Summerwind Mansion:
If a person was forced to choose what the greatest ghost story in Wisconsin might be, it would almost undoubtedly be the legend of Summerwind. This haunted mansion has spawned more strange tales and stories then any other location in the state. What dark secrets remain hidden in the ruins of this once grand estate? Were the stories of ghostly encounters and messages from beyond really true ... or were they part of an elaborate publicity hoax?
Located on the shores of West Bay Lake, in the far northeast regions of Wisconsin, are the ruins of a once grand mansion that was called Summerwind. The house is long gone now, but the memories remain ... as do the stories and legends of the inexplicable events that once took place there. Summerwind is perhaps Wisconsin’s most haunted house, or at least it was, before fire and the elements of nature destroyed her. Regardless, even the ravages of time cannot destroy the haunted history of the house.
The mansion was built in 1916 by Robert P. Lamont as a summer home for he and his family. Nestled on the shores of the lake, the house caught the cool breezes of northern Wisconsin and provided a comfortable place for Lamont to escape the pressures of everyday life in Washington D.C., as he would later go on to serve as the Secretary of Commerce under President Herbert Hoover.
But life was not always sublime at Summerwind during the years of the Lamont family. For those who claim that the ghost stories of the house were "created" in later years, they forget the original tale of Robert Lamont’s encounter with a spirit. Legends of the house say that Lamont actually fired a pistol at a ghost that he believed was an intruder. The bullet holes in the basement door from the kitchen remained for many years.
But life was not always sublime at Summerwind during the years of the Lamont family. For those who claim that the ghost stories of the house were "created" in later years, they forget the original tale of Robert Lamont’s encounter with a spirit. Legends of the house say that Lamont actually fired a pistol at a ghost that he believed was an intruder. The bullet holes in the basement door from the kitchen remained for many years.
Upon the death of Robert Lamont, the house was sold ... and sold again. It seemed that nothing out of the ordinary really happened there, save for Lamont’s encounter with the phantom intruder, until the early 1970's. It was in this period that the family living in the house was nearly destroyed ... supposedly by ghosts.
Arnold Hinshaw, his wife Ginger, and their six children, moved into Summerwind in the early part of the 1970's. They would only reside in the house for six months, but it would be an eventful period of time.
From the day that they moved in, they knew strange things were going on in the house. It had been vacant for some time ... but it had apparently been occupied by otherworldly visitors. The Hinshaws, and their children, immediately started to report vague shapes and shadows flickering down the hallways. They also claimed to hear mumbled voices in darkened, empty rooms. When they would walk inside, the sounds would quickly stop. Most alarming was the ghost of the woman who was often seen floating back and forth just past some French doors that led off from the dining room.
The family wondered if they were simply imagining things but continued events convinced them otherwise. Appliances, a hot water heater and a water pump would mysteriously break down and then repair themselves before a serviceman could be called.
Windows and doors that were closed would reopen on their own. One particular window, which proved especially stubborn, would raise and lower itself at all hours. Out of desperation, Arnold drove a heavy nail through the window casing and it finally stayed closed.
On one occasion, Arnold walked out to his car to go to work and the vehicle suddenly burst into flames. No one was near it and it is unknown whether the source of the fire was supernatural in origin or not, but regardless, no cause was ever found for it.
From the day that they moved in, they knew strange things were going on in the house. It had been vacant for some time ... but it had apparently been occupied by otherworldly visitors. The Hinshaws, and their children, immediately started to report vague shapes and shadows flickering down the hallways. They also claimed to hear mumbled voices in darkened, empty rooms. When they would walk inside, the sounds would quickly stop. Most alarming was the ghost of the woman who was often seen floating back and forth just past some French doors that led off from the dining room.
The family wondered if they were simply imagining things but continued events convinced them otherwise. Appliances, a hot water heater and a water pump would mysteriously break down and then repair themselves before a serviceman could be called.
Windows and doors that were closed would reopen on their own. One particular window, which proved especially stubborn, would raise and lower itself at all hours. Out of desperation, Arnold drove a heavy nail through the window casing and it finally stayed closed.
On one occasion, Arnold walked out to his car to go to work and the vehicle suddenly burst into flames. No one was near it and it is unknown whether the source of the fire was supernatural in origin or not, but regardless, no cause was ever found for it.
