Haunted Wisconsin

by Michael Norman

  One old gentleman didn’t believe in the Ridgeway Ghost. The fellow took a shortcut through the local cemetery one evening. A bright light suddenly shone upward from a tombstone, and ghastly screams pierced the nocturnal air.

  From that day forward the elderly gent was afflicted with a nervous disorder.

  A young girl was returning home from a visit to a neighboring farm when she saw a light coming from within a barn her family used as a stable. Thinking it was her father checking on the horses, she walked up to the barn—but the light suddenly vanished.

  She found no one inside. And yet she claimed to have felt a presence. Perhaps the Ridgeway Ghost was looking for a new horse?

  The Ridgeway Ghost also took on various human forms.

  A young man named Jim Moore was visiting his sweetheart near Blue Mounds. The young lady lived in a large house with an exterior stairway leading to her apartment on the top floor. It was dusk when the suitor arrived to see her. He paused at the top of the stairs to catch his breath before knocking on the door. From there he looked down and saw an old man perched atop a rusted stove lying in the yard. Moore had never seen the elderly man before and thought there was something strange about him. Moore went inside and told his girlfriend about the man in the yard. She was concerned and, as the night progressed, tried to persuade her beau to spend the night. Moore didn’t think it was proper and declined.

  Moore started home on foot. He didn’t see the man in the yard at first, but then suddenly the old gentleman was at his side, matching Moore’s stride step for step. The vaporous figure did not speak a word and stared straight ahead. As Moore neared his own house he heard a small explosion and the old man vanished.

  Moore broke into a run and made it safely home. As he leaned panting against the kitchen door, it dawned on him that the Ridgeway Ghost had escorted him home.

  Jim Moore never visited the girl again.

  In the era before automobiles, young couples would walk short distances to visit friends. So it was that a young man and his new bride accepted an invitation to a party at a home a few miles away near Wakefield.

  The night was dark and still. The only light blazed from their swinging lanterns, pointing the way through the heavy woods. The air had not yet cooled from an unusually hot day in early autumn. No breeze stirred the air. Freshly fallen leaves formed a carpet upon which their steps made a faint rustling sound.

  Without warning, something stirred in the path a few yards ahead. Thinking it was a neighbor also walking to the party, the young man called out a greeting, but there was no answer. Abruptly the night air turned cold. Their lanterns’ glow reflected upon leaves fluttering in the air for no apparent reason. The sound of footsteps reached their ears, and looking down they clearly saw the imprints of a man’s shoes.

  Although they saw nothing, the couple claimed to have felt a presence in the forest. The Ridgeway Ghost was out for an evening stroll.

  Willy Powell passed a pleasant evening with his girlfriend in Ridgeway and was returning home in his buckboard, hitched to a fine pair of silky black horses. The winter night was particularly cold, with masses of swirling snow drifting across long stretches of the road.

  Hurrying the animals along, Powell turned into the drive, which led to the warmth and safety of his cabin. Without warning, his horses reared suddenly and the wagon overturned, tossing Powell into a snowbank. As he looked up he saw the object of his horses’ fright: a towering shadowy figure standing in the doorway of his barn. Powell scrambled to his feet and raced for the cabin to rouse his brother.

  The pair returned to the barn to find the door closed and no sign of an intruder. The horses were not found until several days later.

  An old man who lived alone reported that the Ridgeway Ghost visited him one night as he was doing his chores.

  The fellow had walked out to the pump to fill several buckets with water. On his way back to the house he turned and saw that the pump handle was still vigorously moving up and down. At once he realized the ghost was getting a drink. The terrified farmer ran back inside to his kitchen and bolted the door.

  Country doctors were regularly called out at night to isolated farms to deliver babies or look after the sick. Doc Cutler, who tended the people of Ridgeway for years, took the ghost stories quite seriously. The ghost, it is said, was particularly attracted to anyone who worked with blood.

  Doc avoided the main road if at all possible since the ghost was known to frequent the area. On those occasions when he had to travel along the highway, the Ridgeway Ghost always kept him company. The phantom would spring from the brush and perch on one of the doctor’s horses or stand on the tongue of his buggy. Cutler tried whipping his horses into a faster gait, but the ghost could not be shaken off, all the while staring with hollow, vacant eyes up at the frightened physician.

  After one late-night call Doc Cutler claimed he had overtaken a man walking alongside the road. He asked the stranger if he wanted a ride, and the man climbed into the doctor’s buggy near the edge of town but then suddenly vanished a short distance later.

