Summerwind



Summerwind Mansion 
Courtesy Todd Roll, 2006

 Legend of Summerwind    
     If the stories about Summerwind are true, this mansion has had a long, unsettling history. But is it really haunted?
   Summerwind was built by Robert P. Lamont in 1916, as a summer home on the shores of West Bay Lake in Vilas County, northern Wisconsin. After Lamont was appointed Secretary of Commerce under President Herbert Hoover, it later became a welcomed escape from the responsibilities of working in Washington, DC.
      While vacationing at Summerwind, according to legend, Lamont came upon an intruder in his kitchen. He fired several shots from his pistol, which hit the door leading to the basement -- but the intruder simply vanished!
     Summerwind was sold a number of times after Robert Lamont's death, and there were no further reports of ghostly activity until the early 1970s, after Arnold and Ginger Hinshaw, and their six children, moved in. Their experiences were so disturbing that they stayed for only six months.From their first day in the old mansion, the Hinshaws reported seeing indistinct shapes moving in the hallways, and hearing mumbled voices in empty rooms that would abruptly stop when they opened the door. Appliances would break down, but before a service person could be called, they would apparently repair themselves. Closed windows and doors would reopen. Most disturbing of all was the ghost of a woman seen floating back and forth outside the dining room's French doors!
     In spite of this, the Hinshaws were determined to stay, and they made plans to renovate the house. They were unable to hire anyone to do the work, apparently due to Summerwind's reputation as a haunted site, and ultimately they decided to do the work, themselves. One task was to paint a bedroom closet. There was a large shoe drawer built into the back wall of the closet.  When Arnold pulled it out to paint the frame, he saw that there was a large, dark space behind it. Wedging himself in as far as he could, he shone a flashlight to see what was there. Suddenly, he pulled back in revulsion. What he had seen in that dark space appeared to be the corpse a dead animal. He then tried to squeeze through the opening far enough to get a better look, but he was too big. When his children came home from school, Arnold had his young daughter climb through the opening with a flashlight to get a closer look. A moment later, she let out a scream! What she had seen was a human corpse, with dirty black hair still clinging to a skull.
     According to Arnold Hinshaw, they chose not to report the corpse to the police, reasoning that this crime happened so long ago that there was nothing the police could do about it. Strangely, they just left the body to be "at peace" in that hidden compartment. Regardless of their reasoning, the discovery of the corpse marked the point at which things started to go very bad at Summerwind.
     Prior to moving to Summerwind, the Hinshaws had purchased a Hammond organ, which Arnold enjoyed playing for relaxation. Shortly after the discovery of the body, Arnold began stayng up very late into the night, playing the organ in an increasingly frenzied manner, louder and more discordant as the night wore on, pounding on the keys until dawn. His wife and children were so terrified by this strange behavior that they would huddle together in one bedroom, waiting in fear.
     Ultimately, Arnold had a complete mental breakdown and at the same time, Ginger attempted suicide. Arnold was committed to an institution, while Ginger and the children moved to her parents' home in Granton, WI. After it became apparent that Arnold would not recover, Ginger obtained a divorce.Eventully, Ginger married George Olsen, and looked forward to building a new life far from Summerwind.
     Imagine Ginger's horror when her parents, Raymond and Marie Bober, announced that they were going to buy Summerwind to turn it into restaurant and inn.  (continued...)

 Bray Road Beast                                                    
     In a conversation with a friend who grew up in rural Walworth County, she mentioned the Bray Road beast, and suggested that I look into it. While this is in the realm of cryptozoology, it is one of those  tantalizing "unknowns" that is so much a part of rural Wisconsin.
      I had heard about the Bray Road beast through the years, reportedly a werewolf-type creature. In the early 1980s, there were reports of sightings of a similar creature near our farm in Jefferson County. I also heard several reports about dogs or farm animals that disappeared or were found dead, often mutilated. The very idea of a werewolf always made me roll my eyes, figuring people were actually seeing a large dog, wildcat or bear. But a werewolf? Still, when ordinary, down-to-earth people report seeing a bi-pedal, fur-covered creature out in the fields and alongside country roads, something unusual must be there. These are people who certainly know the difference between a grey wolf and a werewolf!
     I went to the local library to see if I could find a book about the Bray Road beast, and was surprised to find that there was actually quite a lot of information about it, although no clarity about just what the beast is.  I was especially intrigued by Linda S. Godfrey's book, The Beast of Bray Road: Tailing Wisconsin's Werewolf.* Stories of werewolves, in various forms, appear to be universal.  In the US, these stories long predate the European settlers. Some Native America tribes regard this creature as spirit, rather than a physical beast, known as the windigo.
     It is from this perspective that I include the Bray Road beast here in Ghosts of Wisconsin. I would like to hear from anyone who has first-hand knowledge of this creature -- not only what you actually saw, but what your impression was of the Bray Road beast. (If requested, anonymity is absolutely respected, promised and assured.)

Update: This past December marked 20 years since Linda Godfrey wrote The Beast of Bray Road. There are still occasional sightings of the creature, though fortunately I've heard no reports
in recent years of farm animal mutilations. You can learn more about Ms. Godfrey's research of the Bray Road Beast at her website. 
      You can read more about this mysterious creature at Linda Godfrey's blog here, and view this video from Animal Planet of local folks talking about their experiences.

