Weird Wisconsin
Curious Places & Mysterious History
Curious Places & Mysterious History
Welcome to weird Wisconsin. The backwoods of this bizarre state are not only the source of numerous haunted places, disturbing legends, deviant serial killers, bizarre creatures and alien encounters, it also serves as Cult of Weird headquarters – a base camp from which brave explorers mount an expedition into the dark corners of Wisconsin lore.
From roadside attractions like the surreal House on the Rock, Circus World and the dark side of Wisconsin Dells, to the mysterious Kettle Moraine where UFOs, Goatman, tentacled lake monsters and the Beast of Bray Road lurk, this guide will take you down the weirdest roads and around the strangest corners of Wisconsin history.
Have you seen something weird in Wisconsin? Experienced anything mysterious or unexplained? We would love to hear about it! Send us a message.
Strange things have been seen in the skies over Dundee Mountain and nearby Long Lake for decades, bringing crowds from around the world to the annual UFO Daze at Benson’s Hideaway. Here’s a look at Dundee’s unusual UFO activity over the years.
From alien pancakes to a UFO base inside a glacial formation, Wisconsin has always been a hotspot for extraterrestrial activity. There are three towns vying for the title of “UFO Capital of the World” – Dundee, Elmwood, and Belleville – and a 1934 sighting in Barron, when Coral Lorenzen was just 9 years old, inspired her to pioneer UFO research as we know it today.
On the morning of July 4, 2003, Mayville resident Arthur Rantala was watching a storm roll in over his neighbor’s wheat field across the street. He had no idea he was about to see crop circles form right in front of his eyes. But what caused the Mayville crop circles?
Was it strange weather or an invisible UFO?
The “man they couldn’t hang,” a priest’s lonely crypt, the Midwest’s first crematorium, and other strange bits of history can be found in Milwaukee’s historic cemeteries.
Wisconsin Death Trip is a bizarre and disturbing look at life in a small Wisconsin town around the turn of the century. The book includes photos taken by Black River Falls photographer Charles Van Schaik, with some of the era’s strangest news articles such as a woman who traveled around the state throwing rocks through store windows, and a world famous French opera singer who died in misery in a Wisconsin swamp.
The Beast of Bray Road and Goatman have something in common: They are both encountered in areas once known as hotbeds of Wisconsin’s Satanic activity throughout the picturesque Kettle Moraine State Forest.
In 1988, the Tallmann family fled their home on Larabee Street after a series of harrowing supernatural disturbances. These recently discovered photos were taken during a paranormal investigation soon after, and are the only known photos of the infamous haunted bunk bed.
Newspapers reported bizarre discoveries inside Native American burial mounds: Giant skeletons. Some with elongated skulls, six fingers on each hand, and multiple rows of teeth. Were these the remains of a previously unknown race, or the product of turn of the century clickbait?
In 1968, beatnik poet Allen Ginsberg and members of The Fugs gathered at the grave of Senator Joe McCarthy in Appleton to exorcise and purify his spirit.
This Wisconsin ghost town may be almost entirely forgotten, but history will not forget its most deranged resident – the man who assassinated President James A. Garfield in 1881.