Ghostly Wisconsin

2018-07-26T21:57:00.000-05:00

Long story, but I don't even know if this blog (which had served me well...) is still functional. Well, if so, I certainly can't let it just sit here, all lonely and neglected! I had taken time off to study photography, but have certainly not abandoned my explorations of the paranormal (not to mention, a number of locations in this section of the country that are believed to be haunted). I am eager to share what I've learned, as well as pass along information about upcoming events related to ghost lore, ghost hunts, seminars and more.
For today, I would like to pass along some information about Troy Taylor's upcoming Haunted America events. All are sold out for August, but there are still tickets available for September onward. The September events include: Night at the Galore Museum in St. Joseph, Missouri (Sept. 8,2018) and Night at the Old Lake County Jail in Crown Point, Indiana. You can find full information at: https://www.bumpinthenight.net/

2016-05-16T17:03:00.002-05:00

Main Street, Whitewater

Whitewater: Second Salem
     Following the completion of the Erie Canal, a wave of New England farmers relocated to the forests and wild prairie of southern Wisconsin. They cleared land, staked out farms, and built roads. Churches, stores and schools were built. A town grew where the Whitewater Creek and Spring Brook meet, named Whitewater because of the white sand found in the waterways.
     Today, Whitewater is a city, split between Jefferson and Walworth counties. It can best be described as "comfortable," with the typical Main Street lined with brick buildings constructed in the early 1800s, giving it a feel of the Old West. This was once part of what was called the Northwest Territory. The Kettle Moraine Scenic Drive begins near Whitewater, leading to the Kettle Moraine State Forest. The outstanding University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, with a student enrollment exceeding 12,000, plays a powerful role in defining Whitewater today.
     Like any long-established city, Whitewater has its closet full of disturbing history, horrifying crimes among the sweetly-scented flowering bushes, and a record of incidents that can't quite be explained. Research has rooted out a number of folk tales, and student pranks have been uncovered. Still, an intriguing a list of reports remain unexplained, and I'll be writing about these in the coming days.
     Modern paranormal reports appear to revolve around the three main cemeteries in the area, which are said to form a perfect isosceles triangle (connected to witches), as well as the Morris Pratt Institute, a school that provided instruction in spiritualism as well as such core subjects as mathematics. Even before the Morris Pratt Institute was built, however, there were persistent stories about the "Witches of Whitewater," and to this day, Whitewater is called "Second Salem."

Morris Pratt Institute, Whitewater

Morris Pratt Institute
     Morris Pratt, of Whitewater, was a well-educated and wealthy man. In 1851, visited the Lake Mills (WI) Spiritualist Center, and became an advocate of the Spiritualist movement. This put Pratt into conflict with several area churches. In 1888, Pratt bought land and built a large temple, with two auditorium halls, one of which seated up to 400 people. He designed this to serve primarily as a school of spiritualism. The Morris Pratt Institute was incorporated in 1901, to be managed by nine trustees. It was specified that two of these trustees were to be members of the National Spiritualist Association, one was to be the President of the Wisconsin State Spiritualist Association.
    Upon Morris Pratt's death in 1902, his close friend Moses Hull moved forward with Pratt's plans, and the school opened on September 29, 1903. Along with courses in such subjects as homiletics (how to preach, write sermons), the Morris Pratt Institute offered such courses as "History, Philosophy and Religion of Modern Spiritualism" and "Spiritualism, Philosophy, Mediumship and Comparative Religion."
     Economic hardships resulted in the Institute closing during the Great Depression.

Reborn
     The Morris Pratt Institute was sold in 1946, and a new building was constructed in Wauwautosa, a suburb of Milwaukee. The building was remodeled in the 1970s, and on April 24, 1977, it was rededicated to "Education in Spiritualism." Today, the Morris Pratt Institute offers a comprehensive correspondence course in spiritualism.
     You can learn more about the Morris Pratt Institute here: http://www.morrispratt.org/

Soon: The cemeteries and the restless souls.

