The Ghost That Almost Made Us Rich

The Ghost that almost made us rich. In 1995 Ron designed this littleGhost out of coroplast (corrugated plastic). It was light weight and with fishing tackle as a hanger the little ghost would spin when the wind blew. It appeared as if the Ghost were looking at you. In 1998 I researched companies who sold this type of product in Wal Marts. I could imagine our little ghost in Wal Marts all across America. We might actually make a lot of money from it. The Company, Impact Plastics in Minnesota said they were interested in looking at it. So we drove all the way to Minnesota from Memphis which was where we were living at the time. Every time we had taken our little ghosts to Craft Shows we sold every one we brought. We charged $5.00 a piece. Most people would buy a couple and then come back for more. So we knew they would sell.

We were on our way, Impact Plastics made a deal with us to receive royalties. They would have to sell thousands for us to make a lot of money but we were sure they would. We were so excited, until the Ghost came out in Wal Mart the next year. They didn't quite get the concept of it spinning hanging from trees which is how we used them. 10 or more hanging a tree made a pretty display. They changed the design as you can see below. They made them to fit on stakes and to top it off they made it into a cutesy waving ghost. Sometimes simple is the best. We did make a little money but they weren't big sellers because they sold them to fit on a metal stake you put in the ground. I think they missed the whole point, they were meant to hang and they had to be perfectly balanced. When they added the arm waving the extra weight stopped them from spinning. We'll never know if they would have sold more if they had used our original design.