Despite the strange activity, the Hinshaws wanted to make the best of the historic house so they decided to hire some men to make a few renovations. It was most common for the workers to not show up for work, usually claiming illness, although a few of them simply told her that they refused to work on Summerwind ... which was reputed to be haunted. That was when the Hinshaws gave up and decided to try and do all of the work themselves.
One day they began painting a closet in one of the bedrooms. A large shoe drawer was installed in the closet’s back wall and Arnold pulled it out so that he could paint around the edges of the frame. When he did, he noticed that there seemed to be a large, dark space behind the drawer.
Ginger brought him a flashlight and he wedged himself into the narrow opening as far as his shoulders. He looked around with the flashlight and then suddenly jumped back, scrambling away from the opening. He was both frightened and disgusted ... there was some sort of corpse jammed into the secret compartment!
Believing that an animal had crawled in there and died many years ago, Arnold tried to squeeze back in for a closer look. He couldn’t make out much of anything, so when the children came home from school, he recruited his daughter Mary to get a better look. Mary took the flashlight and crawled inside. Moments later, she let out a scream ... it was a human corpse! She uncovered a skull, still bearing dirty black hair, a brown arm and a portion of a leg.
Ginger brought him a flashlight and he wedged himself into the narrow opening as far as his shoulders. He looked around with the flashlight and then suddenly jumped back, scrambling away from the opening. He was both frightened and disgusted ... there was some sort of corpse jammed into the secret compartment!
Believing that an animal had crawled in there and died many years ago, Arnold tried to squeeze back in for a closer look. He couldn’t make out much of anything, so when the children came home from school, he recruited his daughter Mary to get a better look. Mary took the flashlight and crawled inside. Moments later, she let out a scream ... it was a human corpse! She uncovered a skull, still bearing dirty black hair, a brown arm and a portion of a leg.
Why the Hinshaws never contacted the authorities about this body is unknown. Was the story concocted later to fit into the tales of "haunted" Summerwind? Or was their reasoning the truth ... that the body had been the result of a crime that took place many years ago, far too long for the police to do anything about it now.
Had they been thinking things through, they might have realized that this body might have been the cause of much of the supernatural activity in the house ... removing it might have laid the ghost to rest, so to speak.
Regardless, they left the corpse where they found it ... but it will figure into our story once again.
Shortly after the discovery of the body in the hidden compartment, things started to take a turn for the worse at Summerwind.Had they been thinking things through, they might have realized that this body might have been the cause of much of the supernatural activity in the house ... removing it might have laid the ghost to rest, so to speak.
Regardless, they left the corpse where they found it ... but it will figure into our story once again.
Arnold began staying up very late at night and playing a Hammond organ that the couple had purchased before moving into the house. He had always enjoyed playing the organ, using it as a form of relaxation, but his playing now was different. His playing became a frenzied mixture of melodies that seemed to make no sense, and grew louder as the night wore on. Ginger pleaded with him to stop but Arnold claimed the demons in his head demanded that he play. He often crashed the keys on the organ until dawn, frightening his wife and children so badly that they often huddled together in one bedroom, crying and cowering in fear.
Arnold had a complete mental breakdown and at the same time, Ginger attempted suicide.
Arnold had a complete mental breakdown and at the same time, Ginger attempted suicide.
Were the stories of strange events at Summerwind merely the result of two disturbed minds? It might seem so ... but what about the children? They also reported the ghostly encounters. Were they simply influenced by their parents questionable sanity ... or were the stories real?
The family’s connection with the house would continue for years to come.
The family’s connection with the house would continue for years to come.
While Arnold was sent away for treatment, Ginger and the children moved to Granton, Wisconsin to live with Ginger’s parents. Ginger and Arnold would eventually be divorced when it looked as though Arnold’s hopes for recovery were failing. Ginger later recovered her health, away from Summerwind at last, and she married a man named George Olsen.
Things seemed to be going quite well for her in her new peaceful life, until a few years later, when her father announced that he was going to buy Summerwind.
Raymond Bober was a popcorn vendor and businessman who with his wife Marie, planned to turn the old mansion into a restaurant and an inn. He believed that the house would attract many guests to the scenic location on the lake.
They had no idea what had happened to their daughter in the house.
Things seemed to be going quite well for her in her new peaceful life, until a few years later, when her father announced that he was going to buy Summerwind.
Raymond Bober was a popcorn vendor and businessman who with his wife Marie, planned to turn the old mansion into a restaurant and an inn. He believed that the house would attract many guests to the scenic location on the lake.
