Haunted Places in Wisconsin: 26 of the Most Haunted to Visit
A hotel that spooks Major League ballplayers, a beer baron who never left his mansion, a circus family’s house in Baraboo and a projectionist who still plays with the lights. These are Wisconsin’s most haunted places, with what is history, what is legend and how to visit.
Wisconsin’s ghost stories cluster in Milwaukee’s hotels, mansions and theaters, in Madison’s old movie palaces and campus buildings, and in small towns from Superior to Green Lake. Some rest on real history, like the 1883 Newhall House fire under today’s Hilton Garden Inn or the anatomy lab remains found in Science Hall. Others, like the Bloody Bride of Stevens Point, have no record behind them at all, and we say so. We have checked every place against current sources, confirmed what is open, added our own ghost hunt venues, and moved places you cannot or should not visit, including the ruins of Summerwind, to a separate list at the end.
Address 424 East Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53202
Where to look Guest floors of the original 1893 building, the grand staircase and lobby, the Imperial Ballroom
Reported ghosts Charles Pfister, the founder's son; unseen knockers and footsteps reported by visiting ballplayers
Visiting A working hotel; the public areas are open to visitors
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts
The Pfister opened in 1893 as the “Grand Hotel of the West,” built by tannery owner Guido Pfister and his son Charles for about $1 million. It still holds what it calls the largest hotel collection of Victorian art in the world, and it has been owned by the Marcus family’s company since Ben Marcus bought it in 1962 and added a 23-story guest tower.
It is also the hotel where most visiting Major League Baseball teams stay when they play the Brewers, which is how its ghost stories went national. Players including Bryce Harper, Pablo Sandoval, Michael Young and C.J. Wilson have described moved clothes, radios and iPods switching on, footsteps and scratching in the walls. Guests also tell of an elderly gentleman on the stairs who looks a lot like Charles Pfister.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask for a room in the original 1893 building, then walk the lobby and mezzanine to see the Victorian art collection.
Visit on a tourOvernight investigationsHaunted Rooms ghost hunts
Address 201 8th Street, Baraboo, WI 53913
Where to look Sally's room, the library, the parlor, Room Six
Reported ghosts Sally Ringling; Alfred Theodore Ringling; Otto Ringling; a maid
Visiting A bed and breakfast; Haunted Rooms runs ghost hunts and overnight sleepovers here
Ghost hunting Haunted Rooms ghost hunts with an overnight option
Ringling House, the Charles Ringling House at 201 8th Street, was built in 1900 to 1901 for Charles Ringling, one of the five brothers behind the Ringling Bros. circus, which wintered in Baraboo. His brother Henry bought it in 1916, and Ringling descendants owned it for more than a century. Today it is a six-room bed and breakfast, and it is a different house from the Al. Ringling Mansion on Broadway.
Haunted Rooms runs ghost hunts and overnight sleepovers here. Guests and investigators report lights going out when Sally Ringling’s name is said, someone sitting on the end of the bed, voices from empty rooms and furniture moved overnight. Sally’s room, the library linked to Alfred Theodore Ringling, and Room Six, where Otto Ringling stayed, are the rooms people talk about most.
What our team has found
Dowsing rods, K2 meters and the dead bell give steady interaction in both the house and the carriage house. A midnight Estes session in the parlor produced a year, a month and a name, and the SLS camera has mapped seated figures in the parlor and by the grand piano. Guests have also heard their names over the spirit box in the basement and carriage house.
From Haunted Rooms event reports
Haunted Rooms tip: Book an overnight ticket on our ghost hunt to investigate the house after dark and then sleep in one of its six rooms.
Where to look The main staircase, the chandeliers, the upstairs rooms and the lower level
Reported ghosts Captain Frederick Pabst, a watchful man in the house, cigar smoke and perfume
Visiting House museum open daily; check in at the visitor center next door
Tours Guided 60-minute tours and self-guided visits daily; Behind-the-Scenes tours May to September; candlelit Illuminating the Dark tours in October
Hours and season Sunday to Thursday 10 am to 4 pm, Friday and Saturday 10 am to 5 pm
Ghost hunting No ghost hunting; tours focus on the family and the house
Beer baron Frederick Pabst, founder of the Pabst Brewing Company, built this Flemish Renaissance Revival mansion on Wisconsin Avenue between 1890 and 1892, designed by George Bowman Ferry. The family lived here until 1908, then the Archdiocese of Milwaukee owned it for 67 years and five archbishops lived in it. In the 1970s it was slated to make way for a parking structure, until a preservation group bought it in 1978 and opened it as a museum.
