Haunted Wisconsin Reviews

Just wanted to update you on the status of my reviews. Thus far I have only gone to 2 haunts and have written a review on both which you can view here:

http://www.hauntedwisconsin.com/events/review_crew/spookshow%20babe/

I will be attending 2 or more haunts every weekend and the reviews are posted that following Wednesday. :)

~Spookshow

Historical & Haunted Kenosha Theatre

It would be September 1st 1927 that The Kenosha Theatre would open its doors to guests for its first vaudeville performance and a silent motion picture set to music by the Mighty Wurlitzer organ. The theatre was built by Universal Studios Chicago for Universal Studios and was commissioned by Carl Laemmle who had a reputation in the 1930’s to have produced some of the most iconic monsters and horror classics of all time with his son Carl Laemmle Jr. Horror films such as Dracula staring Bela Lugosi, Frankenstein staring Boris Karloff, The Mummy, The Invisible Man and Bride of Frankenstein.

The theatre had some memorable headliners such as Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, and Harry James to name a few. It served its community for 36 years before closing in 1963. Since then the theatre has stood a vacant and silent reminder of days gone by. The owner however will tell you about the lingering feeling and some strange occurrences that have happened inside the theatre which lead me to believe that though the theatre has been abandoned for 47 years, past guests have come to revisit a place they once shared a timeless memory at.

After sitting down with Jeff Baas one afternoon to discuss the history of the theatre we had also talked about it possibly being haunted by previous movie goers. He said that though for the most part he has only experienced a few minor things here and there he has been told stories by other people who have worked inside the theatre of possible unexplained phenomenon. He told me about how someone had said that they felt a sudden strong chill once inside the theatre. Another person claimed to have felt a breath on the back of there neck. Some have said they have heard strange noises that they could not clearly describe, and that did not sound like the building structure.


I have gone to the theatre a handful of times myself and I can say that being inside the building alone can feel a bit spooky. Though the fine craftsmanship that went into building this theatre has allowed it to remain in great structural condition after all these years of neglect, a broken roof and leaks have caused a lot of deterioration on the inside. The walls are cracked and the paint is chipping and has faded over the years. An old screen that once showed films, still hangs tattered and spoiled over the years of leaking rain just above the stage. The original chandlers once a beautiful plated gold has completely rusted and hangs from a broken ceiling. The bathrooms still have toilets and sinks, but are defunct. The building overall almost feels as though you have entered the Titanic. A once beautiful and living structure that held many wonderful memories of couples first dates, and anniversaries. Birthdays and Holidays and rumors of possible gangsters of that time catching a flick while passing through the city. Now it stands quiet, cold, forgotten, and left to waste and yet you can feel a definite energy within the theatre.

The first time I went I had experienced a couple strange noises in the upstairs area and a sudden feeling came over me at one point when I started to make my way up to the projector room that I should not. It was not an evil or very aggressive feeling, just a feeling of like I do not belong there or should not be there, like if you walked into the back room of a retail store where you do not belong. The second time I had gone I felt a sense of joy, but mixed with a feeling of being watched which is always a little unnerving. Again, it was not a negative feeling, just the awareness of me being there.

The theatre will be where Jeffery and I get married this year on Halloween and host a reception/costume party with a vampire ball theme. We are very excited to be able to use this historical and haunted building for such a memorable day. We hope that it will breath life back into the theatre once again and keep with it an energy of love and joy like its past patrons.

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Here are some of the photo's I took inside the theatre. I have set these photos up so that you can compare the photos I have taken to the ones taken by Life Magazine in 1938 when it was still a functioning theatre. [The Kenosha Theatre was the second theatre in the United States to play it's first audio film and Life Magazine was there to document the occasion.]























More of Life Magazine's images of The Kenosha Theatre can be found at this link:
http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=Kenosha+theatre+source%3Alife&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&start=0&biw=1280&bih=588

The Kenosha Theatre official website: http://www.kenoshatheatre.org/

~Crystal

Haunted Wisconsin

I am VERY excited to be apart of Haunted Wisconsin this year as an official member of the Review Crew for all the local haunts. I have been assigned 4 haunts, but I plan to attend A LOT more than that! Anyone who knows me well knows that Haunted Houses have ALWAYS been a huge passion of mine. I have been going to them since I was a young kid and am always excited to see what new scare tactics are added every year and who can outsmart the bravest of souls.

