October 2014

For more than a decade, Sioux Falls believers and skeptics alike have been drawn to the chance to elevate the everyday to something more.

“The response has been wonderful,” said Gansz. “I think everyone loves something haunted or the thought that something might be haunted.”

Six times during October, tour participants board a bus behind the Old Courthouse Museum for an hour-long ride. The primary focus is downtown, although Gansz says it does venture into some residential areas.

“One of the residences we do – it’s been on the tour for a long time – the owner says, ‘What do you know about my house?’ We tell her and then she says to us, ‘Now let me tell you what’s going on with me.’ So she thinks she’s had experiences there as well. She’s really excited to have her house on the tour.”

While Gansz and his colleagues want to keep most of the stops a tour secret, a few of the alleged hauntings are too well-known to keep under wraps. One famous Sioux Falls ghost is The Orpheum Theatre’s “Larry.”

“Supposedly, Larry was pretty active a while ago, dropping sandbags on people on the stage and things of that nature. People have had some weird occurrences – the stage becoming very cold and finding weird things in weird places. I’ve heard about there being no one else in the building and toilets flushing and sinks turning on.”

Another downtown landmark widely-rumored to be haunted is the Washington Pavilion.

“Unfortunately, a gentleman – a construction worker – was killed in the process to switch it from the school to the Pavilion,” said Gansz. “And I will state that we’ve been warned by a local psychic never to take a particular elevator in the Pavilion. Whether that’s true or not, has yet to be seen.”

Gansz added that Old Courthouse Museum itself is rife with ghostly lore, “Not many people know that the site the courthouse was built on, prior to it being here, was the site of public execution in Sioux Falls. At least three people were hung on this site. That’s just a creepy fact, but maybe it leads to some interesting things in the building.”

The Haunted Sioux Falls Tour runs each Tuesday, plus two Sundays during October. Space is limited. Tickets are $10 at The Old Courthouse Museum. For more info, visit www.siouxlandmuseums.com or call (605)367-4210.