2015-11-22T14:32:00.001-06:00

Miller Park

Shadow People
      Have you ever heard of a "shadow person," or even encountered one? Just what are these strange things? Sometimes we think we see, from the corner of our eyes, the movement of a dark shape. Usually, this can be attributed to anything from an ordinary shadow of a moving object to eye fatigue. Usually, but not always. Reportedly, all that one can see is what appears as something like an animated black silhouette of a person, with no distinguishable features. Usually.
     We don't actually know what a shadow person is -- a human spirit, a demon, something else. Could it be beings from another dimension who periodically slip into our view? To see such a thing would certainly be unsettling, but are they actually evil? Based on all I've read, it appears that there are more than one kind of shadow people, some evil and others just "passing through," but they do leave people with a sense of dread or impending disaster. Some have been reported to have glowing red eyes, and it's assumed that these are demonic entities. Some appear to have wisps of smoke rising from them, and are also considered to be evil entities. Some are known to move with unusual speed.
     There were reported sightings of shadow people at Milwaukee's troubled Miller Park (baseball stadium). These have reportedly been seen to walk through walls. Miller Park was constructed on sacred American Indian land, and was protested from the start by area American Indians. During the construction of the stadium, the massive crane, known as "Big Blue," collapsed, killing three workers. The construction of the stadium itself seemed to have been plagued with problems -- and with those reports of shadow people. Some people who have gone to Miller have reported feeling so uneasy that they never returned. -- even though they couldn't explain their discomfort.
     The building of Miller Park was completed in 2001, and games can be seen from Mar. 1-Oct. 4, 2015. And although Native Americans now perform a blessing on the stadium before each opening season, occasional reports of shadow people sightings have continued. If you know of any recent reports, please let readers know about it the Ghostly Wisconsin Facebook page.