I have been loyal to many haunts in the area for some time, Splatter Haus has always been a personal favorite of mine since I first went in 2004. They are considered the SCARIEST haunted house in the Midwest, and though I will admit that one year they did have me so frightened at one point I ran directly into a wall and had a bloody nose the rest of the way, The Wisconsin Feargrounds is creeping its way to the top of that list. They first opened as The Darkness more than a few years ago and already had a very solid grasp on atmosphere and not using practical scares, but rather getting you when you last expected it. By the time they re-opend as Morgan Manor they had really improved there sets and actors to add to there already great atmosphere and scare tactics. This was undoubtedly put together by a team of people who really had a strong love for putting together a GREAT haunted house! I myself intend to open a haunted attraction of my own in the future and I can only hope that it is as well designed and as frightening as these ghouls have put together! Some other ones that I love to go to every year is the Hartford Haunted Jaycees, The Meadowbrook Haunted Cornfield and Mars Haunted House which is actually truly haunted as well.


Another fun and exciting thing to do around Halloween is go to a pumpkin patch! Now, I probably should NOT admit this, but my fiance and I have been actually stealing pumpkins since we met 10 years ago. It has become a strong tradition of ours to steal as many pumpkins as we can every year and we have even gone as far as to call ourselves the "Pumpkin Thieves" and sport matching skull printed ski masks when we do it. However, we also do buy pumpkins and one of my favorite places to go to buy a pumpkin or two is Basses Pumpkin Fest. They have everything from fresh hot cider, to pumpkin pie, a spooky corn maze and the best thing ever to do is the PUMPKIN BLASTER! Its basically a rocket launcher that launches mini pumpkins! :D


I love to go to all the Halloween stores in the area and decorate the place with old and new finds. I love how every year my fiance and I just keep adding to the already 10 huge boxes of Halloween decor and if we're lucky after Halloween, we will grab what we can at 50% off! One year we walked away with a TON of things including a life size Hannibal Lector & Zombie Bride that I fully intend to have out for our wedding this Halloween.

This Halloween will be extra special since my fiance and I are getting married inside the haunted and abandoned Kenosha Theater and hosting a costume party/reception after. Being such Halloween enthusiast's and just how special this time of the year has always been for us, we could not have imagined having it on any other day! We are putting A LOT of work into the planning and hope to have one hell of an awesome Halloween wedding and Vampire ball!

With only 5 more days till October, and 36 days till Halloween I can not wait to go to all the haunted houses, corn mazes, and pumpkin patches I enjoy. I look forward to frequently stopping into Halloween Express and Spirit store, and I can't wait to have horror movie marathons and carving pumpkins!!!

If you are interested in reading my reviews on local haunted houses, here is a link to Haunted Wisconsin: http://www.hauntedwisconsin.com/

And this is a link directly to my review page: http://www.hauntedwisconsin.com/events/review_crew/spookshow%20babe/

Also, if your interested in seeing the wedding progress, here is a link to our wedsite: www.jefferyandcrystal.blogspot.com

~Spookshow

Milwaukee's Monster: Jeffrey Dahmer

"I couldn’t find any meaning in my life when I was out there. I'm sure as hell not going to find it in here. This is the grand finale of a life poorly spent and the end result is just overwhelmingly depressing … it's just a sick, pathetic, wretched, miserable life story, that's all it is. How it can help anyone, I've no idea."

Milwaukee has a long history of murders, but none are as gruesome or as unforgettable as the 16 murders that happened between 1978 and 1991. America was about to learn of “Milwaukee’s Monster”- Jeffrey Dahmer- the notorious serial killer who’s murders were particularly gruesome, involving rape, torture, dismemberment, necrophilia and cannibalism. Milwaukee would be forever changed by his horrific crimes and the trial would be one of the most followed up stories across America of that time.