  Doc Cutler was convinced he had given a lift to the Ridgeway Ghost.

  A man was riding home one afternoon in the hills near Ridgeway when he thought he saw movement in a deserted cabin. He dismounted and walked into the ruins. Sitting in a chair was a gauzy, vaguely human figure the visitor immediately recognized as the Ridgeway Ghost. He struck at the phantom with his whip, and the ghost vanished.

  The next day, the man noticed there were clear impressions of his fingers in the handle of the whip—so tightly had he gripped it in fear.

  Johnny Owens, a Welsh miner, was out for a stroll early one evening on Military Ridge Road. Rounding a bend he saw several dark objects swinging from the limb of a tall oak tree. As he drew nearer, the moonlight revealed three human bodies hanging by their necks. Owens ran all the way home.

  The next day when Owens returned to the spot with three stout friends there was no sign of any bodies, dead or living.

  One day in the late 1840s, a lead miner encountered the Ridgeway Ghost on the road west of Ridgeway.

  As the miner trudged along, he realized he was being followed. He turned and saw an indistinct form some distance behind—he figured it was the Ridgeway Ghost. He quickened his stride. So did the phantom. Always keeping the same distance behind the frightened miner, the ghost matched his lengthening strides step for step. The miner began to run. So did the ghost.

  Finally, after several hundred yards, the exhausted miner slumped down on a log at the side of the road. The ghost sauntered up and took a seat at the other end. For one of the few times in its history the ghost spoke.

  “That was some mighty fine running you were doing back there,” the spirit said.

  “Yes,” panted the miner. “And I’m going to be doing some more here in a minute … soon’s I catch my breath.” And with that off he sped once more, the Ridgeway Ghost at his heels.

  Three men were sitting in a Blue Mounds saloon, nearing the end of a stud poker game. The stakes were high and a considerable sum of money was riding on this final deal. A miner with a full house won the pot. As he reached across the table to gather up the winnings, a stranger suddenly appeared in a vacant seat, grabbed up the cards, and began to deal. The uninvited stranger wore black clothing with a wide-brimmed hat pulled down low over his eyes.

  The cards began flying from the stranger’s fingers and seemed to dance across the room before floating down to the table.

  The innkeeper dove behind his polished bar and hid for the duration of the stranger’s visit. The poker players were thoroughly frightened at the card antics and stumbled over each other in their headlong rush for the door.

  The money on the table vanished, along with the phantom in black.

  When traffic declined on Military Ridge Road following the completion of the railroad in 1857, the Ridgeway Ghost also became less active. In fact, it is said that the phantom was seen leaving town on the cowcatcher of a f
reight train passing through Ridgeway. Others claim the ghost died in a 1910 fire that consumed nearly the entire Ridgeway business district.

  But there are others who say the ghost has never left.

  Jeanie Lewis from near Wakefield collected stories about the ghost for many years. She was never convinced that the ghost truly departed, citing several bizarre experiences that otherwise seem to defy explanation.

  Once shortly after the birth of her first child, Mrs. Lewis arose in the middle of the night to give the baby an early feeding. As she sat rocking the child in the darkened living room, Mrs. Lewis heard the kitchen door open. Turning to look, she saw newspapers that had been placed on the freshly waxed floor floating through the air. She could hear the steps of someone approaching, but no one came into the room.

  Mrs. Lewis ran to the bedroom to rouse her husband. Together they heard the footsteps again and then the kitchen door slammed shut. The couple cautiously looked around the kitchen but found nothing disturbed. The newspapers were still arranged neatly on the floor, and the damp ground outside the door bore no impression of footprints.

  Mrs. Lewis’s next incident could be called “The Case of the Wandering Jacket.” Her husband once owned a jacket given to him by a former girlfriend. About three years after their marriage, the coat disappeared from a clothes hook in the stairwell where it was always kept. Mr. Lewis insisted that his wife had destroyed it; yet she no less strenuously denied any involvement. Mrs. Lewis searched the house thoroughly but could not find it.

  Several years passed. Then one afternoon as Mrs. Lewis walked down the stairs she saw the coat hanging, as always, on the peg. But the garment was nearly in shreds. It was as if someone had worn it nearly every day since its disappearance.

  An old schoolhouse in Wakefield has been converted into a recreation center. This new center, along with the Folklore Village Farm, provided neighborhood youngsters with a great gathering spot. But some rather peculiar incidents took place there.