2014-10-30T21:13:00.002-05:00

Possession of Carl Seige
      Can people become possessed by evil spirits? Belief in possession is worldwide, and dates back to ancient times. Rites of exorcism, performed to drive spirits out of possessed individuals, continue to be performed to this day. These are carried out only after extensive medical and psychological examination of the individual. In the interests of protecting the privacy of those affected, little if any information about modern exorcisms is released to the public. We don't even know how many exorcisms are performed in the US annually.
     One of the most interesting cases of possession in Wisconsin is that of Watertown resident Carl Seige, in the mid-1800s. One thing that makes this case especially striking was the lack of secrecy involved. All of Watertown knew that this man was tormented by demons for years. State and national newspapers carried the story of his possession and his exorcism. This is a story with a very unique beginning.
     Life in Germany for the Seige family was entirely normal until Carl reached the age of five. One of Carl's sisters found a duck's egg, and brought it to her mother. There was a tiny hole in one end of the egg, and Mrs. Seige told her daughter to put the egg back where she had found it. As the girl was doing this, the family's pet dog ran up, grabbed the egg and ate it. According to the story, the dog instantly went mad, running in circles, and was promptly shot. Shortly after this, the little girl became blind, suffered agonizing convulsions and remained bedridden until she died a year later. Carl, too, became blind, and suffered in pain for months. He ultimately survived, but remained partially blind. Tragically, this was not the end of Carl's frightful hardships. When Carl turned 12, he was once again besieged by agonizing convulsions. He often appeared to be thrown to the ground, foaming at the mouth, and tried to hit or kick anyone who came near him. Carl and his family fervently prayed for help, and German doctors did everything they could to help, but nothing eased the boy's years of suffering.
     The Seige family -- parents, three sons and five daughters -- decided to immigrate to Watertown, with it's large German population, in1867. Carl was 24 years old at the time. They desperately wanted a new start, hopeful that they could flee from whatever tormented Carl. In fact, the family's strange hardships only continued. As was a common practice in those days, the 16-year old Seige daughter was sent to live with the family of a local Lutheran minister, working as a housekeeper and caretaker of their children.The girl became pregnant by the minister, giving birth to a son, and returned in disgrace to her family. That was when the family's REAL troubles began! A wild-eyed Carl raged against the baby, screaming that he would kill the infant. It was necessary for family members to take turns standing guard over the baby at all times.
     This stress took a toll on the family, resulting in severe headaches. In addition to Carl's threatening behavior, the house would be filled with loud noises through the night.Windows rattled, doors slammed, and strange, hollow sounds came from one of the rooms. One night, a huge ball of fire appeared over the kitchen stove. Carl abruptly jumped up and attacked it, hitting with his fist.The fireball shattered, sending small fireballs across the floor in every direction. The little fireballs simply faded out without burning anything. On a day not long after this, Carl sat at the kitchen window, laughing. The family cow, tied out in the yard, had gone wild, rearing up and bucking, thrashing around. The parents believed the demon was responsible.
     In 1869, the desperate family sought help from Dr. Quinney, the son of a Stockbridge Indian chief. Quinney gave Carl an herbal concoction, and then put poultices on Carl's shoulders in an effort to draw out the evil spirits. These remained on Carl's shoulders overnight, and Quinney returned the next day. When Quinney removed the poultices, he found that they were covered with strange bristles up to three inches long. Neither man could make any sense out of this, so Dr. Quinney consulted with a Milwaukee medium. The spirit of a long-dead Mohawk chief spoke through the medium, giving a fascinating explanation for the bristles. The spirit of the chief said that the bristles were worms that grew from microscopic "animals," which Carl had ingested while drinking water as a child, back in Germany.The worms were feeding on Carl's muscles. Not long after this, Carl suffered a seizure, during which he shouted the names of the demons that possessed him. One of these demons was a man known by his family years before, who had robbed and murdered a man.
     Carl continued to be tormented, and his family turned to the local Catholic priest. The priest declined to help because Carl wasn't Catholic, but turned the matter over to a bishop from Milwaukee. The bishop arrange for an exorcism to take place in a Catholic church in Watertown. Witnesses of all faiths filled the pews as Carl was brought into the church and laid on the altar. Several priests performed the rites, taking turns to sprinkle holy water on Carl, repeating the prayers, over and over.
     Carl suddenly jerked his head up, opened his mouth wide, and the voice of a demon shouted insults and obscenities at the priests. It spoke in German, and then began speaking in tongues,using Gaelic, Latin, and what seemed to be no recognizable language.The priests continued to pray until nightfall. They informed the witnesses that they had successfully exorcised four demons, desperately needed rest, and would resume the next day. The priests and witnesses gathered over the next two days, until all of the evil spirits had been driven out. This is where the newspaper accounts of Carl Seige fade away.

(A Church Built on the Rock: The 150-year History of St. Henry's Catholic Church, Watertown, Wisconsin, 1853-2003             Kenneth M. Riedl   2003 - Watertown (Wis.) - 362 pages)

2014-07-15T13:22:00.002-05:00

The Goatman
     I'm reluctant to write about cryptids on a blog about the paranormal, but it's difficult to be a rural Wisconsinite without hearing the occasional reports of strange creatures spotted out in the fields or along the rural highways. "Cryptids" are unidentified creatures that have been sighted and reported, yet have not been adequately documented and verified. These include such creatures as the Big Foot, the Bray Road Beast and the Wisconsin werewolf. It's easy for city people to dismiss the very notion of such strange creatures, but those who spend a good deal of time trekking through the woods and marshes sometimes come across a creature that they've never seen before -- one that is supposed to confined to scary movies and books.
     One of the most peculiar of such creatures is the Goatman. It is said to be a strange combination of a goat and man, and is supposedly a "shape-shifter" that can change form at will. The idea of shape-shifters actually pre-dates early Native American legends, going back at least as far as ancient Egypt. There are Egyptian gods such as Ra, Sobek, Anubis, who appear to be humans with the heads of animals. The Europeans had the legend of werewolves. The people of Asia, Africa and Europe all told legends of werecats -- part human, part tiger or panther. In Native American legends, "skin-walkers" are people who can transform themselves into animals, but they must first wear the pelt of the animal they want to become. If we accept the idea of shape-shifters, it would explain why we don't find the bodies of deceased cryptids. A werewolf, for example, would change back into a man as it was dying. A number of states, from Maryland to Texas to Washington, claim that the Goatman originates in their state. To complicate matters, sometimes very real people -- generally, reclusive men living in cabins in the woods -- have gained that title.
     Such paranormal writers as Chad Lewis and Linda S. Godfrey have written about Wisconsin's goatman, said to be found in Washington County, north of Milwaukee County. The legend goes back to Civil War days, when a veteran was returning to his home in Wisconsin with his bride. The wagon hit a rut, the axle broke, and the veteran set out to find help while his bride remained with the wagon. When he didn't return by morning, the young bride set out to find him, following his footprints. Strangely, these footprints were soon accompanied with the hoof prints of a large animal. As she followed the tracks into the woods off of Hogsback Road, she saw scraps of her husband's shredded clothing, and then found her husband's mutilated remains.
     True story? Probably not. At least, I haven't been able to find any reliable documentation to verify it. All I can say is that there does appear to be something out there on Hogsback Road that continues, decade after decade, to result in reports of sightings of a goatman.
     If you want to learn more about the Goatman of Hogsback Road, you can catch the Washington County Legend Trip Bus Tour on September 27 (must register/pay by September 12). The tour will start in West Bend, at the Old Courthouse Museum. The proceeds from the tour will go toward the publication of J. Nathan Couch's newest book, "Goatman: Flesh or Folklore?"

