investigations and a trigger object for spirits to interact with.

- I didn't pick this field.

I basically, as long as I remember, experience, felt things that normally other people kind of didn't.

I'd see things and you know, and I'd just pretty much ignore it.

It wasn't something I really wanted to pursue.

It was... (exhaling) It wasn't a horrible, but I probably considered it more of a curse than a gift, until, you know, much later in life.

And this building, actually, the Eloise, it just drew me into like, wow, what is this place?

Why am I feeling the way I was feeling?

And my first visit in here was just overwhelming.

It was just, it was amazing, the feelings I had.

I was getting a lot of like "hi's" and "helps" and things that were kind of really (indistinct).

But I had planned on, you know, I did have a camera and captured my real first apparition photograph of an individual.

I just think they're passed on living people.

I mean, I've interacted with them too much, for too long.

Most of the time, you feel their presence.

I mean, nobody has to be super gifted.

Nobody has to be a medium and has to be sensitive or everything.

That's what I tell people, especially in the tours and stuff, like, "Trust your instincts."

- So the places you're going to take us, what spirits do you expect us to encounter, and what should we expect from them?

- The one room in particular, back in the very beginning there was junk and furniture and stuff all over the place.

We had put that sofa bed in there and immediately, this is my friendly grouch that I call on- - I love that.

- seemed to take possession of that bed.

All of a sudden we were getting, like when people would be sitting on it, we would be getting like, "Get up.

Get off.

Mine."

But mainly, "Get out.

Get up."

I can tell usually when he's in there.

He stands in one certain corner generally.

Two years ago, we had a group that, they were actually starting a local magazine, and they wanted to come in here with a film crew, and we went in that room.

I did sense he was there.

He had what I call marked an individual before, which basically is, people would call it a scratch.

Got her twice, boom, boom.

- Twice?

- [Chris] While none of us got scratched, we did get a lot of instrument activity in the room, including the dead bell, which rings in response to electromagnetic field activity, which spirits are said to be able to manipulate.

- Do you remember how we can ask you questions about yes?

Ring it once or no, ring it twice.

(bell ringing) - Wow, I think that's a yes.

(bell rings) Yes.

- [Chris] A spirit box is a white-noise radio through which spirits may be able to speak.

When Ace turned his on and asked who was ringing the bell, all of us heard a voice say, "Me."

(bell ringing) - Who's ringing the bell?

(static buzzing) - [Disembodied Voice] Me.

- Do you remember who I am?

(static buzzing) (bell rings) Are we in your room?

(bell rings) (static buzzing) Are you okay with us being in here?

(static buzzing) (bell rings) I'm gonna shut this one off, and I'm gonna try another one, okay?

I am gonna shut this off in five, four, three, two- - [Disembodied Voice] One.

(static buzzing) - ...three, two- - [Disembodied Voice] One.

- So it is you.

(bell ringing) You don't want me to shut that off, do you?

- [Chris] Later, after our trip through the haunt, when we were interviewing the actors, something started setting off one of the sound effects in an area of the haunt that was unattended.

- [Magnolia] You hear that alarm that's going off?

- [Chris] Yeah.

- That has to be pressed by someone, yet no one is back there.

Why is it going off?

- I came over here to check it out and see if it was some wiring issues or see if it was a technical problem.

I pulled out my flashlight, leaned in to look at it, and it stopped.

I didn't touch a single thing.

Normally, (loud rumbling) it's a button that needs to be presssed to activate that, (child crying) and it doesn't stop.

And there it goes again.

- [Chris] Was it a spirit having a bit of fun with us, or is there a more natural explanation?

We can't be sure, but it was a very interesting end to our evening at Eloise Asylum.

- [Zosette] And you can visit the Eloise Asylum haunt through Saturday November 1st.

You can also take history tours and participate in paranormal investigations throughout the year.

Let's turn now to the current economic climate and the challenges facing small business owners.

Higher tariffs, rising costs and supply chain disruptions are among the issues that have entrepreneurs concerned about the future and whether they can stay in business.

"One Detroit" contributor, Stephen Henderson of "American Black Journal" sat down with marketing consultant, Mark Lee, President and CEO of the LEE Group to discuss survival strategies for small businesses.

(bright music) - Let's start by talking about the special effects of things like tariffs and supply chain disruption on businesses in our community, which already have it harder than other businesses.

- You know, right now, quite frankly, it's a challenge, and I think over the last six months or thereabouts, the challenge of continued to increase.