"When I was a little kid I was just like anybody else."

Jeffrey Dahmer was born in Milwaukee Wisconsin On May 21st 1960. It is said by Dahmer himself that his interest in the macabre started at a very young age when his father swept the remains of a small animal out from underneath the house. Dahmer would have been the age of 4 at this time and he was thrilled by the sounds they made. His father noticed his excitement over these clacking of animal bones as well he told a reporter in an interview with his son.
Later at the age of 8, Dahmer received a chemistry set which he used to experiment with animals. He would preserve insects in jars and later impaled cats and frogs on sticks.
Then 2 years later a young Dahmer, at the age of 10, started to collect road kill and would bleach the bones of chickens. He then started to decapitate small rodents and learned how to use acid to strip meat off the bones of the dead animals.
He was starting to experiment and find ways to take part in his dark desires. At the age of 14, Dahmer confessed that he began to regularly fantasize about having sex with a corpse and it was also around this time he began to drink more heavily.
At the age of 15 up until he was 18 he would drive around with plastic garbage bags collecting the remains of animals, he would ritualistically then strip the flesh from the bodies and at one point he mounted a dogs head on a stake.

"I was in college that day, thinking about Hicks. I was drinking and in a weepy sort of mood, and I cried about that."

It was on June 18th 1978, shortly after his 18th birthday, that Dahmer committed his first murder. Steven Hicks, 18, was hitchhiking when Dahmer drove by and picked the boy up. He took him back home where the boys got drunk and had sex. After Hicks tried to leave, Dahmer got upset and hit Hicks in the back of the head with a barbell that killed him. He dragged the body underneath the house where he dismembered it with a kitchen knife. The parts were placed in plastic bags and buried behind the house.

A year after the Hicks murder he enrolled in the army and it would be January 12th 1979when the US Army discharged Dahmer. Coincidently, 5 unsolved murders involving mutilation of the victims occurred during Dahmer’s stay there. One year later in January 1982, Jeffrey would move in with his grandmother in West Allis Wisconsin. Another year had passed before he got a job with the Ambrosia Chocolate Co.
At the age of 26 Dahmer was living with his grandmother and had a decent job in Milwaukee. He told his parents that he had been saving his money and planned to find an apartment soon. Everything seemed normal to the outside parties, but inside he was losing his fight against continuing his depraved acts. On September 6th 1986 he would get arrested for masturbating in front of two 12 year old boys on the banks of the Kinnickinnic River on Milwaukee’s east side. He was sentence to only one year probation.

"One thing I know for sure. It was a definite compulsion because I couldn't quit. I tried, but after the Ambassador, I couldn't quit. It would be nice if someone could give the answer on a silver platter as to why I did all this and what caused it, because I can't come up with an answer."

On September 15th 1987 Dahmer would murder his first Milwaukee victim at The Ambassador Hotel, though he claims that he has no memory of doing so. This would be his second murder, Steven Hicks being his first, from what we know however.
Dahmer picked up 25 year old Steven Tourmi at a gay bar called Club 219. This would be one of 4 victims that he would pick up from the Club 219. According to Dahmer, the two of them went to the Ambassador Hotel, got drunk and passed out. The next morning when Dahmer awoke, he said that Tourmi was dead and blood was coming out of is mouth. He claims he can not remember the previous nights events. Later that morning he brought a suitcase and put the corpse in it to then returned to his grandmothers house where he brought it down into the basement and had sex with the corpse, masturbated on it and sliced the flesh off if it. He then proceeded to dismember the remains, put them in plastic bags and throw them away. The remains have never been found.
In January 1988 a 27 year old Dahmer picks up James Doxtator at the Club 219. He invited him back to his grandmothers house where they have sex and he drugs the boy with sleeping pills and strangles him when he is asleep. He then dismembers the corpse with a knife. Brakes the bones with a sludge hammer and threw the remains in the trash.
Another victim would be picked up at Club 219 later that year, Richard Guerrero, 25. He also invited him to his grandmothers house and after sex, he drugs him and strangles him to death. He has sex with the corpse, dismembers it and throws it away.
On September 30th 1988, he approaches a 13 year old boy and offers him $50 to take photos of him. He gives the boy Irish Crème Liqueur laced with crushed tablets of Halcion. The boy did not fall asleep, so he returned home and his family took him to the hospital. The family presses charges on Dahmer and he is arrested at the Ambrosia Chocolate Co. He is charged with exploitation of a child and second degree assault. He is freed on $2500 cash bail and the trial is set to take place in May of 1989.