  At about the time the school was undergoing its renovation, Jeanie Lewis, who lived within sight of the place, happened one evening to glance toward the sky. On the eastern horizon she noticed a bright, colorful object directly over the Wakefield cheese factory. It hovered for a while and then began to descend. Then it took off to the north and stopped over the old schoolhouse, before seeming to descend into the school’s chimney.

  Several times since that night, children and others visiting the schoolhouse have reported strange sounds from within that chimney. It is said the Ridgeway Ghost visits there every so often.

  According to another legend, a bleak, abandoned farmhouse on the old Petra property is the permanent residence of the Ridgeway Ghost. It sits surrounded by weeds past the pioneer Ridgeway cemetery south of town and looks just like the sort of place a ghost would inhabit. Doors hang from single hinges, windows are broken—altogether an ideal haunted house.

  Was there really a Ridgeway Ghost? Or did the Old World settlers bring their superstitious beliefs in ghosts and banshees to the new land? The Ridgeway tales and any truth upon which they might have been based are now lost in the mists of time. We will never know for sure, but the legends will live as long as there are listeners willing to believe.

  Selected Bibliography

  Books

  Boyer, Dennis. Driftless Spirits: Ghosts of Southwest Wisconsin. Madison, WI: Prairie Oak Press, 1997.

  Chapin, Earl V. Earl Chapin’s Tales of Wisconsin. Compiled and edited by M. Wayne Wolfe. [River Falls]: University of Wisconsin–River Falls Press, [1973].

  Cole, Harry Ellsworth, and Louise Phelps Kellogg. Stagecoach and Tavern Tales of the Old Northwest. Cleveland: Arthur H. Clarke, 1930.

  Conard, Howard Louis, ed. History of Milwaukee: From Its First Settlement to the Year 1895. Vol. 1. Chicago: American Biographical Publishing Co., [1895 or 1896].

  Gard, Robert Edward, and L. G. Sorden. Wisconsin Lore. New York: Duell, Sloan, and Pearce, [1962].

  Gilman, Rhoda R. Historic Chequamegon. [La Pointe, WI]: n.p., [1971].

  Holzhueter, John O. Madeline Island and the Chequamegon Region. Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1974.

  Lewis, Jeanie. Ridgeway: Host to the Ghost. Dodgeville, WI: [Lewis], 1975.

  Napoli, James. The Coasts of Wisconsin. Madison: University of Wisconsin Sea Grant College Program, 1975.

  Norman, Michael. Haunted Homeland. New York: Forge Books, 2006.

  Norman, Michael, and Beth Scott. Haunted Heartland. Madison, WI: Stanton and Lee, 1985.

  ——. Haunted Heritage. New York: Forge Books, 2002.

  Owen, A. R. G. Can We Explain the Poltergeist? New York: Garrett Publications, [1964].

  Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe. Schoolcraft’s Indian Legends. Edited by Mentor Lee Williams. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1956.

  Strait, William E. Campfires at La Pointe: A Historical Journey through the Centuries in La Pointe: n.p., [1976].

  Stresau, Marion. Tomorrows Unlimited. Boston: Branden Press, [1973].

  Thurston, Herbert. Ghosts and Poltergeists. Edited by J. H. Crehan. London: Burns Oates, 1953.

  Periodicals

  Bednarek, Jim. “The Legend of Mary Buth.” Germantown Press, September 1, 1977.

  Bennett, Joan. “Ghostly Events Change Granton Man’s Life.” Eau Claire Leader-Telegram, March 29, 1980.

  Burnett County Sentinel (Grantsburg), October 4, 1889.

  Cummings, Gerald. “The Mysterious Hitchhiker.” FATE Magazine, August 1992.

  Daily Milwaukee News, August 9, 1874.

  Dayton, Scottie. “The Haunted Inn Ghost.” Wisconsin Trails, September/October 2003.

  Doehlert, Betsy. “Do Ghosts Walk Arboretum Glades?” Capital Times (Madison), October 31, 1977.

  “Does Ghost of Adam Bobel Haunt the Hotel Boscobel?” Boscobel Dial, October 29, 1987.

  Dunn County News (Menomonie), September 13, 1873; October 25, 1873; November 8, 1873, November 2, 1994.

  Durand Weekly News, September 12, 1873; September 26, 1873; October 3, 1873. Franklin, Dixie. “New Light Shed on Odd Light.” Milwaukee Journal, August 6, 1978. “The Ghost Hunter’s Handiguide.” Wisconsin Week-End, October 1978.

