Published by Haunted America
A Division of The History Press
Charleston, SC
www.historypress.com
Copyright 2018 by Anna Lardinois
All rights reserved
Cover image courtesy of Troy Freund Photography, 2017.
First published 2018
e-book edition 2018
ISBN 978.1.43966.528.2
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018942429
print edition ISBN 978.1.4671.3817.8
Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
No person accomplishes anything alone, and it is in that spirit Id like to thank the following people and groups, without whom I could not have started on my spook-tacular journey.
WWBIC, whose contributions helped turn Gothic Milwaukee from a hobby into a vibrant member of the Milwaukee storytelling community.
My KIVA Zip investors, the generous people who believed in me before anyone else dideven myself. I am forever grateful to each of you.
The special support and patronage of the following very dear people: the Bonesteels, the Merbeths, the Nelson-Rowes, the QuAbbots and my posse members Angie, Caroline, Jackie, Jen, Jill and Wendy.
The Milwaukee County Historical Society, for being gracious hosts and very generous with its resources, and the Milwaukee Public Library, whose microfilm collection was a necessity in completing this project.
My acquisitions editor, John Rodrigue, whose incredible patience makes him a delight to work with.
Finally, a big thank-you to Corey Lardinois, whose support, encouragement and unfailing patience have made all things possible.
INTRODUCTION
No collection of Wisconsin-based ghost stories would be complete without a reference to celebrated folklorist Robert E. Gards oft-repeated claim that Wisconsin has more ghosts per square mile than any other state. While his assertion is impossible to prove, there does seem to be something about Wisconsin that compels restless spirits to remain among the living. There is no part of the state that does not have its own haunted buildings, celebrated specters and eerie local legends. Milwaukee, Wisconsins largest and one of its oldest cities, is rife with supernatural tales waiting to be discovered by the curious.
While we have yet to identify a way to definitively prove the existence of ghosts, every effort has been made to ensure the historical accuracy of the stories presented in the book. When names, dates or other factual evidence are presented, the information obtained is the result of academic research. Archived newspaper reports were the source of much of the material presented, as were the works of other well-known Wisconsin writers working in this genre. The writings of Linda S. Godfrey, Sherry Strub, Beth Scott and Michael Norman are required reading for anyone interested in Milwaukees haunted history, and a debt of gratitude is owed to those authors and all others who have documented and preserved the citys oft-told ghostly tales.
A few well-known Milwaukee hauntings have been omitted from this collection in favor of lesser-known tales. A fan of the citys most famous ghost stories may be surprised to find tales from the Lady Elgin, Giddings Boardinghouse and other popular legends missing from these pages.
Traditionalists should be comforted to note that other notable stories, like Milwaukees most famously haunted building and citys spookiest college campus, are included, along with tales from the past that might be now unknown to readers but are equally spine-tingling.
It is a true love of storytelling that brings me to collect stories of the supernatural. Long Wisconsin winters are perfect for snuggling up next to the fire and reading eerie tales of otherworldly events while the wind howls through barren tree branches, and I have spent many nights doing just that. From childhood, I have always loved stories, and as I aged, I grew to appreciate scary stories beyond the visceral reaction they cause. I discovered that ghost stories are a wonderful way to access the history of a city and to make the past come alive.
My interest in ghosts, stories and history has made me an avid fan of ghost tours. These tours quickly became my favorite way to explore new cities, and I still take a tour in each city I visit. My love of participating in ghost tours led me to develop my own walking ghost tour in Milwaukee in 2012. The tour has grown, and in 2016, USA Today named my tour, Gothic Milwaukee, one of the 10 Must-See Halloween Events in Wisconsin; in 2017, AAA Living identified the tour in its listing of three of the best tours in the state. The most exciting distinction received has been being named by Shepherd Express readers as Best Milwaukee Tour in 2017, an honor that means a great deal because it came directly from those who have taken the tour. I am very proud of the tour and excited to be able to provide Milwaukee ghost story enthusiasts even more spooky stories from the Cream City.
THE SPOOKY SUBURBS
Milwaukee may have more than its share of ghosts, but that does not mean the surrounding areas do not have their own enduring haunts, legends and specters. No matter which road you take out of town, it is likely you are heading into a stretch of land with its own spine-tingling tales of the supernatural. Use this chapter as a starting place to begin to explore the spooky suburbs; for the cautiously sensible, its a shortlist of towns to bypass on late-night drives alone. Sometimes the things that go bump in the night are best avoided.
THE DEADLIEST OF DEAD ENDS: FITZSIMMONS ROAD, OAK CREEK
Oak Creeks infamous road to nowhere, Fitzsimmons Road, has been closed to traffic for more than twenty years, but that has not stopped visitors, both mortal and spectral, from visiting this eerie stretch of road.
In the 1950s and 1960s, this out-of-the-way, dead-end road was used as a drag racing strip by adventuresome local teens. A typical race night would find the popular strip lined with cheering crowds, illuminated only by the headlights of the reckless racers. Cars would tear down the strip, all revving engines and squealing tires, until the races abruptly concluded where the pavement stopped on the dead-end roador so they should have. At the base of the road is a barricade alerting drivers to the end of the road, but the thin wooden barrier offered little resistance for the twenty tons of racing steel barreling down the deserted lane. Just beyond the barricade is a cliff that hovers two hundred feet above Lake Michigan. The eighteen-story drop into the water meant certain death for the unlucky racers. Legend has it that a number of racers, unable to stop at the barricades, careened off the jagged cliff and plunged to their watery graves at the bottom of the lake.