Staff, volunteers and contractors have told local reporters about doors opening and closing, chandeliers swinging or ringing with nobody upstairs, candles popping out of candelabra and the smell of cigars and perfume. The best-known story is a workman who was watched all day by a man he later recognized in a portrait of Captain Pabst. The mansion itself plays the stories down, and one ghost group reportedly found nothing.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book the candlelit Illuminating the Dark tour in October, which opens seldom-seen lower-level spaces after hours.
Where to look The old projection booth and its steep stairs, the upper hallways, the basement
Reported ghosts A projectionist who died in the booth, children laughing upstairs, growling in the basement
Visiting A working concert venue; go to a show
Tours Seasonal ghost tours have run in October
Ghost hunting Occasional ticketed late-night ghost investigations in October
The Riverside opened on April 29, 1928, as a vaudeville palace by architects Charles Kirchhoff and Thomas Rose, and later became a movie house. A 1984 renovation restored its Wurlitzer organ, and since 2005 it has been run by the Pabst Theater Group as one of Milwaukee’s main concert halls, seating about 2,500.
It has a reputation as one of the most haunted theaters in the state. The story told most is of a projectionist who had a heart attack in the booth while changing reels and who now plays with the stage lights. People also describe children laughing in the upper halls and growling in the basement. The theater has run October ghost tours, including late-night investigations with a seance on the stage.
What investigators report
On the theater’s ghost hunts, investigators have placed children’s toys in the dark 4th-floor hallway, where people report hearing children running and laughing. Teams also report capturing EVPs in the basement beneath the stage using voice recorders, EMF meters and a spirit box.
Where to look The balcony, the stage, the basement and a front-row seat that will not stay up
Reported ghosts Percy Keene the stage manager, a lady called Rose, a boy called Charlie, a phantom dog
Visiting Closed for renovation in 2026; performances have moved to UW-Oshkosh
Tours Spirits of The Grand ghost tours have run around Halloween
Ghost hunting Ghost tours only, when the theater is open
The Grand opened on August 9, 1883, designed by local architect William Waters, and it is called the oldest operating theater in Wisconsin. It became a movie house in the mid-1900s and fell into disrepair until voters agreed in 1980 that the city should buy and restore it. It reopened in 1986 and again in 2010 after roof repairs. In 2026 it is closed for a $16 million renovation, with shows at UW-Oshkosh until the 2027-28 season.
Its best-known ghost is Percy Keene, stage manager here from 1895 until his death in 1967, described in a white shirt and wire-rimmed glasses. A former director told a UW-Madison student magazine he saw a wispy white fog cross the stage, and staff speak of a phantom dog, an orange mist and a seat that is always found down. Its Spirits of The Grand tours add a lady called Rose and a boy called Charlie.
Haunted Rooms tip: Watch for the return of the Spirits of The Grand Halloween tours when the theater reopens after its renovation.
Where to look The projection booth by the stage door, the seats under the balcony, the furnace room and downstairs restrooms
Reported ghosts Pete the Projectionist, a head usher who fell from the balcony, figures in 1920s clothes
Visiting A working concert venue; go to a show
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts
The Orpheum opened on State Street on March 31, 1927, designed by the Chicago theater architects C.W. and George L. Rapp, with an Art Deco front and French Renaissance interior. It has hosted vaudeville, movies, weddings and concerts from Bob Dylan to Bob Marley, and it was added to the National Register in 2008 as Madison’s best surviving movie palace.
Its best-known ghost is Pete the Projectionist, who the story says hanged himself in the booth near the stage door and still moves things there. Staff also tell of a head usher who fell from the balcony, a man who sits under the balcony and vanishes, muffled talk and jingling keys after closing, and figures in 1920s and 1930s clothes. A 1927 photo in the hallway is said to show a man who was not there.
Haunted Rooms tip: Look at the 1927 photograph in the hallway to the left as you walk in, then find a seat under the balcony.
Visiting a haunted place by day is one thing. Investigating one after dark is another. On a Haunted Rooms ghost hunt our team takes you through a historic building with professional ghost hunting equipment, runs EVP sessions and vigils, and gives you time to explore on your own. These are the nearest ones we run.
Mortuary Manor Ghost Hunt, Toledo: investigate a former north Toledo funeral home with its embalming rooms, basement morgue and viewing parlors still in place.