2014-06-01T14:13:00.001-05:00

18th Annual Haunted American Conference
Taking a bit of a different direction with this blog, I'd like to let readers know about the upcoming 18th Annual Haunted American Conference in Decatur, Illinois. This is hosted by author Troy Taylor, and will take place Friday & Saturday, June 20 & 21, 2014, at the historic (and reputedly quite haunted) Avon Theater. You can learn more about the theater's ghosts here.

Avon Theater 1940s

Decatur has "issues." It was built over a series of Native American burial mounds, and has a history of paranormal activity. The conference will include lectures and presentations on the paranormal, and there will be Q&A periods promising some lively discussion! You can participate in paranormal workshops, ghost tours and actual paranormal investigations. It's an outstanding opportunity to learn more about "ghost hunting," and documenting paranormal activity. In addition, there will be a "Monster Panel, and a newly revamped "Strange Stuff."
Whether you're new to the field of paranormal exploration or a seasoned investigator, the 18th Annual Haunted America Conference promises to be both an adventure and a tremendous learning experience. You can find all the details at the American Spook Shows web page. You can learn more at the Haunted Decatur web page.

The Goatman

2014-04-29T15:58:00.000-05:00

(from www.hauntedamericatours.com)

Legend of the Goatman
The first time I heard about the legend of the Goatman, I rolled my eyes... Still, the more I looked into it, the more intriguing the story became.
The Goatman is said to be a hominid cryptid; part man, part goat. It is covered with fur, has a head similar to that of a goat, and can walk on two or four legs. Like normal goats, it is noted for its pungent odor. The goatman is a solitary and nocturnal beast that has been reported in a number of states, including Wisconsin. Interestingly (if we are to believe the many reported sitings), this isn't a creature that lurks in the depths of the woods and marshes. It has been spotted in old, abandoned buildings outside of town, along highways, and under bridges.

While it is noted by different names in different sections of the country, the consensus is that it's a malevolent creature that isn't reluctant to kill. We can only guess how much of the goatman legends tie in with the fact that goats are widely considered a symbol of the devil.
Here in Wisconsin, Holy Hill has a reputation as a location where strange things happen/are sited, which seems to contradict the beauty of this location. Hogsback Road, near Holy Hill, is very typical of rural Wisconsin roads. Sitings of the goatman along Hogsback Road date back to the 1870s.

My own thinking is that if this were a living creature, there would be skeletal evidence of their existence. To my knowledge, no skeletons resembling the goatman have been discovered.
If we then put the goatman into the paranormal category, this opens up a range of possibilities. A creature very similar to the goatman is a part of Native American legend, and we can
find more than a kernel of fact in some of these stories. All I can say is that although I've spent my life in rural Wisconsin, and feel very much "at home" in the woods, I have never personally seen evidence of a goatman -- not even under the Iron Bridge out on the Marsh Road, in the area where I grew up.
J. Nathan Couch will be publishing a study of the goatman, called, "Goatman: Flesh or Folklore." I've read several books by J. Nathan Couch, so I'm eager for this one to hit the shelves! You can learn more about the goatman on his website, Washington County Paranormal.

