Living History Museum Tour
Guided tour through the 30-room Victorian mansion and surrounding village of historic structures managed by the Fond du Lac County Historical Society.
- Duration:
- 1.3 hr
HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
A 30-room 1880 Fond du Lac mansion where the Historical Society's own director confirmed paranormal activity — and commercial ghost hunts run year-round.
336 Old Pioneer Rd., Fond du Lac, WI 54935
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Daytime museum admission; ghost hunt pricing varies by operator — see Caper Company for current rates
Access
Limited Access
Multi-story Victorian mansion with stairs; outdoor village grounds accessible
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1880 · Fond du Lac County Historical Society Museum · Italianate Victorian Architecture · Living History Village
Edwin H. Galloway, a prominent Fond du Lac businessman, completed this 30-room mansion in 1880 on what was then the outskirts of the city. The Italianate-style house reflected his commercial success and the ambitions of the post-Civil War Wisconsin merchant class. The estate included carriage houses, outbuildings, and grounds that have since been supplemented by the Historical Society with a village of relocated historic structures.
The Galloway family occupied the home for more than a century before the estate transitioned to the Fond du Lac County Historical Society. Under the Society's stewardship, the mansion became a living-history museum, with period-furnished rooms and a surrounding village of relocated 19th-century structures — a blacksmith shop, one-room schoolhouse, and other buildings — that collectively represent early Wisconsin rural life.
In 2023, Historical Society Executive Director Ben Giles went on record with local television confirming that staff and volunteers had reported unexplained experiences inside the mansion. That on-the-record confirmation from the venue's own institutional steward distinguishes Galloway House from properties where paranormal claims come exclusively from outside parties.
Sources
Ben Giles, executive director of the Fond du Lac County Historical Society, confirmed to local media that staff and volunteers have reported unexplained experiences at Galloway House — a notable institutional endorsement that sets this property apart from venues whose paranormal reputation rests solely on informal tradition.
The reported activity takes several forms. Staff working after hours have heard children giggling in rooms known to be empty. Voices carrying out of the kitchen — a space central to the home's domestic history — have been heard when no one is present. Apparitions have been observed in the upper rooms and on the staircase, described as figures in period dress consistent with the home's late 19th-century occupation.
Local lore attributes the presence to members of the Galloway family itself — people whose daily lives, over many generations, shaped every corner of the house. Commercial ghost-hunt operators, including Caper Company Tours, now offer structured investigation evenings at the property, giving visitors a formal framework for exploring those claims.
Notable Entities
Guided tour through the 30-room Victorian mansion and surrounding village of historic structures managed by the Fond du Lac County Historical Society.
Commercial paranormal investigation evenings at the Galloway House offered by Caper Company Tours. Participants explore the mansion after hours with equipment.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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