They had no idea what had happened to their daughter in the house.
Ginger was horrified at her parent’s decision. She had never given them all of the details about what had happened during the six months that she had lived in the house and she refused to do so now. What she did do was to beg them not to buy Summerwind.
Bober’s mind was made up however. He announced that he realized the house was haunted, but this would not deter him. He claimed that he had spent time at the house and knew the identity of the ghost that was haunting the place.
According to Bober, the ghost was a man named Jonathan Carver, an eighteenth century British explorer who was haunting the house and searching for an old deed that had been given to him by the Sioux Indians. In the document, he supposedly had the rights to the northern third of Wisconsin. The deed had supposedly been placed in a box and sealed into the foundation of Summerwind. Bober claimed that Carver had asked his help in finding it.
Bober wrote a book about his experiences at Summerwind and his communications with Carver through dreams, trances and a Ouija board. The book was published in 1979 under the name of Wolffgang von Bober and was called THE CARVER EFFECT. It is currently out-of-print and very hard to find.
Shortly after Bober bought the house, he, his son Karl, Ginger and her new husband, George, spent a day exploring and looking over the house. The group had wandered through the place and as they were leaving the second floor, George spotted the closet where the secret compartment was hidden. He began pulling out the drawers and looking behind them, although Ginger begged for him to stop.
George was confused. He had simply been curious as to what might be in the drawers. Up until then, Ginger had never told anyone about finding the body behind the closet. Sitting in the kitchen later, she would tell them everything.
After hearing the story, the men rushed back upstairs and returned to the closet. Ginger’s brother, Karl, climbed into the space with a light and looked around. In a few moments, he climbed back out ... it was empty!
Bober and George also inspected the small space and found nothing. Where had the corpse gone? Had it been removed, either by natural or supernatural forces?
Bober’s mind was made up however. He announced that he realized the house was haunted, but this would not deter him. He claimed that he had spent time at the house and knew the identity of the ghost that was haunting the place.
According to Bober, the ghost was a man named Jonathan Carver, an eighteenth century British explorer who was haunting the house and searching for an old deed that had been given to him by the Sioux Indians. In the document, he supposedly had the rights to the northern third of Wisconsin. The deed had supposedly been placed in a box and sealed into the foundation of Summerwind. Bober claimed that Carver had asked his help in finding it.
Bober wrote a book about his experiences at Summerwind and his communications with Carver through dreams, trances and a Ouija board. The book was published in 1979 under the name of Wolffgang von Bober and was called THE CARVER EFFECT. It is currently out-of-print and very hard to find.
Shortly after Bober bought the house, he, his son Karl, Ginger and her new husband, George, spent a day exploring and looking over the house. The group had wandered through the place and as they were leaving the second floor, George spotted the closet where the secret compartment was hidden. He began pulling out the drawers and looking behind them, although Ginger begged for him to stop.
George was confused. He had simply been curious as to what might be in the drawers. Up until then, Ginger had never told anyone about finding the body behind the closet. Sitting in the kitchen later, she would tell them everything.
After hearing the story, the men rushed back upstairs and returned to the closet. Ginger’s brother, Karl, climbed into the space with a light and looked around. In a few moments, he climbed back out ... it was empty!
Bober and George also inspected the small space and found nothing. Where had the corpse gone? Had it been removed, either by natural or supernatural forces?
Or, most importantly, had it ever really been there at all?
Toward the end of that Summer, Karl traveled alone to the old house. He had gone to get a repair estimate on some work to be done on the house and to check with someone about getting rid of the bats which were inhabiting the place. He also planned to do some yard work and to get the place cleaned up a little.
It started to rain the first day that he was there and he began closing some of the windows. He was upstairs, in the dark hallway, and heard a voice call his name. He looked around but there was no one there. Karl closed the window and went downstairs. He walked into the front room and heard what sounded like two pistol shots! He ran into the kitchen and found the room filled with smoke and the acrid smell of gunpowder ... apparently someone had fired a gun inside of the house!
Karl searched the place, finding the doors locked and undisturbed. There appeared to be no one inside and he returned to the kitchen. He began looking around the room and discovered two bullet holes in the door leading down to the basement. He examined them closely and realized that they were not new holes at all ... but old bullet holes that had worn smooth around the edges.