If you have personally seen such a creature, I hope you will share your experience with others, on Ghostly Wisconsin's Facebook page.

2014-03-03T22:12:00.000-06:00

Werewolves?
     While I'd always been interested in cryptozoology (which is not in the paranormal category), one critter I would not have considered including was the werewolf. The image that comes to my mind is that of a leather-jacketed teen in a 1950s movie, more silly than scary. I relegated werewolves to the fantasy monster category, not in any way connected to the paranormal. But now I'm not so sure.
   Werewolf-like beings (shape-shifting humans) appear in the legends and belief systems of people throughout the world. Stories about these beings date back at least to ancient Egypt, and surprisingly, reports of sightings continue to this day. What sparked my recent curiosity was mention of Linda Godfrey's book, The Beast of Bray Road, on a television program. Ms. Godfrey, a Wisconsinite, often writes about the odder things said to be lurking through the woods and marshes in the state. She also wrote, Hunting the American Werewolf, which is a more in-depth and fascinating study of werewolves.
     The beast is said to be roughly the same height as a man -- no leather jacket, but covered with dark, shaggy fur, with a thick "mane" at the back of the head, between the shoulders. It has the head of a wolf, with the long muzzle, fangs, and fairly short, upright ears. The creature's legs have the same shape as a dog's hind legs, and the arms are similar to a dog's forearms, rather short in proportion to the body. Beyond that, the appearance seems to vary by location, either a result of reports that grow stranger with each retelling, or possibly because there is more than one type of such creature. In the south, a similar bipedal creature is reported, but is said to have a hog-like face, with a flat, upturned nose.
    Back in the early 1970s, I had heard rumors of some sort of large wild animal taking up residence in the wildlife preserve behind my family's home. It was variously described as something like a huge, deformed wolf that walked on two legs, a wildcat, even a Bigfoot. I personally saw no evidence of any such critters -- no clumps of unidentifiable fur, no unusual foot (or paw) tracks. Why does there appear to be no definitive evidence of such creatures? Samples of fur, reportedly from werewolves that rubbed up against trees and raced through bushes, have been analyzed and found to be from the canis lupis species, which includes dogs and wolves. Well, that could include the fur of the werewolf. But why have no werewolf skeletons been found?
     To understand this, one must trace the accounts of werewolves back to their roots. Americans and Europeans tend to view werewolves as "shapeshifters," a belief that predates the ancient Greek empire. A shapeshifter is able to use magic to physically transform from human to beast, and back to human again. If a werewolf is a shapeshifter, we can then assume that upon death, it would transform back into a human body, explaining why there are no werewolf skeletons. Very similar accounts have also been found in Native American legends, where beings with this ability are known as "skin-walkers." The best-known of these are the Navaho yee naaldlooshii, who are regarded as a type of witch. In some versions of the legend, practitioners of a very dark form of this magic acquire supernatural powers by the evil act of killing a close family member. It is believed that while not every witch is a skinwalker, skin walkers are all witches.
     In appearance and behavior, skinwalkers and and werewolves are very similar, although skinwalkers can appear as a wolf, fox or coyote, or as an eagle, crow or owl. In both cases, the beasts are said to occasionally try to break into homes at night to attack those inside. They'll run across the roof, bang on the walls and sometimes peer into windows with glowing yellow eyes. There have been reports of werewolves actually stopping cars on isolated country roads, leaving dents from pounding or jumping on the car. One notable account of an aggressive werewolf came from a Wisconsin sheriff whose squad car was damaged by a werewolf, leaving deep claw marks on the car's trunk.
     I recall hearing rumors back in the late 1970s or early 1980s about a werewolf in Jefferson County, in the area around our farm. There were a couple of reports of animal mutilations, including a cow that was killed and a horse that had deep claw wounds across its ribs. To my knowledge, the mystery of who or what was responsible for those attacks remains unsolved.