"I took the knife and the scalp part off and peeled the flesh off the bone and kept the skull and the scalp… If I could have kept him longer, all of him, I would have"

Three months later he picks up a 24 year old black male at another Milwaukee gay club called La Cage, Anthony Sears. Again he offers him money to come back home with him to take some photos. They go back to his grandmothers house where his ritual of sex, drugging and strangulation continues. He has sex with the corpse and dismembers the body. After decapitating the corpse he boiled the head, removed the skin and painted the skull gray. Not wanting to part with the skull the next morning he places it in a brown paper lunch bag and brings it to work with him. He leaves the skull in his locker and frequently takes breaks to go and look at it.
After being found guilty for the 2nd degree assault of the boy back in September, Dahmer writes a letter pleading for leniency and only served 10 months.

"I knew my grandma would be waking up and I still wanted him to stay with me so I strangled him… I brought him up to the bedroom and pretended he was still alive."

After he is released from prison his grandmother does not welcome him back into her home. She does not like the noises that come from the basement, his late night guests and his strange behavior. Dahmer finds an apartment in Milwaukee called The Oxford Apartments on 25th street. His freedom from prison and being out of his grandmothers house fuels his desire immensely and he goes on a killing spree from June 1990, till July 1991, killing 11 men at The Oxford Apartments with only one mishap that could have lead to his conviction in May of 1991, and would have saved 4 men.
His killing started in June of 1990, only a month after he moved into The Oxford Apartments, Edward Smith, 28. Just weeks later, Dahmer meets Raymond Smith at his common hang out, Club 219. He would become his seventh victim and Dahmer keeps his skull.

"I separated the joints, the arm joints, the leg joints, and had to do two boilings. I think I used four boxes of Soilex for each one, put in the upper portion of the body and boiled that for about two hours and then the lower portion for another two hours. The Soilex removes all the flesh, turns it into a jelly like-like substance and it just rinses off. Then I laid the clean bones in a light bleach solution, left them there for a day and spread them out on either newspaper or cloth and let them dry for about a week in the bedroom."

In September Dahmer murders his eighth victim, 24 year old Earnest Miller. This time he keeps the entire skeleton as a souvenir. He also keeps Miller’s Biceps and later eats them. He attempts to drink his blood, but never does again.
In many interviews Dahmer has explained that he wanted to keep apart of his victims with him always, and that by keeping parts of his victims and even eating them he felt he had succeed in doing so.
Later, that same month, he murders and dismembers David Thomas, Dahmer takes photographs while the murder & dismemberment is in progress.
5 months after Thomas he murders 19 year old Curtis Strughter and keeps his skull. He then murders and once again dismembers 19 year old Errol Lindsy and keeps his skull as a souvenir also. He takes the skull with him to work that next day like he had with Anthony Sears, only this time he leaves it there for a week. On May 24th 1991, 4 days after his 31st birthday, he meets Tony Hughs a deaf and mute man outside a club. Routinely he invites Hughs back to his apartment for drinks and pornography. He murders him, dismembers him and keeps the skull.
Shortly after Hughs on May 26th he offers money to 14 year old Konerak Sinthasomphone. He drugs the child as he did almost all his victims and performs oral sex while he is unconscious. The child stumbles naked out of Dahmer’s Apartment bleeding from the anus and is spotted by two girls who call the police. The police investigate, as a calm Dahmer explains that Konerak is his 19 year old lover. The police leave, and Konerak is later murdered and dismembered, his skull another kept souvenir for Dahmer. This will be the closest Dahmer would have been to being found out for his grotesque crimes until his last attempt at another murder in May 1991.