They were apparently holes left behind from Robert Lamont’s encounter with a ghost in the kitchen. Perhaps events from the past were replaying themselves at Summerwind!
No matter what the explanation, it was enough for Karl and he left the house that afternoon.
It started to rain the first day that he was there and he began closing some of the windows. He was upstairs, in the dark hallway, and heard a voice call his name. He looked around but there was no one there. Karl closed the window and went downstairs. He walked into the front room and heard what sounded like two pistol shots! He ran into the kitchen and found the room filled with smoke and the acrid smell of gunpowder ... apparently someone had fired a gun inside of the house!
Karl searched the place, finding the doors locked and undisturbed. There appeared to be no one inside and he returned to the kitchen. He began looking around the room and discovered two bullet holes in the door leading down to the basement. He examined them closely and realized that they were not new holes at all ... but old bullet holes that had worn smooth around the edges.
They were apparently holes left behind from Robert Lamont’s encounter with a ghost in the kitchen. Perhaps events from the past were replaying themselves at Summerwind!
No matter what the explanation, it was enough for Karl and he left the house that afternoon.
The plans to turn the house into a restaurant did not go smoothly. Workmen refused to stay on the job, complaining of tools disappearing and feelings as if they were being watched. Marie Bober agreed with their complaints. She was always uneasy in the house and frequently told people that she felt as if she was followed from place to place whenever she was inside.
Most disturbing to Bober however was the apparent shrinkage and expansion of the house. Bober would measure rooms one day and then find that they were a different size the next day. Usually, his measurements were larger than those given in the blueprints of the house ... sometime greatly larger. At one point, Bober estimated that he could seat 150 people in his restaurant but after laying out his plans on the blueprints of Summerwind, he realized that the place could seat half that many.
Photographs that were taken of the house, using the same camera and taken only seconds apart, also displayed the variations of space. The living room was said to show the greatest enlargement.
Bober compared his photos of the living room with those that Ginger had taken when she and Arnold moved in. Ginger’s photos showed curtains on the windows that she took with her when she moved out. The curtains were physically absent in the room that Bober photographed ... but somehow they appeared in his photos!
Like the incident involving Karl and the pistol shots, could Summerwind be a place where time inexplicably repeats itself? Perhaps the place wasn’t haunted at all, but instead, was a mysterious site where time was distorted in ways that we cannot understand. Perhaps the shadows and figures that were seen could have been people or images from the past (or the future) and perhaps the sound of someone calling Karl’s name would happen in reality ... several months later.
We will never know for sure now, but the idea is something worth considering.
Most disturbing to Bober however was the apparent shrinkage and expansion of the house. Bober would measure rooms one day and then find that they were a different size the next day. Usually, his measurements were larger than those given in the blueprints of the house ... sometime greatly larger. At one point, Bober estimated that he could seat 150 people in his restaurant but after laying out his plans on the blueprints of Summerwind, he realized that the place could seat half that many.
Photographs that were taken of the house, using the same camera and taken only seconds apart, also displayed the variations of space. The living room was said to show the greatest enlargement.
Bober compared his photos of the living room with those that Ginger had taken when she and Arnold moved in. Ginger’s photos showed curtains on the windows that she took with her when she moved out. The curtains were physically absent in the room that Bober photographed ... but somehow they appeared in his photos!
Like the incident involving Karl and the pistol shots, could Summerwind be a place where time inexplicably repeats itself? Perhaps the place wasn’t haunted at all, but instead, was a mysterious site where time was distorted in ways that we cannot understand. Perhaps the shadows and figures that were seen could have been people or images from the past (or the future) and perhaps the sound of someone calling Karl’s name would happen in reality ... several months later.
We will never know for sure now, but the idea is something worth considering.
Eventually, the project was abandoned and Bober would never see the dream of his restaurant and inn. Strangely though, despite his claims that he was an earthly companion of the ghostly Jonathan Carver, the Bobers never spent the night inside of the house. They chose instead to sleep in an RV that they parked on the grounds. Also strange was the fact that Carver (if the ghost existed) chose to manifest himself in such malevolent ways ... especially if he was looking for help in finding his deed.
Bober’s explanation for this was that Carver resented anyone living in the house or trying to renovate the place, at least until the deed was found. Bober spent many days searching the basement for where the deed might be hidden, chipping the foundation and peering into dark holes and crevices.
To this day, the mysterious deed has never been found.