2014-02-10T11:22:00.003-06:00

Bray Road

The Beast of Bray Road
     I've debated whether or not to include the "Bray Road beast" here, in large part because it isn't clear if the beast(s) could be classified as natural or supernatural. Reports of such creatures throughout the western Great Lakes have been persistent in media in recent decades, but stories about similar creatures go back to a time before European settlers set foot in this region.My childhood was spent exploring the woods and marsh behind our family home, and I was always mindful of any sights or sounds another person or a large animal that could be a danger. One learns how natural sights or sounds could, under the right conditions, be misinterpreted. The phenomenon of "glowing eyes," for example, is very family to anyone who works with animals, especially in barns in kennels. When a source of light in a dimly-lit area strikes the retinas of animals' eyes at a certain angle, the eyes appear to have a distinct green, red or yellow glow. (This same phenomenon that can be see in some photos, caused by the camera's flash, i.e., "red eye.") After a lifetime of living in rural Wisconsin, I can say that I have personally seen no indication of such a beast. On occasion, bears or wolves are spotted in southern Wisconsin Still, there are things that defy an explanation within the framework of what we regard as "natural." One of these is the Bray Road beast.
     This creature is described as a very large (roughly 7 ft.) biped covered with dark fur. It has been described as anything from a bear/wolf combination to a werewolf to a Bigfoot, often reported as having "glowing eyes." This creature was brought to wider public attention largely by author Linda S. Godfrey, via her books, The Beast of Bray Road: Tailing Wisconsin's Werewolf, and "Hunting the American Werewolf. The "Beast of Bray Road" was named for sightings that were prevalent in the early 1990s, along rural Bray Road, near Elkhorn in southern Wisconsin (Walworth County). The Walworth County Animal Control Office keeps a folder of reports of similar sightings going back at least to the 1930s.
     Is it myth, beast, or spirit? You can learn more about the Beast of Bray Road at: http://www.beastofbrayroad.com/mainlair.html.

2014-01-14T21:47:00.001-06:00

Vilas County

Ghosts of the Northwoods
Lac du Flambeau is located in Vilas County, on the north-eastern border of Wisconsin. As of the 2000 census, Lac du Flambeau had a population of 3,004 This is a particularly beautiful part of the state, with forests and an abundance of lakes, rivers and wetlands. The Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, led by Chief Keeshkemun, settled here in 1742. Lac du Flambeau ("Lake of Torches") acquired its name from the practice of using torchlight to attract and harvest fish at night. Treaties written in 1837 and in 1842 established the Lac du Flambeau Reservation. These weren't the first people to live in the area. The sacred Strawberry Island (also known as "the place of the little people") is located within the reservation. This was the site of the last battle between the Sioux and Ojibwe, in 1745. Artifacts and bones dating back to 200 BC have also been found here.

Vilas County's Manitowish Waters is the location of the Little Bohemia Lodge, best known as the site of the famous gunfight (April 20, 1934) between Melvin Purvis, leading the FBI, and John Dillinger and his gang (including Baby Face Nelson). Having been informed that the Dillinger gang was at the lodge, the FBI quietly moved in and spread out in the surrounding woods. Finally, three men walked out of the lodge, got in a car and began driving away. There is some dispute about what followed, but the FBI said that they called out to the men, ordering them to stop. For whatever reason, the men kept going, and the FBI opened fire. Tragically, these men were innocent, ordinary customers of the lodge's restaurant. Meanwhile, the gang members, playing cards in the lodge, heard the gunshots and grabbed their weapons. A gunfight followed, and Dillinger's gang escaped.

Little Bohemia

One of the three innocent people shot and killed was Eugene Boisneau, a Civilian Conservation Corp worker. Reports of unexplained sounds and a spectral figure appearing on the side of the road are attributed to the ghost of Boisneau.
It is believed that lakes and rivers are conducive to paranormal activity, and based on the folklore of the area, this would appear to be true of Vilas County. The Lac du Flambeau bingo hall is said to be a particularly active paranormal location, with one very pushy ghost. Patrons report being pushed in the back, and when they turn around, no one is there. Some believe that this is the ghost of a kindly, elderly woman who was a patron, remembered for the way she would nudge her way through the crowds to get to the restrooms. Some of the ghosts are known to give employees a hard time, moving around their cleaning supplies, and even pinching them.

