Wisconsin is a friendly state. It’s full of sprawling forests, traditional farms, and of course, lots of cheese. As ‘America’s Dairyland’, Wisconsin is about as unthreatening as you can get. But under the surface, in the underbelly of the state, is a much more sinister truth. The state is the home of haunting stories, creepy folklore, as well as real tragedies. Whether you believe in the supernatural or not, the ghost stories that circle Wisconsin are enough to give anyone the heebie-jeebies. Here are seven of the most haunted places in Wisconsin.

Most Haunted Places in Wisconsin

1. Summerwind, West Bay Lake

Summerwind, formerly known as the Lamont Mansion, is one of the most notoriously haunted houses in the country. The richly historic house was built in 1916, with the spooky occurrences beginning right away. The first story is of the original owner of the house. He thought he saw an intruder and pulled his trigger twice, only there was no one there.

Several stories passed through these halls of paranormal activity, but it was during the 1970s that a family officially reported hearing objectives moving and ghostly whispers. And then, in 1988, lightning struck the mansion, burning it down to a derelict shell of its former grandiose. But if you ask people in the town, they’ll say that it was intentionally burned down to prevent kids and ghost hunters from trying to get in. People still visit the destroyed mansion today, with many reporting a feeling like they’re being watched, unexplained mists, and floating orbs. It’s undoubtedly one of the most haunted places in Wisconsin.

2. Nelsen’s Pub, Washington Island

Thomas Nelsen, the pub’s namesake, owned and ran this pub until his death at age 90. He was hugely into bitters and was not one to give them up during Prohibition. He managed to keep his pub open through Prohibition, obtaining a pharmacy license to sell shots of bitters as medicine. Sneaky. He was clearly devoted to his pub, so much so that he apparently never left. People hear phantom footsteps coming from the apartment where he lived. There have even been reports of him lurking around near the women’s bathroom (creepy without the supernatural element), and women have reported feeling a chill across their backs.

3. Bloody Bride Bridge, Stevens Point

Bloody Bridge Bridge is officially the High 66 bridge, crossing over the Plover River. Legend has it that a newly-wed bride was tragically killed on the bridge, the night of her wedding. The story is the stuff of horror films, with the bridge apparently appearing to people in her bloody wedding dress, causing people to crash their cars. She even appears in the backseat of cars, visible to the driver through their rearview mirror *shudders*.

4. Wood County Asylum, Marshfield

The Wood County Asylum might not exist anymore – it’s now a part of the Marshfield Scrap Company – but the site is still believed to be a hotbed of paranormal activity. The asylum started out as a hospital farm, forcing the patients to endure hard physical labour as part of their ‘therapy’. When the law made this illegal, they redirected their ‘treatment’ and began administering electro-shock therapy. So, it wasn’t a happy place, that’s for sure. Many patients died in the hospital, and people would see shadowy figures in the halls and what appeared to be faces in the windows. Most commonly, people saw the apparition of a skinny, ghostly-looking teenage girl with long, straggly black hair.

Despite the building being demolished, the staff at Marshfield Scrap Company still reports ghostly occurrences to this day. Sensory alarms will go off when seemingly no one’s there, they hear unexplained voices, they’ve caught inexplicable sightings on their CCTV system, and they have ongoing problems with their computers and phones.

5. The Siren Bridge, Siren

We can speculate on spooky stories until the cows come home, but the story of Siren Bridge is sadly unfortunately 100% true. On March 3rd 1985, a married couple, Richard and Rose Kringle, and their daughter JoDee Kringle, plunged into the river after their car swerved on the icy bridge. They all tragically drowned. Ever since then, people crossing the bridge say that their car radio will cut out and they’ll hear the hair-raising voice of a girl screaming, “help me, Mommy! I can’t get out!”

6. Dartford Cemetery, Green Lake

We know that cemeteries aren’t the most surprising place for a spooky story, but with several reports of paranormal activity, Dartford Cemetary is one of the most haunted places in Wisconsin. The first story is of Chief Highknocker. People say they see the chief wandering around the cemetery since his death in 1911. Another is of Jackson Walker’s mausoleum – people say that those who sit on the mausoleum will be pushed off by an unseen force. And finally, some say they’ve even seen the ghostly apparitions of an entire Civil War platoon making their way through the cemetery.

7. Elk Lake Dam, Dunn County

Like the Siren Bridge, the story of Elk Lake Dam is also sadly true. In 1974, the body of Mary Schlais was found in the Elk Lake area. Unfortunately, the case still remains cold to this day, although the police theorised that Mary was hitchhiking from Minneapolis to Chicago and it was her killer who picked her up. People say they saw a man pushing a body out a car, but nothing came from it. Many people believe that this open-ended case is the reason for Mary’s unresting spirit.

A few people claim to have seen her, including a local elderly woman who said she had daily conversations with Mary. Two fishermen also say they’ve seen Mary. They were fishing one day when they both realised there was a glowing woman behind them. They say they both knew she was there but refused to turn around to double-check.