By LaRayne Topp

    An old time steam engine chugs along the front window of the Iron Horse Saloon in Hooper, Nebraska. Trailing puffs of smoke and railroad cars, it advertises “home cookin’ plus the drinks that will be chugged inside.” Reminiscent of a time when Hooper was new, when railroad passenger cars brought new settlers and businessmen alike to the village, secrets abound in Dale and Carmen Maurers’ Iron Horse Saloon.
    Three buildings, side by side, make up the restaurant and bar and all three are still haunted with visitors from the past. Housed in the old Dodge County Bank Building, a hidden stairway once led to a secret vault in the basement where money and a second set of books were stashed during the Great Depression. Where spirits roam the buildings, friendly but unsettling, all the same.
    But out in plain sight—below the ceiling’s wooden architecture and authentic tin—are plenty of old-time artifacts: Americana, vintage beer signs, a working player piano, movie posters ranging from John Wayne classics to the Three Stooges, and neon signs advertising everything from soup to nuts. They are packed into every square inch Dale can find.
    The Maurers, who both grew up in nearby Fremont, have supervised this menagerie of memorabilia for nearly 30 years. Carmen was employed by the previous owners since August of 1987. The couple purchased the property in May of 1994.
    It was not the couple’s lifelong dream to own the Iron Horse Saloon, but they were made an offer they couldn’t say no to. They purchased what they describe as three, cool, old, two-story buildings along the Main Street of Hooper. They’ve been staked out in Hooper ever since, experiencing “some fabulous years.” The couple lives in an apartment upstairs.
    The southernmost of the three buildings is home to various rental businesses while the Saloon is in the center. When they purchased Bill’s Bar, the northernmost building, along with the property they inherited a ceiling with holes large enough to see the sky. Doors were flopping from the hinges. They added a new roof in 1998. Today, the pool hall features pool and shuffleboard tables, and filling the space above the pool tables are vintage Nascar and beer signs.
    Dale discovers his finds at auctions and from private collections. “When you find something that trips your trigger, you buy it,” he explained.
    “You spend two-thirds of your life collecting, and the last third finding a home for it,” Carmen said.
    The walls were empty when they signed the deed, however Dale has been a collector all of his life. Soon the walls were wallpapered with items capturing the interest of both new and regular customers. Framed photographs from the Nebraska Historical Society spark not only interest but also comments from the townspeople in and around Hooper.
    “When you see the pictures on the wall, you see the history of the area,” Dale said.
    Carmen’s mother, Helene Svitak, has been engaged in photo restoration and has worked on a number of photographs. As a result, her daughter appreciates the history attached to many of them, and is also partial to her mother’s collection of cameras. One of them is a rare studio, standing floor camera, which utilized 8” x 10” film.
    Along with repeat customers, when the Mauers first moved in to the Hooper bar, Dale often heard someone walking around upstairs, even though the door to it was locked. The sound of it made his dog growl and the hair on the back of his neck stand up.
    “I was spooked out, but not scared,” Dale said. “The place used to be run as Bill’s Bar, so some patrons come back to haunt us.”
    At other times, Dale could feel someone kick the bar stool he was seated on, or someone tugging at his shirt. “I’ve heard my name called out 50 or more times,” he said, and he has seen slices of toast go flying through the air.
    In by-gone days, the upstairs rooms held a doctor’s office with a barbershop in the basement. “There was something very ornery downstairs,” Dale said, so he felt compelled to call in a team of experts.
    Paranormal operatives set up their equipment in the buildings on several occasions. They caught the images of a ghost on camera.
     “There were orbs flying all the time,” Dale said, “and glowing balls caught on camera.”
    In one session they recorded the cries of a little girl in the basement. Two different investigators have seen the image of a little girl in a white dress and heard voices. A little girl who may have been drawn to the blossoming town of Hooper years ago by the chugging engine of an Iron Horse.