"He was exceptionally affectionate. He was nice to be with."

It only takes less than a week for Dahmer to seek out his next victim, 23 year old Jeremiah Weinberger. Dahmer meets him at La Cage Nightclub and stays the night with Dahmer at his apartment. When Jeremiah requests to leave the next morning an angry Dahmer murders him and places his head in the freezer. It is within this week Dahmer starts to plan another method of disposing of the bodies. He purchases a fifty-seven gallon barrel of hydrochloric acid which he plans to use as a method for disposing of his victims.

"If I'd been thinking rationally I would have stopped. I wasn't thinking rationally because it just increased and increased. It was almost like I wanted to get to a point where it was out of my control and there was no return. I mean, I was very careful for years and years, you know. Very careful, very careful about making sure that nothing incriminating remained, but these last few months, they just went nuts… It just seemed like it went into a frenzy this last month. Everything really came crashing down. The whole thing started falling down around my head… That was the last week I was going to be in that apartment building. I was going to have to move out and find somewhere to put all my possessions. Should I get a chest and put what I wanted to keep in that, and get rid of the rest? Or should I put an end to this, try to stop this and find a better direction for my life? That's what was going through my mind that last week."

On July 19th 1991 Dahmer murders 23 year old Oliver Lacy. He keeps the heart and head in the refrigerator. Joeseph Bradehoft is Dahmer’s last victim. He picks him up on may 24th outside La Cage Nightclub. After he is drugged, Dahmer, murders him and dismembers him. His head is placed in his freezer while the other remains are stuffed in the barrel of acid.

"I think in some way I wanted it to end, even if it meant my own destruction."

Tracy Edwards will be the end of these horrors. Dahmer meets him and they go back to his apartment to have drinks. Dahmer slaps a handcuff around Edwards wrist and the victim quickly escapes. Edwards notifies the police, who visit an angry and resisting Dahmer. Further investigation leads to the frozen organs and the barrel of dissolved human remains. Dahmer is finally arrested.

" … If I was killed in prison. That would be a blessing right now."

Jeffrey Dahmer, now 32, is charged with four counts of homicide as a result of the police search through his apartment. Dahmer admits to the crimes and his bail is set to one million dollars. On September 15th 1992, in court, he is charged and guilty of 15 murders. He is sentenced to 941 days in jail. On November 28th 1994, 34 year old Dahmer is sexually assaulted and murdered in jail while cleaning a restroom by convicted African-American murderer Christopher Scarver.

"I should have gone to college and gone into real estate and got myself an aquarium, that's what I should have done."

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These are the photos I took:

The apartment building formally known as The Oxford Apartments, which Jeffrey Dahmer brutally took the lives of 11 young men in 1990 and 1991 was razed in 1992 and remains a vacant lot. "I've heard that people still walk across the street to avoid walking next to the lot," Now it is nothing more than a wasteland behind an old chain link fence, the memory will always haunt us however of the horror's that happened here.



Jeffrey Dahmer claimed his first victim in Milwaukee, Steven Tourmi, at the Ambassador Hotel on the night of September 15th, 1987.





Club 219, that once was Jeffrey Dahmer's frequent hang out and where he claimed several of his victims now stands empty and abandoned.



Milwaukee's Nightclub, LaCage was another popular spot of Jeffrey Dahmer and where he claimed some of his last few victims.





For more information on Jeffrey Dahmer, please visit the links in the side bar.

~Crystal

Need something spooky to do tonight? I have just the thing!

Are you getting anxious to do a little ghost hunting? Are you craving the excitement of being afraid and yet intrigued with the possibility of seeing a ghost? Or, do you just need something to do tonight that is a little out of the norm? Well, here is a great story I found a while back about a ghost that haunts Mukwonago's Phantom Lake and as legend has it, if you were to go to Phantom Lake tonight, at half past eleven, you would witness this spirit first hand and the tragedy that happened there about 100 years ago.