And for example, what we're seeing is, particularly amongst our businesses and businesses at large, costs have increased 10 to 12%, 10 to 12% in terms of raw material costs have gone up as a direct result of the tariffs.

And when you think about that, if you're a small business owner, you have very limited access to resources or dollars compared to a large business.

So a large business can absorb that cost, a small business cannot.

- Right.

- A survey was recently done where 60% of small businesses have also mentioned that their profit margins continue to be squeezed.

So those are some significant challenges that are confronting small businesses.

- So if you're a small business, what are your options?

What are the things that you can do to make sure that you don't go outta business while this is going on?

- I recommend several things.

One is make sure that you evaluate your costs, not weekly, hey, daily.

You know, make sure you evaluate your costs on an ongoing basis.

Number two is continue to negotiate with your suppliers.

So make sure that you can, if they're supplying with product, try to see if you can get a better price with them.

So it's gonna be a challenge right now, but at least it's worth the negotiations.

Number three is be totally transparent with your customers.

Make sure you're not trying to hide anything from them.

Explain to them exactly what's going on.

And number four, you have to consider whether or not you need to, either you, the business owner, absorb the cost, or do you pass that cost on to the customer?

Now that's the tough conundrum.

Because I've had a relationship with you, I wanna maintain that relationship with you.

Now I gotta come back to you and say, "Hey, I might have to pass this cost on to you."

- Yeah, access to capital is always an issue.

For African American businesses, it looks different than it does for other businesses.

How does that get worse or does it change even while things like costs are going up?

- Access to capital will always be a challenge irrespective of the economy.

Let's be quite honest about it.

And when we think about access to capital, it's gonna be even more of a challenge right now, because financial institutions are gonna continue to increase the scrutiny.

And so, if you don't have your financials in order, if you don't have your cost structure in order, if you were to go in and consider getting a loan or some type of loan at this point, it's gonna be a challenge.

- It's harder.

- It's more difficult.

But the option, there is an option here, is to look at grants.

The difference is a loan you have to pay back within certain terms, a grant, you don't have to pay back.

So what you can do with the grant is, is you just need to explain how you're gonna use the money, demonstrate how it's gonna give a return, so to speak, but you do not have to pay the grant back.

- Yeah, where are some of the sources for those grants?

I mean, I think that's a pipeline that a lot of people aren't terribly familiar with.

- There are many nonprofit organizations out there offering grants.

A lot of times we think of financial institutions, the traditional banks for example, for loans.

But there are many organizations where, so that I don't show favoritism to anyone, but there are some organizations that will offer micro loans and micro grants up to $50,000.

And those are an organization that's focuses specifically on women-owned businesses.

There are Black-owned organizations that will supply you with grants as well.

The best way to answer that question is Google it.

Simply Google "grant opportunities "here in the city of Detroit to support a small business."

- Yeah, is the strategy, while this all goes on in Washington and gets hashed out, to kind of hunker down and kind of pull things in, in other words, temper your expectations and plan for slower growth or just kind of stasis while it happens?

Is that a realistic way to think about it?

'Cause the truth is, you don't know how long this will go on.

Is it that you have to have a more fundamental change in the way you think about your business?

Or do you just adjust to the current climate?

- You know, I've had this conversation before, and the bottom line is to go back and look at your foundation, hunker down.

And what we're seeing right now is that people are, even larger organizations are delaying their hiring practices, 'cause they're not sure they can afford to bring in new people right now.

So there's an option there of do you 1099 employees?

Do you delay the hiring to when we think it might be coming down to take care of cost?

So to answer your question, the best strategy right now is go back and look at your foundation.

Again, look at the cost, talk to your customers.

Don't make any rash decisions at this point.

Do what you can afford to do.

Don't do what you can't afford to do moving forward.

- Yeah, what about if you are someone who's thinking about starting a business, and you think, ah, the 2025, 2026, that's when I want to pull that trigger.

Is this a good time to do that?

Is this a a terrible time to do that, or is this just like any other time when you're making that decision?

- You know, that's a great question.

I get asked that question a lot.

And the time for you to start a business is when you're most comfortable.

If we had a crystal ball and we could predict the future, we could certainly have that stability, including when we're in unstable times.

If you have the resources, if you have the plan, if you have the product, if you have the relationships, it's always a good time.

That's counterintuitive.

- Right.

- But it's always a good time to start a business.

The challenge when you focus on sustainability and growth is do you understand those other factors out there, i.e., tariffs, and how do you navigate and plan for those?

