New owners plan improvements at Spook Cave

   A popular northeast Iowa attraction plans upgrades following its purchase by two local families.

   On Jan. 21, Annette and Chad Davis and Russ and Tabbi Bries became the new owners of Spook Cave and Campground, having purchased it from long-time owner Paul Rasmussen following nearly 10 months of negotiations.

   “The negotiations were difficult,” Annette Davis said. “It’s a big business and there were things that we were finding (that) were going to cost us money … the negotiations were lengthy.”

   She said it appeared the deal was dead near the end of the year, which had been a deadline for the seller to accept their offer.

   “At the end of the year we’re like, ‘We need to get ahold of this so we can get in running in the spring how we want to,’” Davis said.