Bober’s explanation for this was that Carver resented anyone living in the house or trying to renovate the place, at least until the deed was found. Bober spent many days searching the basement for where the deed might be hidden, chipping the foundation and peering into dark holes and crevices.
To this day, the mysterious deed has never been found.
In the years that followed Bober’s abandonment of Summerwind, a number of skeptics came forward to poke holes in some of Bober’s claims. Many of their counter-claims, however, have been nearly as easy to discredit as some of Bober’s original ones.
Obviously, we are never going to know for sure if Summerwind was really haunted. The house is gone now and we are left with only the claims, reports and witness accounts of Bober and his family.
We can examine the claims of the family, and the skeptics, and try to make sense of it all.
Obviously, we are never going to know for sure if Summerwind was really haunted. The house is gone now and we are left with only the claims, reports and witness accounts of Bober and his family.
We can examine the claims of the family, and the skeptics, and try to make sense of it all.
In 1983, a freelance writer named Will Pooley set out to gather the facts behind the story and discredit it. His research claimed that even if Bober had found Carver’s deed, it would have been worthless. He based these findings on the fact that the British government ruled against an individual’s purchase of Indian land and also that the Sioux had never claimed land west of the Mississippi River.
First of all, the land was not sold to Carver, it was given to him in return for assistance that he had given to the Indians, so British law would not have ruled against this. On the other subject, the Sioux Indians were not a single tribe, they were an entire nation, made up of many different tribes. It is possible, and very likely, that one tribe that belonged to the Sioux nation could have lived in Wisconsin. The white settlers pushed the Indians further and further west and as this particular tribe abandoned their lands, they could have deeded them to Carver.
Pooley also argued that the deed to the property had been located in the old land office in Wausau, Wisconsin in the 1930's and that it is unlikely that Carver even journeyed as far north as West Bay Lake.
But would he have had to have traveled to northern Wisconsin to hold a deed to the land? And why would there not have been another deed filed for that piece of land? Someone could have claimed it many years later, not even realizing that Carver already held the title to it.
He also argued that the deed could have never been placed in the foundation of the house anyway ... Summerwind had been built more than 130 years after Carver died. To this, it can only be argued that many events of the supernatural world go unexplained.
One man that Pooley did talk to however, was Herb Dickman of Land 'O Lakes, Wisconsin. He had helped pour the foundation for the house in 1916 and recalled that nothing had been placed in the foundation ... a box containing a deed or anything else. So, who really knows?
First of all, the land was not sold to Carver, it was given to him in return for assistance that he had given to the Indians, so British law would not have ruled against this. On the other subject, the Sioux Indians were not a single tribe, they were an entire nation, made up of many different tribes. It is possible, and very likely, that one tribe that belonged to the Sioux nation could have lived in Wisconsin. The white settlers pushed the Indians further and further west and as this particular tribe abandoned their lands, they could have deeded them to Carver.
Pooley also argued that the deed to the property had been located in the old land office in Wausau, Wisconsin in the 1930's and that it is unlikely that Carver even journeyed as far north as West Bay Lake.
But would he have had to have traveled to northern Wisconsin to hold a deed to the land? And why would there not have been another deed filed for that piece of land? Someone could have claimed it many years later, not even realizing that Carver already held the title to it.
He also argued that the deed could have never been placed in the foundation of the house anyway ... Summerwind had been built more than 130 years after Carver died. To this, it can only be argued that many events of the supernatural world go unexplained.
One man that Pooley did talk to however, was Herb Dickman of Land 'O Lakes, Wisconsin. He had helped pour the foundation for the house in 1916 and recalled that nothing had been placed in the foundation ... a box containing a deed or anything else. So, who really knows?
Apparently, Bober was not always the most credible person either. Residents who lived close to Summerwind said that Bober spent less than two summers at the estate. After abandoning plans for the restaurant, he tried to get a permit to operate a concession stand near the house but local ordinances prohibited this. Perhaps he was planning the idea of tours of the "haunted" house ... and idea that would come along a little later.
There was even some uncertainty as to whether or not Bober even owned Summerwind. One area resident told Pooley that Bober had tried to buy the house on a contract-for-deed but the deal had fallen through. The house had been abandoned and no one laid claim to it, save for the bank, and they never realized what Bober was up to out there. This story has never been verified however and it cannot be proven that Bober did not own the place.
