Gloria Knipp was awarded the 2015 Spirit of the Manitou Award following the annual Moniteau County Historical Society dinner meeting Monday, Nov. 9. The dinner and meeting were held at St. Paul's Lutheran Church Fellowship Hall.
She was presented the award in recognition of her work in the genealogy library, archival storage supplies grant, indexing the Terwilliger Extension photographs, service on the building committee and with the cemetery flowers project. She expressed appreciation for the award.
Historical Society members also listened to stories of "Hauntings in Mid-Missouri" after the 46 people present were served turkey and brisket by the church Evening Guild. Dr. Mary Collins Barile, Boonville, in a darkened room, followed up the dinner by relating stories of ghosts and other supernatural sightings in the area. She related stories of footsteps, voices and actual sightings reported. She spoke also of ghost lights and other strange unexplained phenomena. She related interesting stories about reported hauntings at Boonville's Thespian Hall, Ravenswood and Lilac Hill and other landmarks in the area.
Barile has authored several books, teaches at area colleges and hunts down ghost stories. She explained that the stories change over the years, and sometimes a family secret is revealed, giving an explanation for something long considered a ghost story.
The Missouri Humanities Council underwrote the program.