Mantorville comes alive for Fall Festival

Mantorville residents took advantage of cool fall afternoon last Saturday to come together to enjoy the annual Fall Festival.
There were a variety of activities throughout the day, including a Haunted Hustle 5K race in the morning followed by a Farmers Market, a pet costume contest, pumpkin painting for youngsters and wagon rides to some of the haunted places in Mantorville. Rookie the Clown was making his balloon animals inside the Opera House and there were tours of the Mantorville Restoration House and the Log Cabin.
The Mantorville Theatre Company presented its Mystery Dinner Theatre presentation of “Wait Until Dark” and a Stagecoach Days fundraiser offered a “Lets Go Whole Hog” pork chop feed and silent auction. The Hubble House also had their 18th annual Steak and Lobster event.
The Mantorville Art Guild saw a steady stream of youngsters coming in to test their pumpkin painting skills.
Two other popular events proved to be the Pet Costume Contest and the Ghost Tour Hay Wagon Rides.
The costume contest was originally scheduled to have categories for dogs, cats and other pets but as cats will be cats, no felines showed up so it was limited to dogs and other pets.
Eight dogs entered the competition with all of them winning a trophy in the various costume categories. There were only two “others” and in the end Hannah and Mrs. Cuddles, two guinea pigs owned by Abby and Peyton Gile shared the Best Costume trophy, Hannah as a princess, and Mrs. Cuddles as a hula girl.
Dog costumes included Toby dressed as a hot dog (and Toby was not a dachshund), Tess and Jethro who came as Wonder Woman and Batman, respectively, Daisy as Supergirl, Bobby as a race car driver, Charlie as a fairy, Tango as a jack-o-lantern and Juno as an Original Mantorville Pioneer.
Throughout the day two wagons drove around town on the Ghost Tour hay wagon rides.
The narrated rides included stops at a number of Mantorville locations where things of the supernatural have been reported including the Opera House, the Mantorville Art Guild, the Walbruch’s house, the Dodge County Historical Center located in the old St. John’s Episcopal Church, the Dodge County Courthouse, the Mantorville Restoration House, the Log House, the Hubbell House, the Severance House and even though there have been no reported spooky sightings, a stop was also made at the Brewery Ruins.
Each of the locations has been the scene of numerous paranormal activities.
The Opera House was once a mercantile and it seems that the owner, Ben, and two children are still around. The courthouse is also reported to be haunted, and a former employee reported seeing a shadow in the corner of the vault looking over some material from a murder trial. Others have also heard footsteps behind them when near the vault.
Several spirits have been thought to inhabit the Hubbell House including that of the original owner. Kitchen and wait staff say they can smell his cigar, something he was never without. The cigar smell is even more noticeable now that smoking is not allowed.
The Historical Society’s building is located in a former church and Sara Anna Ruth, wife of the first pastor is buried somewhere in the building.