♪♪ [Tour Guide] We will be giving you a cave tour through Spook Cave here in McGregor, Iowa.

Before it was called Spook Cave, it was actually called Spook Hole.

That is because right here there was a six-inch hole that had spooky noises coming out of it.

It was unknown what the sources of those spooky noises were until a brave old man by the name of Gerald Mielke asked the property owners if he could dynamite his way into that hole and see what the noise was.

After dynamiting his way in, he actually found some natural crawlspaces.

He explored some of them and actually found a cave entrance.

He explored the cave for about two years and then he opened it up to the public with cave tours in 1945.

♪♪ [Tour Guide] While we are going through the tour, we will have to occasionally bend down.

♪♪ ♪♪ [Tour Guide] This is actually the largest room here in the cave.

It is about 45 feet tall.

Right over behind us being our Galena limestone wall.

Galena limestone is made of compressed sea creatures.

So, if you were to touch that wall and then lick your fingers, it would taste exactly like seafood.

I don't recommend that, however.

There's no guarantee you'll find a spot that was not used by someone already.

All of those white protrusions you see sticking out of the ceiling.

Those are all stalactites.

You might have heard the term stalactite and stalagmite.

They grow about one inch every one hundred years.

♪♪ [Tour Guide] Here are some of our bigger stalactites here in the cave.

You can see that they are all very glossy.

That is because they are all still growing.

They carry water from the very top of the stalactite all the way down to where that tip is.

That is what enables them to grow.

They carry minerals all the way down.

That is also why touching them is so dangerous.

Human hands have little amounts of oils and dirt on them.

So, if you were to touch one of them, the residue would be left on there, which would halt their growth.

♪♪ [Tour Guide] Well, lucky for all of us bacon lovers, we have our ribbon strip, or we also like to call it cave bacon.

When you shine the light through it, it gives it a bacon appearance.

♪♪ ♪♪ [Tour Guide] So, we get a wide variety of diverse groups of people.

It's very fun.

We get to meet people from all over the place.

And sometimes not everyone has been through a cave before.

So, most of the people I have brought on my tours, actually this is there very first cave they've ever been to.

So, it's really fun just pointing new stuff around and really introducing them to the cave experience.

♪♪ (water falling) [Kohlsdorf] Cave tours are the main attraction at Spook Cave and Campground here in McGregor.

Beyond the deep dwellings, this popular spot has earned a reputation for family fun and natural beauty.

Whether you're passing through or staying the night, cave tours are available to all.

[Katie Bockenstedt] So, we're not too far off the byway, about a couple of miles, and it's just beautiful.

It's a beautiful drive to get down here and then it's beautiful when you get here.

♪♪ [Katie Bockenstedt] It's just a great place to be.

It's a great place to bring your family.

When people come, especially for our holiday weekends, so Memorial, Labor Day, 4th of July, they will book before they even leave because they want the site that they've been at for 20 years and they want to guarantee that they have a spot.

And a lot of them, they still camp here.

Their campsites now just grow because now they're bringing the whole family or their kids now have kids and they all still come.

So, it's really remarkable to see that they're still coming here year after year after year.

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