Address 1 North Main Street, Fond du Lac, WI 54935
Where to look Room 717, the seventh floor, the second-floor ballroom
Reported ghosts A man linked to Walter Schroeder; a red-haired woman in a white bathrobe; a ballerina from the seventh floor
Visiting A working hotel; the public areas are open to visitors
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts
Hotel Retlaw opened in 1923 on the corner of Main and Division, an eight-story Neoclassical hotel built for Walter Schroeder, whose first name spelled backward gave it its name. It is on the National Register of Historic Places, hosted guests from Eleanor Roosevelt to John and Jacqueline Kennedy, and reopened in 2019 after a full restoration. It is now part of Wyndham’s Trademark Collection.
Room 717 carries most of the stories: staff and guests describe screaming from the empty room, a door that would not open while something thumped against it, hair pulling, and TVs, lights and faucets switching on and off. Others report a red-haired woman in a white bathrobe who walks into walls, and footsteps and humming in quiet halls.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask for the seventh floor when you book and call the hotel about Room 717. It is a regular guest room, not a package.
Address 2308 West Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53233
Where to look The fifth floor (the room usually given as 506 or 507), guest room corridors, the Art Deco lobby
Reported ghosts Unnamed presence often linked to Steven Tuomi; beds made and unmade, moved objects
Visiting A working hotel; the public areas are open to visitors
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts
The Ambassador opened in 1928 as one of Milwaukee’s smart Art Deco hotels, a few blocks west of downtown near Marquette University. It slid into decline in the 1980s and became a low-rent residence hotel, then was rescued and restored by developer Rick Wiegand, who brought back the original lobby sconces, plasterwork and bronze elevator doors.
Its dark footnote is Jeffrey Dahmer. In November 1987 Dahmer took Steven Tuomi to a room he had rented at the Ambassador and woke to find him dead. Retellings put the room on the fifth floor. Guests since have described a heavy feeling up there, beds that are made or unmade before housekeeping arrives, items that vanish and turn up elsewhere, and writing on fogged mirrors.
Haunted Rooms tip: The hotel does not market a Dahmer room, so be respectful. Book a historic room and have a drink in the restored Art Deco lobby.
Visit on a tourOvernight investigationsHaunted Rooms ghost hunts
Address County Road H and County Highway C, Jericho, near Chilton, WI 53014
Where to look The church sanctuary and bell tower, the top floor of the school, the convent attic
Reported ghosts Heavy footsteps, voices from the bell tower and singing from the empty school
Visiting Private property; open only for booked events
Ghost hunting Haunted Rooms overnight ghost hunts
Jericho is a crossroads hamlet in the Town of Brothertown, east of Lake Winnebago, founded in 1855 as a stop on the plank road to Sheboygan. German Catholic settlers built a wooden church here in 1871 and a larger one in 1881, adding a convent and school in the 1890s. Fire destroyed the church in 1914, and it was rebuilt in brick in 1915, with a four-room brick school following in 1930. The parish closed in 2005.
Haunted Rooms has run overnight ghost hunts across all three buildings. Visitors describe heavy footsteps in the sanctuary, motion sensors near the altar going off with nobody there, voices recorded in the bell tower, choir-like singing from the top floor of the school and footsteps in the convent attic. These are visitor reports, not documented history.
What our team has found
EMF meters and the dead bell give many yes/no responses here, and dowsing rods, pendulums, the Ovilus and portal sessions are active. During one Estes session in the attic, a dead bell left alone in the next room answered at the same time and with the same answers as the blindfolded volunteer. Teams have also recorded EVPs, heard a growl and seen shadow figures.
From Haunted Rooms event reports
Haunted Rooms tip: Check our event page for the next date; the convent is being made ready for overnight stays.
Where to look The third floor, once the children's home, and the servants' halls
Reported ghosts Children heard laughing, former servants in the halls, small footprints
Visiting Museum run by Superior Public Museums, open year round
Tours Guided tours on the hour; flashlight Superstition Tours, Ghosts of Fairlawn, in the fall and on Friday the 13th
Ghost hunting Staff-led flashlight ghost and superstition tours; no private ghost hunts
Lumber and mining baron Martin Pattison, a three-time mayor of Superior, finished this 42-room Queen Anne mansion in 1891 for his wife Grace and their six children, with a four-story tower looking over the bay. The family lived here until 1918. From 1920 to 1962 it was a children’s home, and it is now run by Superior Public Museums with its first floor restored to the Pattisons’ day.
