Linda S. Godfrey - Haunted Wisconsin: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Badger State

Haunted

Wisconsin

Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Badger State

Linda S. Godfrey

Illustrations by Marc Radle

STACKPOLE
BOOKS

Copyright 2010 by Stackpole Books

Published by
STACKPOLE BOOKS
5067 Ritter Road
Mechanicsburg, PA 17055
www.stackpolebooks.com

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to Stackpole Books.

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

FIRST EDITION

Cover design by Tessa J. Sweigert

Some of the sites described in this book are on private property. The author and publisher advise readers not to trespass on private property and disclaim any responsibility for those who are prosecuted for trespassing.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Godfrey, Linda S.

Haunted Wisconsin : ghosts and strange phenomena of the badger state / Linda S. Godfrey. 1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN-13: 978-0-8117-3636-7 (pbk.)

ISBN-10: 0-8117-3636-9 (pbk.)

1. Haunted placesWisconsin. I. Title.

BF1472.U6G63 2010

133.109775dc22

2010000914

Introduction

T HE TOUGHEST THING ABOUT GHOSTS , ESPECIALLY FOR A WRITER attempting to define them, is that very few people can agree upon what they actually arelingering spirits of the dead, electromagnetic patterns trapped in the atmosphere, demons or earth spirits masquerading as deceased humans, hallucinations, or delusions caused by low sound waves. Scholars, researchers, and amateur spook sleuths have proposed these scenarios and more as they seek to explain the baffling mystery of phantom sightings.

A place may easily earn a reputation as haunted by displaying any one or more of a wide range of manifestations. The most common are in the ears. People hear unexplained knocks, whispers, moans, and even distinct voices saying grumbly things like, You should leave now.

The eyes have it in other cases, as witnesses have reported seeing wisps of white or black shadow people, figures that float through walls or walk without legs, and even full-fledged apparitions of deceased loved ones that look like the person in full bloom of youth. That happened to my highly educated, no-nonsense landlady, Harriet Hendershot, back when I was a newlywed living in Platteville. She had a daylight visitation from her deceased younger sister a few days before their other sister passed. But apparitions may be perfect strangers, who often sport costumes from bygone eraslong coats or fancy dresses.

There is also an apparent animal kingdom in ghostland. Phantom dogs, cats, and even horses abound. Apparently vehicles have an afterlife too, as ghost cars, trains, canoes, and covered wagons careen with or without drivers through the folk tales of many towns.

Some folks claim to know a ghost is nearby when anomalous odors suddenly fill a room. Tobacco, lilacs, and roses are commonly noticed aromas. I once stayed in a bed-and-breakfast in Superior and experienced a sharp and prolonged scent of roses right after I had snacked on some smelly pork rinds. I found out later the Victorian house was believed haunted by a former persnickety servant, and I was staying in her room!

Another fairly common manifestation is the poltergeist, an unseen spirit that likes to throw its weightlessness, or any handy object, around. Doors and windows that open or close on their own, pictures and dishes that suddenly fly across a room, beds that go bump in the night; these are the telltale handiwork of a pesky polter.

Sometimes a young person in his or her teens lives in the same vicinity as the poltergeist phenomena, and some have theorized that the objects move because of an excess of psychokinetic energy (mind moving matter) coming from the excitable youth rather than from unseen spirits. But many find that explanation as hard to swallow as the idea of an independent, invisible entity chucking grandmas china around the parlor. Besides, young people are not present in every case.

Id like to emphasize that ghost reports are nearly always anecdotal and therefore unlikely to be provable. Not that people dont try. Author Mary Roach, for one, conducted a fascinating investigative study of ghosts called Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife. She states up front that she is after proof, or evidence that some form of disembodied consciousness persists when the body closes up shop. Thats a great way to put it.

Roach admits that proof is an elusive quarry, but she seeks it in the experiments of scientists who weigh bodies before and after the departure of the soul, in the annals of reincarnation studies, and in experiments with ghost-inducing electromagnetic fields and low-frequency sound waves.

Ghost-hunting societies around the world continue their own quests for ghostly proof in greater numbers than ever before, in private or on cable TV. They set up digital camera equipment, and attempt to measure haunted grounds for spikes in ambient temperature or electromagnetic fluctuations. They go to great lengths to meticulously rule out mundane factors and sometimes bring in self-identified psychics to pick up vibes and spirit messages.

Still, none of this tells us what ghosts really are or proves whether or not they exist.

Ill make my own admission now. While I do not pretend to know what causes ghostlike phenomena, and despite the fact that I think aggressive ghost-hunting may not always be advisable, I have twice seen visible, unidentifiable forms while researching haunted locations for other books. Both visits were surprise pop-ins; my hosts had no chance to prepare any tricks. And both sightings were totally unexpected.

The first was in Sparta, Wisconsin, in a building that housed a soap store at the time. A beautiful old tombstone stood embedded in its basement wall, and the owners and one employee had experienced ghostly touches, voices, and extreme poltergeist activity such as wastebasket lids flying across a room and a perfectly solid table suddenly crashing over in front of a large group of people.

I didnt notice anything odd in the basement during my own visit, but after climbing the stairs back to the main floor, I entered the hallway that led to the store and had taken a few steps when something made me turn around. There, in broad daylight, I was astonished to see a misty white figure about the shape and size of a human torso hovering a few feet off the floor. It evaporated as I stared at it. I could not find any obvious explanation; there were no reflections or other light sources that might have caused an illusion.

It was only after my sighting that I learned the owners husband had had the very same experience in that exact location on several occasions.

My other eye-opener happened in an old brick building in Manistee, Michigan. It had been built by a large German family as a tavern with an apartment above, and several of those family members had died in the building from various causes. The best-known was Basement Billy, said to have been the owners son, William. He had been spotted several times outside the building, appearing as a young man in Victorian-era garb, but normally inhabited the mostly empty, dirt-floor basement where the owner had seen him.

We stood near the bottom of the basement steps and turned off the two naked light bulbs that were the rooms sole light system, and stood quietly in pitch blackness for a few minutes. I was about to give up when I noticed a roundish ball of light floating near the low ceiling, about ten feet in front of me. It was about the size of a basketball with a blurry, almost triangular projection on either side. I decided my eyes must be playing tricks on me so I turned my head away and then timidly looked back. It was still there. I gazed at it for another ten to fifteen seconds before it began to fade. Only then did I realize that in my shock, Id completely forgotten to use the camera hanging around my neck (I made the same frustrating mistake in Sparta). I was unnerved by the unexplained, very creepy sight and wanted very much to leave the basement, so I asked my hostess to turn the lights back on. She looked a bit goggle-eyed herself.