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The crowd gathers for hayrides, bonfire fun and scary stories and fortune-telling at the Ghost Round Up in Valles Mines in 2019, the last time it was held. It's set for Oct. 22 this year.
More than 150 years ago, enslaved humans dug out a tunnel by hand so oxen and carts could lug the tonnage of freshly-mined lead out of the ground near the area where the Ghost Round-Up is being held in Valles Mines. Hayrides at the Ghost Round Up take people all the way to the old cemetery.
The old Valles Mines cemetery, included on the Ghost Round Up hayride, includes the tombstone of someone who was born before Missouri became a state.
After a two-year hiatus, the Valles Mines Lost History Museum’s annual Ghost Round Up fundraiser is back on track and set for Oct. 22. Ghosts, hayrides, a walking tour to the old cemetery, bonfire, and psychics and storytellers are just a few of the attractions that will be waiting.
The Lost History Museum is located on 14117 Valles Mines School Road, just south of Route V next to the US 67 exit in Valles Mines, and preserves the frontier beginnings of the area’s lead mining history.
It was created and is curated by Steve Frazier, whose family has a long history with Valles Mines dating back more than 100 years. The museum doesn’t qualify for grants or public funding since it’s privately owned and operated, so it relies heavily on donations to keep Frazier’s collection and the old village alive.
The Ghost Round Up begins at 3 p.m. and admission is $6 per person. The museum is open for tours, although a small additional donation is expected. Other than admission, concessions, and an optional 50-50 drawing to be determined on Halloween, the rest of the Saturday event is free to visitors of all ages. For more information, contact 573-631-6875 or 573-330-7211. All activities are weather-permitting, and children must be accompanied by adults. Frazier’s books — one on local hauntings and the other, his family history with the mine, of which he is a fourth-generation employee — will be for sale, along with T-shirts.
Hayrides to the haunted tunnel assemble at the museum begin in the afternoon, and Frazier said they’ll continue into dusk. The hayride is 90 minutes long, and the wagon can hold 20-25 people. Frazier said many people most enjoy the hayride at night.
A walking tour of the nearby cemetery, where the bodies of slaves and Civil War soldiers are said to repose, is included on the hayride.
The old mining tunnel is reputed to be haunted by the ghost of German immigrant William Heinrich, or “Tunnel Bill.” Suffering from a disability, Tunnel Bill’s job was to keep curious kids away from the mines, out of the tunnel and away from explosives. The old yarn is that he continues his job to this day, the sound of footsteps following any random person who draws near the tunnel, the sensation of a hand on their shoulder if they’ve been loitering too long.
“And that’s not all,” Frazier said, “in the 50 or so years I’ve been out here, I’ve heard, seen and even smelled quite a other-worldly things, whether they’re apparitions or manifestations or whatever you call them. I expect people would think I’m nuts, but I know I’ve seen ghosts walk under my ladder while I was working on the place, I’ve heard Indian drums sounding from across the creek, and I’ve heard voices come out of the fire. I don’t push a belief in these things on anyone, everyone’s welcome to believe as they wish — I just know what I’ve experienced, and what I believe.”
Frazier added that a renowned psychic once explained that, since the property hadn’t changed hands for so many years, it was a gathering place for the spirit world.
It wouldn’t be a Ghost Round Up without professional experts on the paranormal. Psychics, storytellers and dream interpreters have been invited to keep up the mysterious, lost-world, time traveling nature of the evening’s events, which culminate in a bonfire.
The day’s main attraction is the Lost History Museum itself, housed in what Frazier said is the second-oldest building in Missouri. Hundreds of photos, replicas and artifacts revive memories of lead mining and pioneering in the southeast Missouri region within the 1,800 square foot building.
There is the old Valle house next door, and a few more outbuildings scattered about the grounds – and all of it requires quite a bit of upkeep.
“I’m getting on 71 years old now, and I like to tell people I’ve been here for 70 years,” Frazier said. “But it’s getting a little tough to put this on mostly by myself. I have some people volunteering here and there, which I appreciate, but boy, we sure could use more. I hate for all this to go away.”
Anyone interested in donating their time and effort to the Lost History Museum can contact him at 573-631-6875. He said he could even use a little help before the Ghost Round Up to make sure everything’s in place. He said he just thinks it’s all worth preserving, and visitors to the place have told him they think so, too.
“I have an accumulation of items it took me about 55 years to collect,” Frazier said. ”We’ve got replicas of all the old buildings and people who used to be in Valles Mines. We have railroad history, including a history of the MR&BT railroad. We have about 100 slave-dug mines on the property. And of course we have a history of the Valles family, who settled Ste. Genevieve. This place is so rich in history.”
Sarah Haas is the assistant editor for the Daily Journal. She can be reached at 573-518-3617 or shaas@dailyjournalonline.com.
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The crowd gathers for hayrides, bonfire fun and scary stories and fortune-telling at the Ghost Round Up in Valles Mines in 2019, the last time it was held. It's set for Oct. 22 this year.
More than 150 years ago, enslaved humans dug out a tunnel by hand so oxen and carts could lug the tonnage of freshly-mined lead out of the ground near the area where the Ghost Round-Up is being held in Valles Mines. Hayrides at the Ghost Round Up take people all the way to the old cemetery.
The old Valles Mines cemetery, included on the Ghost Round Up hayride, includes the tombstone of someone who was born before Missouri became a state.
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