Staff have reported children’s laughter, glimpses of former servants and things they cannot explain. Executive director Megan Meyer told Northern Wilds she had heard noises and seen child and adult footprints. The museum leans into it each fall and on Friday the 13th with Superstition Tours, short guided walks through the darkened house by flashlight that mix ghost stories with Victorian superstition.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book a flashlight Superstition Tour in the fall and bring your own flashlight; groups are small and sell out.
Where to look The box office with Bertha Tainter's gown, the theater and balcony
Reported ghosts A Lady in White and a Lady in Gray, coughing, tobacco smoke
Visiting Working theater and arts center
Tours Guided tours Fridays and Saturdays, noon to 3 pm
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts
Lumber baron Andrew Tainter and his wife Bertha built this sandstone memorial after their daughter Mabel died in 1886, aged 19. Dedicated in 1890 in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, it held a theater, library and Unitarian meeting rooms, and its Moorish-style interior and original Steere and Turner organ survive. It is on the National Register and is now the Mabel Tainter Center for the Arts.
Staff and guests have reported a Lady in White and a Lady in Gray, coughing, voices and the smell of tobacco smoke. A bar manager told the UW-Stout student paper she watched Bertha Tainter’s gown move by itself in the box office; it is now behind glass. The director says reports go back decades, though he has had no experience himself, and the story goes that Bertha once held a seance in the theater.
Haunted Rooms tip: Take a guided tour on a Friday or Saturday afternoon, then come back for a show and a drink in the Spirit Room lounge.
Where to look The third floor where Dr. Borhegyi's portrait hangs, the Streets of Old Milwaukee, the elevators
Reported ghosts Dr. Stephan de Borhegyi, the museum director who died in 1969
Visiting Public museum; moving to a new building in early 2027
Ghost hunting No ghost hunting
The Milwaukee Public Museum was chartered in 1882 and opened in 1884. Its current building on Wells Street was finished in 1962, and its Streets of Old Milwaukee, the first big exhibit built there, opened in 1965. The museum is building a new home in the Haymarket neighborhood, due to open in early 2027 as the Nature and Culture Museum of Wisconsin.
Staff say the building has been haunted since Dr. Stephan de Borhegyi, the Hungarian-born director who created its walk-through exhibits, died in a car crash on his way to work in 1969. He is said to stay on the third floor, where his portrait hangs. People describe a caped figure, he wore an opera cape, cold rushes of air, pipe smoke, laughter, motion alarms tripping and an elevator that opens by itself.
Haunted Rooms tip: See the Streets of Old Milwaukee and the third floor before the move to the new building in 2027.
Open to the publicGhost toursOvernight investigations
Address 422 S 2nd St, Milwaukee, WI 53204
Where to look The basement and walk-in cooler, the women's restroom, the upstairs penthouse
Reported ghosts O'Connor in the basement, a little girl called Elizabeth, mob-era figures
Visiting A working bar; over 21 unless on a tour with consent
Tours Paranormal tours of the building, plus true crime and Prohibition walking tours
Ghost hunting Bar-run paranormal tours; overnight stays in the penthouse
Shaker’s is in an 1894 building in Walker’s Point that began as a cooperage making barrels for a Schlitz subsidiary and was later a coal and oil depot. During Prohibition it is said to have been a speakeasy with a brothel upstairs, though Milwaukee Magazine noted no records confirm it. Owner Bob Weiss opened the bar in 1986 and has promoted its ghosts and cigars ever since.
Staff tell of O’Connor, a basement spirit blamed for vanishing whiskey, a walk-in cooler that shuts on people, and Elizabeth, a little girl heard giggling in the women’s restroom who has a raspberry martini named after her. Stories of skeletons and murdered politicians in the basement come from psychics and lore. The bar runs paranormal tours of the building and rents the old upstairs as an overnight penthouse.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book one of the bar’s paranormal tours, or the penthouse if you want to spend the night.
Where to look The empty basement swimming pool, backstage corridors
Reported ghosts A boy said to have drowned in the pool, children's voices, a cranky former janitor
Visiting A working concert venue; the pool is backstage
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts
The Eagles Club opened on September 13, 1927, a five-story Mediterranean Revival clubhouse by Russell Barr Williamson for the Fraternal Order of Eagles, with a ballroom, bowling alley and a swimming pool in the basement. It was listed on the National Register in 1986 and reopened in 1991 as the Rave, a complex of six music venues.