Vilas County was also the site of reportedly haunted Summerwind, and one can still see the ruins of the mansion today. You can read about it here.

2013-11-12T23:18:00.000-06:00

Haunted Taverns
      Alcohol plays a big role in Wisconsin history and culture, and especially in Milwaukee. Our breweries were a vital part of our economy, and taverns were at the heart of social activities. They were gathering places to celebrate births and mourn deaths, to debate world events or share neighborhood gossip. Friday meant fish fries at the corner bar, and on Saturday night you could hear the clicking of pool balls over the music coming from the jukebox.There was always the distinctive scent of beer and potato chips.
     Alcohol is a classic double-edged sword. It can be a tasty and refreshing beverage. It can be soothing, helping one unwind from the stresses of the workday. But alcohol also reduces inhibitions while impairing judgement; tempers can fly out of control with deadly consequences. And always, alcohol has been big business.
     Prohibition brought in the era of speakeasies and organized crime, driving neighborhood "watering holes" underground. The infamous Chicago mobsters of the 1930s didn't buy cottages and summer houses in Wisconsin simply because they enjoyed the scenery. Armed bootleggers kept on rolling out the barrels, transporting beer and liquor to every corner of the state. Lakeside resorts still prospered on alcohol sales during Prohibition. Making and transporting alcohol was a high-stakes, dangerous business during this era, and sellers and customers alike were always at risk of being "nabbed by the g-men," or attacked and killed by the competition.
     Blood has soaked into the floors of many Wisconsin taverns. Death came abruptly and violently, and it is believed that some of these victims continue to haunt the taverns where they lost their lives. I'll be taking a look at some of the more notorious haunted bars of Wisconsin.

White House Bar
     The White House Bar is located in the Bay View neighborhood of Milwaukee, easy walking distance from Lake Michigan. It was built by the Schlitz Brewery in 1891, and leased to William Kneisler. The Kneisler family continued to run the bar for the next 115 years. The family lived on the second floor above the bar, and during this time, they experienced a number of tragedies. Kneisler's mother, Wilhelmina, died there. His son died here from of tuberculosis, while his daughter died here after incurring an ice-skating injury. Wilhelmina seems to the the most active ghost, appearing in a black wedding dress (which was the tradition in those days). For decades, there have been reports of people catching a glimpse of her in the upstairs hallway.
     Employees have reported some very unusual activity! When they come in to open the bar, they have found glassware inexplicably crammed into the bar lamps. One time, customers and bartenders heard a stack of liquor bottles moving around in the cooler. Checking to see what was going on, the bartender found that the stack of bottles had somehow been set up into neat rows! Bartenders have reported such oddities as dollar bills actually levitating, then falling out of the cash drawer.
     By the year 2000, this unique historic landmark had deteriorated significantly. Around 2005, it was bought by at Marquette University High School coach Sean Raphaelli. The tavern was renovated, returning the original bar and floor to prime condition. It is once again a thriving business.But it seems that the antique bar and wooden floors aren't the only things from the past that are still in the White House Bar.
     People have passed along stories about the ghosts of the White House Bar for many years. Early in the 20th century, funerals were sometimes held at neighborhood taverns, and several had been at the White House Bar. Reportedly, two of these were funerals for children. Owner Sean Raphaelli tells of hearing a little girl saying, "Mommy, mommy, let me in," when no children were present. Employees have reported some very unusual activity! When they come in to open the bar, they have found glassware inexplicably crammed into the bar lamps. One time, customers and bartenders heard a stack of liquor bottles moving around in the cooler. Checking to see what was going on, the bartender found that the stack of bottles had somehow been set up into neat rows! Bartenders have reported such oddities as dollar bills actually levitating, then falling out of the cash drawer.
     While there appears to be quite a lot of paranormal activity in this old building, I've come across no reports of threatening activity.