The Phantom of Phantom Lake

A long time ago, about 100 years, this country was inhabited by Native Americans. There was a tribe of Winnebagoes living on the shore of Miniwaukan (Water Spirit) Lake. As Spring advanced into Summer, the surrounding country became dry and unyielding. Thus it came about about that a stray band of Sacs that had been starved out of their territory came to camp across the lake from the native tribe.

The Winnebagoes would have nothing to do with the new invaders, except for a young brave named Zicahota (The Squirrel) and a maiden named Iwoso (Pouting Lips) of the latter tribe. Zicahota thought Iwoso was a beautiful girl, but his infatuation was ruffled by a rival, Homaba, a Sac warrior. Zicahota was discouraged and went to the father of the maiden, Chief Matacincala, and avoided the beauty. He told the chief of his wealth and his aspiration for the place of his father, the chief of the Winnebagoes. This won the respect and favor of the sachem. Homaba, meanwhile, shunned the father and wooed the girl. He easily won her love by his tales of adventure in war and hunting.

Iwoso never told anyone of her preference, and Homaba was seldom seen at her wigwam. However, Zicahota was warmly welcomed by his friend, the chief, and was treated well by Iwoso. Suddenly, Homaba mysteriously disappeared.

Some of the wise ones accused the young Winnebago of killing their warrior. After a week of anxious waiting and no sign of Homaba's return, the chief told Zicahota that unless he produced the young Sac within four days, he would be punished. This seemed a hopeless case, but the young brave set out to find his rival. He was gone three days without any luck. On the fourth day, while an old man was telling the people of the Miniwaukan, or Water Spirit who lived in the lake, that claimed for his bride the fairest maiden of the tribes, Zicahota came into camp. He had not found Homaba, but said that the people would see him before the moon was an hour high if they would go to the shore and wait quietly. They remained there the allotted time. When it was almost gone, a canoe suddenly darted out from the dark of the Sac shore and started down the lake.

Zicahota waited in his canoe until the other was almost opposite him. Then, paddling with all his might, the brave intercepted it. By the light of the moon, the watchers on the shore could see two people in the strange canoe. Then they saw Zicahota, with a cry of exultation, leap from his canoe into the other, and with his 'mila,' or hunting knife, grapple with the foremost figure.

A shrill death cry pierced the silence and the two figures fell over the side and disappeared. During this whole terrible scene, the third figure had not moved. The people had hardly realized what an awful sight they had witnessed when a dark form rose from the water and dragged a shrieking girl under the surface. The ripples died away, and all that could be seen was the two empty canoes.

The spellbound watchers gazed in wonderment for a long time and then went back to camp muttering, "The Miniwaukan has received his bride." Those who had been skeptics became believers.

At half past eleven, on the second night of September, of every year, a faint, ghostly light comes over Phantom Lake, and this same tragedy is re-enacted. One may see for himself the fatal duel, hear the splash and witness the disappearance of the rival lovers; see the Miniwaukan claim his bride and hear the shriek of the Princess Iwoso. Then who will not judge that the little lake is not rightly called Nagi, or PHANTOM LAKE.



-Story taken from "True Ghost Stories"[http://ghostsite1.webs.com/phantomlake.htm]


~Crystal

Overnight Events & Ghost Hunts [Chicago & other locations]

To all my fellow Ghouls and Gangsters out there!

As we come to the end of August here in Wisconsin, I think we all start to feel the excitement for another fall and more important, Halloween! As we feel that chill start to creep back into the air, our minds start to wonder into the horrific and strange pleasures we enjoy this time of the year.
I have been researching some fun and spooky events to attend this fall other than Haunted Houses and many, many trips to Halloween Express and Spirit Store. So far I have come across this terrorific gem, a list of upcoming Overnight Events and Ghost Hunts mainly in the Chicago area, but other cities as well, provided by the American Haunting Association.

Here is the direct link to all the planned events for the months of September through July: http://www.bumpinthenight.net/

Also, The American Ghost Society's Annual Open House Event will also be a great way to kick off the Halloween Season!
Details on this event here: http://www.prairieghosts.com/festival.html

Many of these Overnight Events caught my eye, but the one I hope to attend would have to be "Night at the Eldred House." I remember reading about this place in my Chicago's Most Haunted book a few years back and it gave me chills. There have been at least four deaths in the house over the years and legend tells of a Native American who was buried on the property and haunts the grounds. If there is one thing we can all agree on, it's that you NEVER mess with Indian Burial Grounds! I hope to attend this tour and determine for myself if the Eldred House really is as haunted as they claim it is.