The ghost stories gather around the pool, empty for decades. UpNorthNews reports that a 15-year-old boy drowned there in 1927, months after the club opened, and touring bands tell of children’s voices when nobody else is around. Others describe a girl by the pool and a grumpy janitor. Performers sign the pool walls; Mac Miller wrote “My soul remains here.” Our older guide said Buddy Holly played one of his last shows here; we could not confirm that.
What investigators report
On the venue’s behind-the-scenes ghost tours, guides stop at the old underground pool and ask guests to stay silent and listen. People report hearing footsteps, children laughing and a woman singing when no one else is there.
Where to look The woods of Lake View Hill Park and the small graveyard to the west
Reported ghosts Hot and cold spots, lights and mists in the woods, phantom touches
Visiting County park open to walkers; the main building is county offices
Ghost hunting Park rules apply; no access to the building
Dane County’s Lake View Sanatorium treated tuberculosis patients on the highest hill on Madison’s north side from 1930 until 1966, when antibiotics made sanatoria obsolete. Its main building, designed by Law, Law and Potter, was listed on the National Register in 1993 and now houses the Dane County Department of Human Services. The wooded grounds behind it are a 41-acre county conservancy park with trails and an interpretive site on the old staff veranda.
Locals call it Sanatorium Hill. People walking the woods and the small graveyard describe hot and cold spots, apparitions, strange lights and mists, and being touched. Darker tales of smokestacks and a tunnel for the dead are lore, not record, and a visiting paranormal team in 2023 got no response at the cemetery.
Haunted Rooms tip: Walk the park trails in daylight, read the interpretive signs at the veranda, and stay out of the working county building.
Where to look Room 209 and its fireplace, older corridors of the original building
Reported ghosts A grieving widow in Room 209; a silent man in worn work clothes
Visiting A working hotel; the public areas are open to visitors
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts
The American Club was built by the Kohler Company in 1918 to house immigrant workers, a Tudor Revival boarding house where newcomers lived while they learned English and worked at the plant. It reopened as a luxury resort hotel in 1981 and is one of the Midwest’s best-known resorts, with spa, golf and dining on the grounds.
The story told most often is about Room 209, where a woman is said to have taken her own life after her husband died in an industrial accident. Guests say they have seen her standing by the fireplace. Another guest described a man in dirty, torn clothes who would not answer when spoken to. We could find no record that confirms the Room 209 death, so treat it as legend.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask for Room 209 or a room in the original 1918 building when you book. It is a regular resort room.
Where to look Rooms 201 and 326, bathrooms, older corridors
Reported ghosts Victims of the 1883 Newhall House fire, according to local lore; a hair-pulling presence
Visiting A working hotel; the public areas are open to visitors
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts
This Hilton Garden Inn sits inside the Loyalty Building, a six-story Romanesque Revival granite office block completed in 1886 for Northwestern Mutual and converted into a 127-room hotel in 2012. It was built on the site of the Newhall House, a downtown hotel that burned on January 10, 1883, in one of the deadliest hotel fires in American history, with more than 70 people killed.
Local lore ties the hotel’s stories to those victims. Guests describe odd sounds with no source, bathroom doors that open and close on their own, and something that tugs at the hair of people who are alone in their rooms. Rooms 201 and 326 come up again and again in the accounts.
Haunted Rooms tip: Call after booking to request Room 201 or 326. They are ordinary rooms and cannot be guaranteed.
Address 3046 West Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53208
Where to look The suites upstairs, the lobby and stairs, the lower level once used as a speakeasy
Reported ghosts Suzanne, a former housekeeper; a woman from the speakeasy years
Visiting A working hotel; the public areas are open to visitors
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts
Newspaper publisher George Brumder built this brick mansion in 1910 for his eldest son, in a mix of English Arts and Crafts, Victorian and Gothic styles. Local history says later owners ran it as a club and speakeasy during Prohibition. After decades of other uses it was restored as a bed and breakfast with four suites, the Emma, George, Gyneth and Marion, a short drive west of downtown.
Owners and guests describe a housekeeper’s ghost, usually called Suzanne, who seems unwilling to leave, and a younger woman tied to the speakeasy years. Pictures that were fastened to walls drop without breaking, doors open and slam in the night, and the doorbell has played tunes it was never set to play.
What investigators report
Members of a TV crew who stayed overnight with Paranormal Investigators of Milwaukee singled out the basement and Marion’s Suite, reporting static sensations, a touch near the head and one full-figure sighting in the basement.