  Heinen, Thomas. “Tragedy Stalks a Farmhouse.” Milwaukee Journal, October 25, 1977. Henningfield, Julie. “The Double Meaning in Spirits.” Excursions, October 22, 2000. Hirsch, Stephanie. “Ghost Stories Alive in Brodhead.” Monroe Evening Times, August 29, 1989.

  “History of the Kewaunee Inn Property.” Photocopy in author’s possession. N.p., n.d. Hollatz, Tom. “‘Haunted House’ Alters an Author’s Life.” Minocqua Lakeland Times, April 21, 2006.

  ——. “Summerwind: A North Woods Haunted Mansion.” Lake Superior Magazine, September–October 1988.

  Hudson Star and Times, December 8, 1869.

  Lenz, Elmer. “Have You Seen the Light?” Milwaukee Badge, July 1977.

  Madison Daily Democrat, December 5, 1873.

  Miller, Willis. Editor’s Column. Hudson Star-Observer, September 14, 1944.

  Milwaukee News, October 16, 1873.

  Milwaukee Sentinel, August 11, 1875; September 26, 1878; February 14, 1897.

  Mount Horeb Times, March 18, 1909; March 25, 1909; April 1, 1909; April 8, 1909; April 11, 1909; April 15, 1909.

  Olson, Kathy. “‘Something’ Is Out There in Flowage.” St. Paul Pioneer Press (Minnesota), July 5, 1992.

  Orton, Charles W. “The Haunting.” Wisconsin Trails, Autumn 1976.

  Orum, Alma. “Octagon House Has Spirit, But No Ghost.” Milwaukee Sentinel, January 3, 1960.

  Oshkosh Weekly Times, November 25, 1873; December 3, 1873.

  Pease, Harry S. “A Different Northern Light.” Insight Magazine (Milwaukee Journal supplement), November 30, 1980.

  Peterson, Gary. “Time Plays Tricks with Memory of 1909 Mt. Horeb Poltergeist.” Capital Times (Madison), October 26, 1978.

  Pett, Mrs. W. F. “A Forgotten Village.” Wisconsin Magazine of History, September 1928.

 
; Pooley, Will. “Haunted? Once Called Summerwind, an Old House Stirs Controversy.” Milwaukee Journal, October 30, 1983.

  Rathbun, Andy. “Where Things Go Bump in the Night: Western Part of State Has Seen Its Share of Ghosts.” St. Paul Pioneer Press (Minnesota), October 30, 2009. Reuschleim, Harrison. “Mischief on High Hill Where Jenny Lies Buried.” Wisconsin Week-End, December 7, 1977.

  River Falls Journal, September 23, 1873; October 31, 1873; December 12, 1873.

  Rogo, D. Scott. “More about the Poltergeist: The Power behind Teenage Tantrums.” Human Behavior, May 1978.

  “Sanford Syse, U Speech Prof, Dies at Madison.” River Falls Journal, December 6, 1973.

  Smith, Susan Lampert. “Where Ghosts Gather: Book Describes Spooky History of Iowa County.” Wisconsin State Journal (Madison), June 14, 1993.

  Starks, Norm. “Hotel Has Everything, Including Own Ghost.” Beloit Daily News, July 12, 1989.

  ——. “Hotel Loses Its Haunt.” Janesville Gazette, January 25, 1991.

  “Terrifying Tales of 9 Haunted Houses.” Life Magazine, November 1980.

  Tschudy, Kim. “Explanation of Light in Barn near Postville.” Monticello Messenger, November 20, 1991.

  Waukesha Freeman, July 18, 1918; July 25, 1918.

  Wisconsin State Journal (Madison), August 11, 1874; March 30, 1909; April 2, 1909.

  Unpublished Works

  Brown, Charles E. Charles E. Brown Papers. State Historical Society of Wisconsin. HB, Boxes 7 and 9.

  Christ, Bev. “Ghostlore at Ripon College: School Spirit, We’ve Got ’Em.” April 1996, Ripon College, Ripon, Wisconsin.

  Dettloff, John. “Indian Trail Resort: A History.” N.d. Photocopy in author’s possession.

  Nielsen, A. J. “He Came With the House.” May 9, 1977. Photocopy in author’s possession.

  Orton, Charles W. “Ridgeway Ghost Tales.” N.d. Self-published.