While you are visiting the links provided today and hopefully planning for a spooky night out to one of these creepy fright-time events, be sure to check out the site as well. There is a lot of great information worth reading and links to other spooktacular things to do in Illinois. One thing that you should definitely check out are the Weird Chicago Tours. With many different tours available you can plan for a Haunted night out, a trip into the minds of Chicago's Serial Killers, take a Blood, Guns & Valentines Crime Tour for all you Mafia lovers out there, or if your feeling naughty, take the Red Light District Sex Tour. ;)


Happy Haunts!

~Crystal

Milwaukee's dark history not forgotten...

It was a chilly day in November a few years ago and the ground was covered in a fresh blanket of light snow here in Milwaukee. A friend of mine and I were on another one of my “Ghost Hunting Adventures” and this time the destination was and abandoned Insane Asylum known as the first medical institute in Milwaukee called, Almshouse and a forgotten pauper cemetery known as “Potters Field.”

In 1878, the Milwaukee County Insane Asylum was built, consisting of a facility for the chronically ill called South Division and a North Division which cared for patients with acute illnesses. Many patients, children to adults, would die while staying at the Asylum due to its disgusting lack of care for the facility and the lack of attention bestowed on the patients:

“Utter absence of proper ventilation, overcrowding to an extent which would horrify any sanitarian, no facilities for bathing, deficiency in water closets, no provision for cleansing persons and clothing inmates and tramps, and to crown all a ‘foreign population’ in addition to the native, far outnumbering it and hanging on with a persistency which defies all attempts to reduce its numbers or exterminate it altogether - a veritable colony and hotbed of vermin in addition to the above is the present Almshouse.” -County Board in 1888

The Register of Burial at the Milwaukee County Poor Farm documented burials beginning in 1882, with the last entry listed in 1974. A review of the record lists approximately 8,2000 burials total. Most were from the Almshouse, County Hospital, or transported from area hospitals and the downtown morgue. Four hundred and thirty-one persons were entered as “unknown”, with a surprising number of infants and children documented. The individual age was not recorded until 1898, and cause of death was registered only beginning in 1908.

Causes of death are a reflection of 19th Century medical nomenclature including marasmus (infant lack of calories), apoplexy (stroke, inanition (adult malnutrition), typhoid, tuberculosis, morphinism (addiction to morphine), and delirium tremens (severe alcohol withdrawal). Other causes were the Spanish Influenza epidemic of 1918, and periodic outbreaks of smallpox and cholera. The economic depressions of the 1890’s and the 1930’s were evident in the high number of suicides, homicides, and deaths due to alcoholism. Drowning deaths and railroad accidents were the most frequent trauma related deaths reported.

During the excavation in 1980 diggers found most of the pine coffins were decayed, preventing a complete preservation of the bodies. The poor were buried naked without any personal items enclosed. Many coffins contained two bodies, and a surprising number of skeletons have been found with severed legs or missing lower limbs. The explanation for this fact could lie in the decision to purchase coffins less than four feet long, necessitating amputation at time of burial. Autopsies were performed on many. Only a handful of metallic tags, inscribed with numbers, indicate identity.

It has been reported, that the Superintendent of the Poor was often delinquent in the care of the cemeteries. A Milwaukee Sentinel newspaper story in 1878 was titled, "A Disgraceful Potter's Field". The article went on to complain of coffins popping out of the ground and insufficient dirt covering the coffins.

Mark Kass, manager of communications for the sewerage district: "We've had reports that there have been a number of bones that have come up through the ground."