Reported ghosts Paul Malin, the former pool hall owner
Visiting A working pub
Ghost hunting No ghost hunts
The Bodega is a downtown La Crosse beer bar with hundreds of bottled beers and live music. In the late 1800s and early 1900s the building was the Malin Pool and Sample Room, and the pub’s ghost story centers on its owner, Paul Malin, who, the story goes, hanged himself on the premises in 1901.
Former owners, staff and customers describe noises, cold spots and figures. Employees have heard a piano playing and crashes in the basement, and bartenders have watched glasses move on their own. One former worker told the UW-La Crosse student paper about a stack of bricks that toppled in the basement and was found neatly restacked the next morning. Travel Wisconsin suggests asking the staff about the ghost.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask the bartenders about Paul Malin, and order the Dead Guy Ale while you listen.
Where to look Jackson Walker's crypt, the grave of the Ho-Chunk man known as Chief Highknocker
Reported ghosts A figure in ceremonial dress, Civil War soldiers, a spirit that pushes people off a crypt
Visiting Active cemetery; visit respectfully in daylight
Ghost hunting No ghost hunting; the cemetery has security cameras and police patrols
Dartford Cemetery was founded in 1858 on the edge of Green Lake, though some burials go back to 1851, and it is one of the oldest in the state. Among those buried here are two brothers killed in the same Civil War battle on the same day, and a Ho-Chunk man whose name is translated as Chief Highknocker, who drowned in the Fox River in 1911.
Ghost stories began circulating in the 1990s and drew visitors from far away, along with vandalism; the cemetery now has cameras and extra police patrols. People tell of a figure in ceremonial dress near Highknocker’s grave, soldiers marching and, most famously, a spirit that pushes anyone sitting on the crypt of Jackson Walker, who died in 1899. The cemetery’s history society president told WBAY he has found no sign of any of it.
Haunted Rooms tip: Visit in daylight, keep off the crypts and stones, and respect the cameras and patrols.
Where to look The attic and the fourth floor, where dissections were done
Reported ghosts Smells of formaldehyde, sounds in the attic, a mad professor legend
Visiting University building; see it from Park Street and Bascom Hill
Ghost hunting No ghost hunting
The first Science Hall burned in 1884, and its red brick Gothic replacement went up from 1887, billed on its plaque as the first all steel and ceramic building in the country and the first fireproof building on campus. A worker died during construction. For decades it housed the anatomy department, with a basement morgue and a lift carrying cadavers up to fourth-floor dissection rooms, until the last dissection in 1956. The geography department is there now.
In 1974 graduate students found an embalmed human foot in the attic, left behind by the anatomy lab, and leg bones have turned up too. Students describe odors of formaldehyde where the labs were, unexplained sounds and a legend of a mad professor’s secret attic lab. It inspired the comic The Phantom of Bascom Hill.
Haunted Rooms tip: See it from Park Street on an evening walk up Bascom Hill; the building is for university use.
Reported ghosts Frank, a steelworker said to have fallen in the rotunda; workers killed in a collapse
Visiting Open to the public daily
Tours Free 45 to 50 minute guided tours daily from the rotunda
Hours and season Building open weekdays 8 am to 6 pm, weekends 8 am to 4 pm
Ghost hunting No ghost hunting
The present Capitol rose between 1906 and 1917 to designs by George B. Post and Sons, after a fire on February 26, 1904, gutted its predecessor. Free guided tours run every day from the ground floor rotunda, and the observation deck is open from mid-April through December.
Madison’s ghost guides tell of Frank Smith, a steelworker said to have fallen to his death in the rotunda while building the dome, a friendly ghost some claim to see from the balcony. Others say workers killed in a construction collapse still walk the building. The collapse on record was in 1883, when part of the old Capitol’s south wing fell and killed five workers; we found no record of Frank.
Haunted Rooms tip: Join a free tour and ask about the dome, then go up to the observation deck in season.
Address 509 West Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53203
Where to look Guest room floors of the 1928 tower, quiet corridors at night
Reported ghosts An unseen presence some link to Walter Schroeder
Visiting A working hotel; the public areas are open to visitors
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts
The Hilton Milwaukee opened in 1928 as the Schroeder Hotel, the 25-story Art Deco flagship of Walter Schroeder’s Midwest hotel chain, with 811 rooms and the title of Wisconsin’s tallest hotel. It later became the Sheraton-Schroeder, the Marc Plaza and, from 1995, the Hilton Milwaukee City Center. A $42 million renovation finished in January 2026 gave it the shorter name Hilton Milwaukee, and it was listed on the National Register as the Hotel Schroeder in 2024.