So how much of the story that Bober wrote about in his book is true? Was the house really haunted, or was the story of the haunting merely a part of a scheme by Raymond Bober to draw crowds to a haunted restaurant?
There was even some uncertainty as to whether or not Bober even owned Summerwind. One area resident told Pooley that Bober had tried to buy the house on a contract-for-deed but the deal had fallen through. The house had been abandoned and no one laid claim to it, save for the bank, and they never realized what Bober was up to out there. This story has never been verified however and it cannot be proven that Bober did not own the place.
So how much of the story that Bober wrote about in his book is true? Was the house really haunted, or was the story of the haunting merely a part of a scheme by Raymond Bober to draw crowds to a haunted restaurant?
Those who live near the house claim that the idea that it is haunted has all come from the fact that the mansion was abandoned and from Bober’s wild claims. But what else would they say?
These neighbors have often made it very clear that they resent the strangers who have come to the property, tramping over their lawns and knocking on their doors. They say that the chartered buses that once came and dumped would-be ghost hunters onto the grounds of Summerwind were also unwelcome. These are the last people to ask for an objective opinion on whether this house is actually haunted.
So there remains the mystery ... was Summerwind really haunted? No one knows and if they do, they aren’t saying.
These neighbors have often made it very clear that they resent the strangers who have come to the property, tramping over their lawns and knocking on their doors. They say that the chartered buses that once came and dumped would-be ghost hunters onto the grounds of Summerwind were also unwelcome. These are the last people to ask for an objective opinion on whether this house is actually haunted.
So there remains the mystery ... was Summerwind really haunted? No one knows and if they do, they aren’t saying.
MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY
According to the Marquette Tribune and Rick Hendrick's page on Weird Wisconsin, Marquette University in Milwaukee has a few "school spirits" of their own!
There are a number of alleged haunted spots on campus, but perhaps the most famous is its East Hall. This building was once a YMCA and is said to be home to a ghostly boy who has been nicknamed "Whispering Willie". Legends sat that Willie was once a young boy who drowned in the swimming pool here and since that time has been seen swimming alongside solitary students who are doing laps in the Rec Plex pool. In addition, he is often blamed for any of the unexplained events that occur in the building. They say that his ghost is known for opening and closing doors, turning lights on an off, unrolling toilet paper in empty stalls and of course, (which earned him his namesake) repeating in whispers what people are saying.
Ghostly tales began to be told at Johnston Hall in the 1960's. According to the legends, two Jesuits committed suicide from the fifth floor balcony of the building and have been haunting the place ever since. Students have reported seeing pale faces of two figures in fifth floor windows, have experienced plunging temperatures, unexplained footsteps and voices, and say that cameras or other recording equipment frequently fail to work. Two years ago newspaper staff spent the night on the fifth floor and according to their stories, captured a "strange human figure" on film and heard voices that they could not explain.
Or could the building have been haunted long before the two Jesuit's deaths? The stories also say that the spirit of a Native American man also haunts the basement and lower levels of the building. He is said to be angry about the fact that Johnston Hall sits atop land that was once used as a burial ground for the Mascountens tribe. This ghost's appearances are always accompanied by extreme cold and a pale blue light.
Cobeen Hall is another reportedly haunted spot on campus. According to the Marquette Tribune, "The ghost is an art critic. If he likes the room's occupants, he leaves them alone; if he dislikes the residents, he tears down any posters they try to hang."
Across the street is Tower Hall, a former hotel in the 1950s. One day when the hotel was still in operation, a fire swept through the building and killed a young boy of about seven or eight. The stories say that this boy is seen every few years, peering out the windows or calling for help from people on the street below.
The Varsity Theatre down the street features a lurid tale, wrote Michael McGraw in his article in the Marquette Tribune. A projector operator once took a smoking break near a large ventilation fan in a hallway off the balcony. Somehow his clothing was caught up in the rapidly rotating fan and the young man was sliced to pieces. He's never seen (thankfully), but often renders help, turning on lights and locking doors workers forget to latch.
Marquette's Humphrey Hall served as the Milwaukee Children's Hospital until 1988, when it was converted into campus housing. The upper floors of the building were renovated but the lobby downstairs remains virtually the same as it was back when it was a hospital. In fact, the bakery in the lobby fronts the former emergency room doors, which remain closed to students and staff alike. And while the living do not walk past them, perhaps the dead do?