The building still stands abandoned, and most of its dark history and those who died there forgotten. Potters Field is a short walk from the Asylum and fenced in. There was a small stone in the center of the cemetery I could see and i went to check it out. Walking through the cemetery I could feel under my feet many dips and holes in the uneven ground and decided to turn back. We did not make it inside the Asylum, but walked around the outside of the building. I can honestly say that though nothing really happened I did feel a very strong sense of uneasiness. There was an unmistakable heaviness in the air. I have gone back a few times and each time I have felt that way.

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Photos I took of the Insane Asylum from November 2008:





A recent photo I took of the Asylum in August:

Photo's I took of Potters Field in November 2008:




*For more information on this story please visit the links on the sidebar under "Local Haunts."

~Crystal

Milwaukee Mafia Boss- Frank Balistrieri

"He called me a name - to my face - and now they can't find his skin!" -Frank Balistrieri

From 1961 to the time of his death in 1993, Frank Balistrieri ran the Milwaukee Mafia, though as a young man, he started working for the Milwaukee crime family after attending law school for six months. He was the most feared Mafia boss of the Midwest and refereed to himself as “..the most powerful man in Milwaukee.” Within the Mafia family he was known as "Mr. Big", "Frankie Bal", "Mr. Slick", and "Mad Bomber," a nickname given to him because he frequently used Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) attached to cars as weapons against his enemies. There is reference to him and his trademark technique in the 1995 Martin Scorsese film, Casino. He is referenced again in the 1997 film, Donnie Brasco. After research I have learned that Donnie Brasco, an undercover cop by the name of Joseph D. Pistone, actually did fly to Milwaukee with Benjamin 'Lefty' Ruggiero to meet with Balistrieri at his restaurant, Snug's, and discuss a vending machine operation that was brought to his attention by another undercover cop working with the Milwaukee Mafia, Clark B. Hall.

Balistrieri soon built a reputation for arrogance, cruelty and ruthlessness long before his father-in-law and Milwaukee boss, John Alioto retired in 1961 and passed the duties of being boss onto him. Balistrieri conducted his business at a table at Snug's restaurant in Milwaukee's Shorecrest Hotel which he owned. Now called, Savoy, it maintains it's atmosphere of rich and sophisticated dinning even after renovation in 1999. The original stained glass sign for Snugs that was above the entrance was taken out, but used as the backdrop for the bar. The Shorecrest Hotel now stands as an apartment building and historical landmark. After research, I have come to learn that Frank Balistrieri's 2 sons, Joseph P. "Joey Bal" Balistrieri- who is now underboss to Joseph P. "Joe Camel" Caminiti- and John "Johnny Bal" Balistrieri- who is Acting Consigliere within the Milwaukee Mafia family- both have taken ownership of the restaurant and hotel after the death of there father. They live on the 8th floor of The Shorecrest Hotel.

After many years of being Milwaukee's Mafia boss and running many operations with other Mafia leaders such as Las Vegas's legendary mob boss Allen Glick, in a casino skimming scheme at The Stardust Hotel, his leadership became compromised in December 1985. Balistrieri was sentenced to 13 years in prison after federal authorities had successfully connected mobsters from four different states including him and his 2 sons on the operation. Close to achieving a seat on the ruling Mafia Commission in New York, Balistrieri was thwarted by this prison sentence. According to the Bureau of Prisons, Balistrieri was released from prison in 1991.

Frank Balistrieri died of heart-related natural causes in early 1993.

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Here are the photo's I took on the "Mafia Tour" I put together for my fiance and I in anticipation of the release of Mafia 2.
...Yes, I am that BIG of a nerd with an unhealthy obsession with the Mafia.
If I were Italian, I would "take a stab" at becoming part of the family. ;)

Frank Balistrieri's Grave:





Photo's from our dinner at Savoy, formally known as "Snugs" when Balistrieri owned and operated his business there:






Photo's I took inside The Shorecrest Hotel, that Balistrieri owned and lived in. Now it is owned by his 2 sons whom also live on the 8th floor and are apart of the Milwaukee LCN family.
My fiance and I are hoping to move there spring of next year...






*For more information on Frank Balistrieri and the Milwaukee Mafia, please visit the links on the sidebar of this blog under "Local Mobsters & Locations."

~Crystal "The Pistol"