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Galloway House and Village
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Haunted Place - Galloway House and Village

ADDRESS:

336 Old Pioneer Road
Fond du Lac, Wisconsin

(920) 922-6390 or (920) 922-1166

Open daily Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day
and weekends in September, 10am-5pm; gates close at 4pm.

LOCATION:

The Galloway house is part of a historical park, maintained by the Fond du Lac Historical Ssociety called The Galloway House and Village, found on Old Pioneer Road.

MAP

DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY:

French explorers first visited the Fond du Lac area in the early 1700s and established a trading outpost on the south shore of Wisconsin's largest body of water Lake Winnebago.

The Galloway House is a lovely 1880, 30 room mid-Victorian farm home, with many Italiante details, part of a historical park, maintained by the Fond du Lac Historical Society. This historical society had rescued this Victorian home and bought some of its farm land as well, making it a place to move other rescued historical buildings, creating a nice village, made up of a church, photographer's shop, town hall, newspaper print shop, and one-room school.

The Galloway House was the family abode for 3 generations of the Galloway family. In the beginning, the first generation Galloways were strictly farmers , buying land and building a regular, wooden farm home, average garden variety, when this part of Wisconsin opened up to settlers.

Edwin Galloway invested in lumber after 1854, when the native Indians gave title to their forest lands to the government, around the lakes. Edwin made his fortune. As the Galloways prospered, new grander additions were added, finally finishing this lovely Victorian home in 1880. This Victorian became a place where the Galloways raised their families, entertained others, perhaps hosting events as well.

In 1926, the grandson of Edwin Galloway moved his family into a 1910 Queen Anne Victorian in Fond du Lac, because his wife wanted to live in town. Various other people lived here, but the home eventually became empty of the living.

I highly recommend taking the tour of this lovely house, where one can learn how people in the past lived, as well as see the period furniture and decorum, and the house lay-out. The Fond du Lac Historical Society did a fine job in renovating and restoring this grand old lady, though some small projects still need to be done. Thank goodness for historical societies who save old structures from the wrecking ball, or from suffering the fate of a complete remodeling job which destroys its original personality. (The General Wayne Inn)

The older part of the house is well-laid out and practical in nature, with no wasted space. The add-on, mid-Victorian additions are lovely, and well-done, a great example of a mid-Victorian home with Italiante details, and inlaid and carved wood, and other very nice artistic touches.

I found out some interesting details about the Galloways.

Though Mrs. Galloway had a cook and servants, she served her dinner guests herself, taking the food from the window where the food to be served was placed when ready, from the kitchen.

There is a beloved dog, a stuffed black retriever, which is laying down in the living room.

In the tower area, they kept the ornate family coffin, used for wakes in the home, when one of their own passed on. The staircase accommodated the occasional need to take the coffin down from the attic, into the parlor for viewing of the deceased.

HISTORY OF MANIFESTATIONS:

As with every family, people eventually die, and sometimes prefer to hang around their earthly things or home, instead of passing over to the other side.

Some feel that former slaves are still hanging around, perhaps left over from the early 19th century when slaves or indentured servants still existed in the north. However, according to a historical account, slavery wasn't the way people ran farms, or had help, even in the early days. There was plenty of hired help available; mostly Frenchmen. If someone moved with slaves from the South or Missouri, the pressure was on them to release them or not treat them as slaves, but members of the family. The practice of slavery was strongly discouraged,and harsh treatment definitely wasn't tolerated by the people of Wisconsin.

It is highly unlikely that the Galloways even had slaves. No mention of the practice is in evidence in the museum or the property itself, let alone the tour.

MANIFESTATIONS:

Alleged Auditory Reports:

Sensitive people have heard dishes clattering in the kitchen.
People have heard giggling coming from the upstairs playroom.
People have heard unseen presences moving around and talking amongst themselves.

STILL HAUNTED?

Can't say for sure...

No other reports from more reliable sources have substantiated these accounts. No tell-tale cold spots or other stronger manifestations besides the auditory ones have been reported by anyone. Usually, entities seek attention from the living, while getting some chuckles at the same time.

These entities could be really benign and gentle, well behaved and just going about their business, or perhaps some people may have an active imagination. Of course, the home is closed to the living after 4:00 pm, giving the home to any entity who may be lingering about. During the evening hours, many entities become active.

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