The most famous ghost of the building is that of a little girl in a white hospital gown who wanders about on the fifth floor. She walks about, lost in her own world, but if she suspects that she is seen by one of the students who lives here, she runs away. She then vanishes around a corner or into a room, even passing through a solid door. In addition to this little ghost, loud screams and the crying of children can often be heard in the night and sometimes disturb the sleep of the building's current residents. Public Safety officers never find anything out of the ordinary in response to calls , nor can they ever find a trace of another young girl who sometimes appears on video security cameras monitoring the building's rear entrance.
KEMPER HALL.
Shrouded in mystery along the Kenosha, Wisconsin shore of Lake Michigan is a hulking building that once once known as St. Claire Hall and is now remembered by the name that it went by in the years before it was abandoned... Kemper Hall.
The oldest building at the complex of brick structures is the Charles Durkee Mansion, built in 1861, and the home of the original owner of the campus. The house fell under the ownership of the local Episcopal Church in the middle 1860's and in 1867, it became Kemper Hall, a female seminary.. observatory tower. However this proved to be only a legend that had been passed on from student to student as Sister Margaret actually died in 1921 from a chronic illness.
Another ghostly legend concerns a student who committed suicide rather than leave her lover behind and attend the all female school.
And while this may also be nothing more than a school, a very real suicide took place at Kemper Hall in 1900. In the early days of that year, a Sister Augusta came from Chicago to attend an annual retreat at the seminary. While she was in Kenosha, she vanished without a trace, leaving nothing behind save for her handbag, crucifix and her insignia of holy Sisterhood. When it was learned that she was gone, the authorities were alerted and telegrams were sent to Chicago and to St. Louis, where he family lived. On January 5, a message came from Kemper Hall that the mystery of Sister Augusta had been solved. They told newspaper reporters and the police that she was safely in Springfield, Missouri. This would later turn out to be blatantly false.
A little before noon on January 8, a little girl named Bertha Smith and her younger brother were playing on the beach at the east end of Seminary Street (65th Place) when they spotted the black robes of Sister Augusta floating in the water. They ran home and told the mother and she called the police. The drenched robes were clinging to the lifeless body of the missing nun. She had been battered by the waves but her friends were able to identify her. During the inquest that followed, many of them spoke of her strange behavior on the night she vanished... behavior that had been covered up by the administration at Kemper Hall. According to testimony, Sister Augusta had become "mentally deranged from her work, which had been exceedingly hard during the last few months". She had requested time off and it had been granted so why she chose to take her own life is unknown. Two young girls testified that they had seen her walking on the beach on the night of January 2 and this was the last time that she was seen alive.
The coroner's jury ruled her death a suicide and she was laid to rest in her habit. The body was then taken to St. Louis, where her sister and her family buried her in Bellefontaine Cemetery. Is it possible that Sister Augusta might be the ghostly nun who has been seen wandering about Kemper Hall in recent years?
There have been other sightings of ghostly apparitions and weird incidents as well. One afternoon in the 1930's, a bakery worker at the school spotted a phantom dressed in a brown skirt clutching the railing of a stairwell. When she ran to tell the other kitchen employees of her encounter and then returned to the staircase, the figure was gone.
In 1985, a member of the Lakeside Players theater group had a strange encounter in Kemper Hall. She was standing inside of the old gymnasium when she stated that she sensed a presence in the back of the room... as if someone were watching her. When she turned, she caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye and then the sound of scraping and footsteps climbing up the balcony staircase. The stairs were empty at the time and a search of the building revealed that no one else was present!
In October 1997, a crew from the local television news station (Channel Four) filmed a Halloween-related story inside of Kemper Hall. According to a source, the photographer who edited the tape began to experience bizarre problems with the tape that was shot. He was inside of the editing bay and each time that the tape would reach a portrait of founder Charles Durkee, the tape would go berserk. It would roll, and begin flashing with static, and then return to normal when the shot changed. Several co-workers came in to observe the problem and it happened every time. No one could explain why it happened.
Kemper Hall is located on Third Avenue (formerly Durkee Avenue) in Kenosha.
GRAND OPERA HOUSE
On the shores of Lake Winnebago in eastern Wisconsin is the town of Oshkosh. Located here is the Grand Opera House, an imposing structure where ghostly activity is commonplace. In other words, If every good theater has a ghost...then the Grand Opera House must be a very good one.