The ghost stories here are guest stories rather than legends. One widely shared review describes a daughter and her mother who felt the hotel was haunted from the moment they arrived: a laptop switching songs by itself, drawers opening and closing, a bathroom light flicking on and off, and Siri answering “Well that’s not very nice” when the mother told the presence to leave. Some people say Walter Schroeder still checks on his finest hotel.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask for a high floor in the original 1928 tower and take a look at the restored Art Deco lobby.
Address 637 South Monroe Avenue, Green Bay, WI 54301
Where to look The parlor in the early morning
Reported ghosts Dr. Julius Bellin, founder of Bellin Hospital
Visiting A working hotel; the public areas are open to visitors
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts
The Astor House is a five-room Victorian bed and breakfast in Green Bay’s Astor Historic District, a neighborhood listed on the National Register and named for fur trader John Jacob Astor, who founded the town of Astor here in 1835. The 1888 house was once the home of Dr. Julius Bellin, who founded Bellin Hospital and its school of nursing.
Guests and staff say Dr. Bellin has never quite left. He is most often described in the parlor in the early morning, as if checking on the house before the day begins. Older versions of this story said the house was built by the John Jacob Astor who died on the Titanic; that is not right, as the district’s name comes from his great-grandfather.
Haunted Rooms tip: Come down early. The Dr. Bellin sightings are almost all in the parlor around dawn.
Address Highway 66 bridge near Jordan County Park, Stevens Point area, WI
Where to look The Highway 66 bridge near Jordan Park, on rainy nights
Reported ghosts A bride in a bloodied wedding gown and her groom
Visiting Public highway bridge; do not stop on the roadway
Ghost hunting Not a place to stop or investigate
The Highway 66 bridge near Jordan County Park, just outside Stevens Point, has been called the Bloody Bride Bridge for decades. The story says a bride was killed in a crash here on her wedding night and still walks the bridge in her bloodied gown, most often on rainy nights.
The best-known version has a police officer hitting a woman in white, finding nothing in the road, then seeing her sitting in his back seat. Others say she and her groom appear in the back of any car stopped on the bridge at midnight. No record has ever been found of a bride dying here, and the rock piles people report on the bridge are probably left by students. The local escape room even has a Bloody Bride theme.
Haunted Rooms tip: This is a working highway bridge: do not stop on it. Park legally at Jordan Park and look from there.
Address 451 East Grand Avenue, Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54494
Where to look The basement, once a gambling room and bar
Reported ghosts A woman said to have been stabbed in the basement
Visiting A working hotel; the public areas are open to visitors
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts
Hotel Mead is Wisconsin Rapids’ big downtown hotel, built by Consolidated Papers in 1950 and 1951 and named for company president George W. Mead. Today it is the town’s only full-service hotel, with 150 rooms, an indoor pool, a conference center, the Grand Ave Tavern and The Whitney restaurant, and live music on its events calendar.
Its ghost story is centered on the basement, home of the 1953 Shanghai Room bar and gambling room. Local lore says a female bartender was stabbed to death there, though no record confirms it. People describe a smell like blood, slamming doors and flickering lights, and staff have reportedly been told not to discuss it.
Haunted Rooms tip: This is a stay for the story, not a staged haunting. The hotel does not talk about its ghosts, so be polite with staff.
These places appear in older lists of haunted spots. We keep them here so you know the facts before you go, but you cannot (or should not) visit them.
Summerwind, West Bay Lake, Vilas County
Wisconsin’s most famous haunted house was a lakeside lodge bought by Robert P. Lamont in 1916. Its ghost story comes mostly from Raymond Bober’s 1979 book The Carver Effect and a 1980 Life magazine feature. Lightning burned the empty house down on June 19, 1988, and the ruins are on private land, closed to the public. Read our Summerwind guide instead of going.
Boy Scout Lane, near Stevens Point
A dead-end dirt road in the Town of Linwood, named because the Boy Scouts once owned land there for a camp that was never built. The tales of a lost or murdered troop and a bobbing lantern have no record behind them. The land around it is private, and the Stevens Point visitor bureau says the owners call the police on visitors. Do not go.