So it's always a good time if you have the resources and a plan.

The challenge is making sure you stick to that plan and you have the resources moving forward.

- Yeah, what about businesses that are in trouble, businesses that are looking at the bottom line and saying, "Look, we're underwater because of this climate."

When do you throw in the towel, I guess?

And if not, what do you do to get through if really, literally, you are just going out of business?

- Lemme tell you, at Black businesses right now, under normal circumstances, the average Black business entrepreneur has less than $10,000 in the bank.

That's enough to get you through two weeks.

That's it.

- That's it.

- So now if you think about the tariffs, and you look at your bottom line, you gotta make some hard decisions.

Now here in Detroit, we're fortunate, we have a lot of great businesses.

We've still got a lot of businesses that are opening.

The challenge right now over the last several weeks, we've had a lot of businesses go outta business, restaurants, those in the service industry.

So when do you decide?

That's a decision that you have to make for yourself by looking at your financials, how much money do you have in the bank for sustainability and growth?

- What are some of the resources for businesses that are in that position?

In other words, kinda last chance kind of lifelines that they could reach out to just to get through to the next payroll or to the next year?

- One of the lifelines, I'm gonna look into the camera right now as I look at you, and I'm talking to the audience on the other side of the camera, is support small businesses, spend local.

I know we have a lot of big box businesses out there in the world.

Detroit has over 60,000 small businesses.

75% of are women and Black owned.

Get out there and spend your resources here in this city, across the neighborhoods.

And in terms of also a lifeline is, is again, continue to be faithful, be honest, be trustworthy, talk to your customers and just continue to keep moving forward.

Don't thrown in the towel just yet.

- Yeah, you know, that idea of spending in the community, that's gotten us through lots of things in the past, is the way in which businesses interact with each other, make sure that they are buying from each other, and the way that customers patronize those businesses.

It seems like right now is a great time to kind of double down on that and think about your life and your habits and adjust them if you don't feel like you're giving as much support as you could.

- Detroit is a supportive city.

We support each other.

And now more than ever, we need to double down on that support.

- [Zosette] Let's turn now to "Destination Detroit," our new series that explores the region's rich history and the people who helped shape it.

We hear from Quiana Rice, the owner of a Detroit restaurant called The Kitchen by cooking with Q. She explains why her grandparents came to Detroit from South Carolina and reflect on the big family meals served in the household.

- It was like Thanksgiving every day.

'Cause when dad would come home from work, there was food, and we all sat and ate at the table.

(bright music) My granddad, 'cause they're all from South Carolina, my granddad moved here for work.

He married my grandma, moved here to work.

He was like a painter for Ford.

That was his thing.

He painted all the buildings and the... He was a journeyman.

That was his thing.

He painted for Ford.

And then he went back and got my grandma, and then we've all been here ever since.

'Cause surely they had a good life here, 'cause there's a lot of us.

Their initial place they lived was, that was my first house, that's where I was born, Dexter.

We all lived at 9945 McQuaid.

It was the only house on the block.

The entire block was like 2-family flats, 4-family flats.

We used to call our house, the little house on the prairie, because it was the only house.

She cooked like she was cooking for an army every day.

There was always gonna be some greens.

There was gonna be fried chicken.

I mean, there was gonna be like fish fries.

It was like Thanksgiving every day.

'Cause when dad would come home from work, there was food, and we all sat and ate at the table.

I think that's why I'm so big at everybody eating together now, because that's what we did.

(bright music) - [Zosette] For more "Destination Detroit" stories, go to onedetroitpbs.org/destinationde.

That'll do it for this week's "One Detroit."

Thank you for watching and happy Halloween.

(bright music) Head to the "One Detroit" website for all the stories we're working on.

Follow us on social media and sign up for our weekly newsletter.

(bright music) - [Announcer] Across our MASCO family of companies, our goal is to deliver better living possibilities and make positive changes in the neighborhoods where we live, work, and do business.

MASCO, a Michigan company since 1929.

Support also provided by the Cynthia and Edsel Ford Fund for Journalism at Detroit PBS.

(bright music) - [Announcer] The DTE Foundation is a proud sponsor of Detroit PBS.

Through our giving, we are committed to meeting the needs of the communities we serve statewide to help ensure a bright and thriving future for all.

Learn more at DTEFoundation.com.

- [Announcer] Nissan Foundation, Michigan Central, and viewers like you.

(bright music) (bright music)