The Grand Opera House first opened its doors on August 9, 1883 and the first production here was called "The Bohemian Girl", a popular opera of the period. There were four different periods of entertainment during the heyday of the Grand. The first was grand opera, followed by traveling road shows, vaudeville (which ended in 1930) and then motion pictures.
During the early days, the theater played host to performers like Houdini (who grew up in nearby Appleton), Enrico Caruso, the Marx Brothers, Mark Twain, Charlie Chaplin and even Susan B. Anthony appeared here during her touring days in favor of women's rights. But as time passed, the theater fell into decline and by the late 1970's had become an X-rated movie house. Luckily, in 1979, fund raising and restoration efforts began to save the old place. The theater finally re-opened in 1986.
When the theater did re-open however, there were new stories to tell about it's past. These stories were more on the mysterious side and involved the numerous ghost sightings and bizarre happenings that had taken place during the restoration work. Not surprisingly, the tales of ghosts and spirits still continue to be told today.
When the theater did re-open however, there were new stories to tell about it's past. These stories were more on the mysterious side and involved the numerous ghost sightings and bizarre happenings that had taken place during the restoration work. Not surprisingly, the tales of ghosts and spirits still continue to be told today.
Members of a local theater group called the Drama Lab had many strange encounters here in the 1980's with slamming doors, mysterious footsteps and other happenings. One actor rushed into a dressing room one night and came face to face with a man in old fashioned clothing who was holding a playbill from a show done in 1895.
Another man was working in the balcony one night when he heard footsteps coming up the stairs. When no one appeared, he looked around the corner and saw that the staircase was empty.Recent reports claim that the ghost here is the spirit of a man named Percy Keene, a stage manager of the theater. In 1977, a film crew reported that they saw a man standing in the balcony looking down at them with a friendly smile. The apparition matched the appearance of Percy Keene from his haircut to his small, round glasses. He had been the stage manager at the theater from 1895 until his death in 1967. He is said to still be watching over his beloved theater.
The film crew itself had more than their share of strange experiences. In 1977, Bob Jacobs, a Hollywood producer who was also a professor of radio, television and film at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, made a fictional movie about a haunted movie theater and used the Grand as the location. During the shoot, Jacobs became convinced that the ghost of Percy Keene saved one of his student's lives. Larry Schroeder, a young assistant of Jacobs, had been hoisted high over the stage and was left there for about an hour for a scene. When he was lowered back down, the rope that supported him broke as soon as his feet touched the stage. Jacobs believed that this was impossible. He watched as the rope literally snapped with nothing pulling it. He had to consider the idea that the student had somehow been suspended by other means and when lowered, the rope finally gave away.
Other people connected with the production had encounters of their own. Jan Turner, an assistant producer, claimed to see an apparition in an underground passage and also said that an unseen hand grabbed her by the ankle. John Jansen and Dennis Payne, two workers on the set, said that they saw a man in the orchestra pit who disappeared out a small door. The man never came back out and when they went to investigate, they found the room was empty.
Jacobs also said that two days before the film was to be released, he and a group of others met at the theater for a private screening. When the film was over, Jacobs looked up at the balcony and saw a man wearing a white shirt and small round glasses smiling down at him. Jacobs was certain that it was Percy Keene. A short time later, a cinematographer that Jacobs had hired from California was passing the theater at night and saw the same face that Jacobs described looking out of a window at him. He assumed that the man was a night watchman for the Grand. He was later told that the theater employed no night watchman!
As time passed, more reports of ghosts began to filter out of the old building. Staff members and visitors told of lights turning on and off, weird temperature drops and sounds that cannot be explained. Those who claim to have seen or have felt a presence here always say that the spirit seems friendly and there are no reports that anything unfortunate has ever happened.
And while the ghosts were apparently more active before (and during) the restoration efforts of the 1980's, they are apparently still present today. In 1996, a group of researchers, including Timothy Harte and Mike Hollinshead of Springfield, Illinois discovered some strange anomalies in the building and actually recorded a glowing image that moved across the stage. The spirits here are apparently benign and most believe that they were more restless in the past because they were unhappy about the way that the theater was being run and what it was being used for.
These days, Percy Keene (and whoever else may be lingering at the Grand) just stays around to watch over the place... perhaps hoping to be part of the act one last time!
Oshkosh, Wisconsin is located in the eastern part of the state. The opera house is at 100 High Avenue in Oshkosh.
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