Maribel Caves Hotel ('Hotel Hell'), Maribel
A limestone spa hotel built in 1900 near Manitowoc, damaged by a series of fires and destroyed by a windstorm in 2013. What is left has unstable walls. The stories of witches and a portal to hell are pure legend. Keep away.
Witch Road (Callan Road), near Ripon
An ordinary rural road in the Town of Metomen. We could not find any reliable published account of the witch story, so we no longer list it as a place to visit. Please do not stop or trespass on neighboring land.
Winnebago Mental Health Institute, near Oshkosh
In operation since 1883, once as the Northern Asylum for the Insane and then the Winnebago State Hospital, it is still a working state psychiatric hospital. John Schrank, who tried to assassinate Theodore Roosevelt in Milwaukee in 1912, was a patient. Stories of a patient called Rufus in Sherman Hall are lore. It is not open to visitors and trespassers are not welcome.
St. Joseph's Hospital, Marshfield
Our older guide repeated a story of a man in a black robe on the west wing. St. Joseph’s is a working hospital, we could not find any published source for the story, and patients and staff deserve peace, so we have taken it off the list.
Clark County Insane Asylum, Owen
Our older guide described brutal treatments and murders at the old Clark County asylum. We could not find a reliable source for any of it, or for the building’s current state, so we have removed it rather than repeat unsupported claims. Do not trespass on county or private land.
Wonder Bar, Madison
A 1929 Prohibition roadhouse tied to the Touhy brothers of Chicago, with stories of footsteps and of Eddie Touhy buried behind a fireplace. It has been closed since early 2021, boarded up and proposed for demolition. See our Madison guide for the full story.
Haunted places by city
Haunted places in Milwaukee: the Pfister, the Pabst Mansion, the Riverside Theater, Shaker’s and the Milwaukee Public Museum
Changed from our older guide: we now list 26 places instead of 12, with a new Madison guide and new full guides to the Pabst Mansion, Fairlawn and the Grand Opera House. The Maribel Caves Hotel was wrecked by a 2013 windstorm and is unsafe private ruins. Boy Scout Lane and Summerwind are on private land. We removed Witch Road, the Clark County asylum and St. Joseph’s Hospital because we could find no reliable source for their stories. The Grand Opera House is closed for renovation in 2026, with shows at UW-Oshkosh. We could not confirm the claim that Buddy Holly played one of his last shows at the Rave.
Visited one of these places? Tell us what happened
We collect first-hand accounts from visitors and add the best ones to our guides, with your first name and the date of your visit. We read every story before it’s published.
The Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee is the most famous, thanks to the ballplayers who have described strange nights there. Summerwind in Vilas County was once called the most haunted house in the state, but it burned down in 1988 and the ruins are private.
Where can I go ghost hunting in Wisconsin?
Haunted Rooms runs ghost hunts and overnight sleepovers at Ringling House in Baraboo, and has run overnight hunts at the former Holy Trinity church, school and convent at Jericho near Chilton. Fairlawn in Superior and the Riverside Theater in Milwaukee run seasonal ghost tours.
Can you stay overnight in a haunted place in Wisconsin?
Yes. The Pfister, the Brumder Mansion and the Ambassador in Milwaukee, Hotel Retlaw in Fond du Lac, the American Club in Kohler and Ringling House in Baraboo all take guests. Shaker’s Cigar Bar rents its old upstairs as an overnight penthouse.
Is the Pfister Hotel really haunted?
Players including Bryce Harper and Adrian Beltre have described footsteps, moving objects and electronics switching on in their rooms, and guests talk of a figure like Charles Pfister on the stairs. None of it is proven, and the hotel itself was slow to talk about it.
Can you visit Summerwind Mansion?
No. The house burned down in 1988 and the ruins are on private land, closed to the public. Read our full Summerwind guide instead.
Is Boy Scout Lane real?
The road is real, near Stevens Point, but the stories of a lost Boy Scout troop have no record behind them. The Scouts once owned land there for a camp that was never built. It is private property and the owners call the police on visitors.
Sources and how we research
Every place in this guide is checked against its official website, historic register listings and news coverage, and we confirm whether it is open, closed, private or gone before we list it. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and local historians tell them; we say so where records contradict a story. Each place shows how many independent sources we checked it against; our own Haunted Rooms pages are not counted.
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About the authors
The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every place in our guides using official sites, historic registers, local archives and news coverage, and we report ghost stories as the stories they are. We review each guide regularly so you are not sent to a place that has closed, changed hands or banned visitors. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
