The Dole Mansion
The Dole is a Civil War era mansion built in the 1860’s. When Eliza “Lou” Ringling, of Ringling Brothers Circus fame, bought the property in 1922, the large annex was added to convert the Dole into the Crystal Lake Country Club. Circus performers stayed there during the off-season, as well as some of the animals, including elephants and an alligator.
After the Great Depression, it became a Franciscan monastery and boy’s school, and years later was bought by the First Congregational Church. The church hosted an ice-cream social in 1979 that evolved into what is now the Lakeside Festival.
Today the Dole is a bustling arts center, gallery, and live music venue. Thousands of people visit the Dole yearly to take part in farmer’s markets, concerts, art shows, studio services, weddings, and, of course, the Lakeside Festival.
While there have been only two deaths on the property, there are numerous reports of supernatural occurrences. A dark shadow figure has been seen roaming the halls and has been captured in photos. A ghostly girl dressed in old-fashioned clothes has been observed running up the stairs. Some even swear they have seen an apparition of Lou Ringling wandering about.
Perhaps one of the most unsettling occurrences involves a photograph taken by an intern of the Dole. After a dead bird had been discovered on Mrs. Dole’s bed, the intern took a photo of the incident to post on social media. When later viewing the photo, it appeared to capture the image of a man on the outside of the window looking in, dressed in Victorian clothes. Upon closer examination, the man bore a striking resemblance to someone in a photograph hanging in the mansion.
Other occurrences at the Dole include the appearance of orbs of light in photographs taken outside of the mansion, flashlights turning off by themselves, drastic temperature changes, and people having a feeling of “being watched.” While accounts of unsettling occurrences at the Dole abound, other people have observed an uplifting feeling here, attesting to experiencing an amazingly strong positive energy.
