Investigation Date: 11-02-2007
Site: Mantorville Opera House
Location: Mantorville, MN
Number of Investigations: 2
Evidence: EVP

Reason for Investigation Request

TCPS had a wonderful time during our first investigation of the Opera House back in April of 2007. A few members from the Mantorville Restoration Association asked TCPS to come back for an “investigation weekend” and re-investigate the Opera House as well as four other reputedly haunted locations in the town. The Mantorville Opera House was one of the first investigations on our two-night Mantorville Investigation Weekend. TCPS was joined on this night by one of the directors from the Mantorville Opera House as well as a local author who is currently writing a book about haunted locations in Southern Minnesota.

Research and Background on the Property

TCPS was unable to find any new information at this time.

Investigation Details

Weather Conditions
Temperature: 30.2°F
Barometer: 30.11
Dew Point: 26.8°
Wind: 16 mph
Moon: 30% Full

We had four teams on this night of investigation. TCPS two to three teams inside the Opera House at all times throughout the course of the night. While investigating the upstairs portion of the Opera House, one team member was sitting in a chair and felt it vibrate. The team looked for a source for the vibration but could not find one and noted that no pipes or equipment turned on at the time this phenomenon occurred. Footsteps and squeaking was also heard by this team in the hallway although no one from the team was there. Shadow movement was seen in the closet of the women’s dressing room as well.

Another team reported experiencing the men’s dressing room becoming very dark, as though someone was "closing in on them" while investigating upstairs. It should be noted that TCPS had experienced this numerous times during our first investigation of the Opera House. While in the women's dressing room, the team noted it felt like someone was walking on the floor. This movement was felt and heard by the team even though all members of the group were sitting in chairs at the time and no one else was upstairs with them.
The last team to investigate the upstairs heard movement coming from the women's dressing room closet. The source for this sound could not be seen or found by the team. A cold spot was noted in men's dressing room as well. This team also experienced multiple camera malfunctions during their time upstairs.

The main floor of the Opera House proved to have interesting activity for our group. Some of the same shadow activity was experienced by two different teams throughout the night. One member saw a gray colored shadow move by the box office door. The movement continued to the right of the door but the only structure there was a wall. The other member from this team saw a shadow duck down behind the railing up in the balcony. This member went up to the balcony to see if any one was unaccounted for up there and found the balcony to be empty. During the last round of investigation, one member from a team went up to the balcony while the other two members stayed in the theater area. From the balcony, this member noted a shadow passed in front a door on stage that was covered by a curtain. The shadow actually blocked out the red color of the curtain momentarily. Other activity experienced by our teams from the main floor included the feeling of someone standing close behind members although no one was there and one team was not able to take any pictures in the theater unless they asked permission first. It should be noted that this also happened to TCPS during our first investigation of the Opera House.

We had the opportunity to investigate one room of the basement that had previously been locked on our last investigation of the Opera House. This particular room made a few of the members feel uneasy but it should be noted that there was a lot of mold growing in the room which could account for the uneasiness experienced by the team. While investigating other parts of the basement, one team heard a shifting sound coming from the back room. Upon checking out the room, nothing looked out of place. This particular team reported hearing tapping sounds from under stairs. Many camera malfunctions were also noted by several teams while investigating the basement.

Final Analysis

TCPS was only able to capture two EVP’s from this site, neither of which is more than a Class B. We came back to the Opera House hoping to find more evidence of activity and unfortunately we gained more personal experiences than evidence. It is interesting to note that this group of members did experience some of the same activity from our first investigation at this site. We feel the Mantorville Opera House still warrants further investigation and would be more than happy to go back at any time. We will keep you updated should this happen.