* The Beast of Bray Road: Tailing Wisconsin's Werewolf,  Linda Godfrey,   ISBN: 1-879483-91-2 Prairie Oak Press, Black Earth, Wisconsin.









Addie Hoyt Fargo



Mystery of Addie Hoyt Fargo
     Earlier this year, while cleaning her father's house following his death, architectural historian Rosemary Thornton came across a box of old photos. She was especially drawn to some pictures taken in the late 1800s, showing a Victorian mansion, a horse-drawn carriage and a young woman sitting in a chair. Thornton wondered about the identity of this woman, so she enlisted the help of her friend  David Spriggs, a historian and genealogist. Spriggs found out that the pictures were of Enoch Fargo of Lake Mills, WI, and his socialite wife, Addie Hoyt Fargo. Thornton also learned that Addie was her great-great aunt.                  
     Today, the mansion is a bed & breakfast.  Thornton called Tom Boycks, co-owner of the Fargo Mansion Inn, to see if he would be interested in the photographs. It was then that Thornton learned about the mystery of Addie's death. The story goes that Addie had contracted diphtheria. Enoch Fargo called on Addie's cousin, Martha Hoyt, to be Addie's nursemaid. While Addie was recovering, it seems that Enoch and Martha fell in love. (Note: Enoch and Martha married seven months after Addie died.)
         The cause of Addie's death had been disputed from the start.  She had fallen ill, and in the afternoon of June 18, 1901, Dr. William Oatway was summoned. Oatway was the family doctor, a friend of Enoch Fargo, and he also served as Jefferson County's health officer. Later that night, shortly after telling her attendant that she was feeling better, Addie sprung up grabbing her throat, gasping that she was choking. She then fell back on her bed and, within minutes, died. Dr. Oatway signed the death certificate, listing the cause of death as diphtheria. As the county health officer, he also certified to the state health board that his own statement on the certificate was true and accurate.
     Addie was quickly buried eight hours later, skipping the wake that would normally be expected of a wealthy member of the community. But how did Addie contract diphtheria?  There is no record of diphtheria deaths in Lake Mills in 1901. Further, no one else living in the Fargo mansion (two daughters and two servants) had contracted this contagious disease. Although Dr.Oatway speculated that she caught it during a brief trip to Portage, WI, two weeks earlier, there is no record of the disease in Portage during that period.  Then there is the matter of the burial permit, which was listed on the death certificate as permit #32. Ms. Thornton discovered via research in Lake Mills that permit #32 actually belonged to a woman buried nine months earlier. And why was there no quarantine or fumigation of the home, as required by law? Adding to the confusion, there were rumors that her husband had poisoned her with arsenic, and when that failed, shot her. Many, many questions have been raised, and Rosemary Thornton set out to find the answers.  (To learn more about the discrepancies, please see to Ms. Thornton's blog.)
     Ms. Thornton sought to have the grave exhumed, at her own expense.  This was done on Nov. 3, 2011. Addie had been buried in a wooden coffin that was, surprisingly, buried 34" from the surface, rather than the expected depth of about six feet. This was above the frost line, and the coffin had deteriorated, collapsing and damaging the skeletal remains. The bones were removed, and sent to the medical examiner's office in Milwaukee. After examination, Addie's remains were moved to Rosemary Thornton's home in Virginia, to be given a Christian funeral.  

(continued... Medical Examiner's Conclusion)

Fargo mansion

 Fargo Mansion     
     This past summer, I went to Lake Mills, a small town here in Jefferson County, Wisconsin.  It’s a pleasant  town with some distinctive old buildings, and my goal was to take some pictures.  This lovely old mansion was pointed out to me (scroll down to July 25 for larger photo). This is the Fargo mansion, which had been renovated and is now a bed & breakfast. It turns out that not only does this building have a history, but a mystery as well!
          In 1896, the wealthy Enoch Fargo (aged 48) bought and remodeled the building that came to be known as the Fargo Mansion.  He married 24 year-old Addie Hoyt that same year. This was Enoch’s second marriage. His first wife, Mary Rutherford, died the previous year at the age of 38.  The cause of her death is unclear.
      On June 19, 1901, 29 year-old Addie died.  She had reportedly become ill with diphtheria and died within hours of exhibiting the first symptoms.  The fact that Addie was a young and reasonably healthy woman makes this unlikely.
At the turn of the 20th century, diphtheria had a low mortality rate, resulting in deaths mainly of the very young and very old.
     Dr. William H. Oatway, an acquaintance of Enoch, was summoned to the Fargo mansion upon Addies death, and was reportedly bribed to list the cause as diphtheria.  Addie was hurriedly buried less than eight hours after her death.  According to two published reports, as well as local lore, Addie had actually died of a gunshot wound to the head, and Dr. Oatway was generously rewarded  for  falsifying the death certificate.  Not only are there errors and incomplete information on the death certificate, but it is said that Dr. Oatway confessed on his death bed that he falsified Addie’s death certificate.
     Why Enoch would kill Addie is a matter of speculation. Was a divorce threatened, causing Enoch to fear that he would lose some of his wealth?  Did he grow tired of Addie, and want the marriage to end without the legal complications of divorce? Whatever the case, Enoch married for a third time within months of Addie’s sudden death, taking the young Maddie as his bride
     This is a complicated story that gets no less complicated after Addie died.  There are
questions, for example, about whether Addie had actually been buried in the Lake Mills grave that bears her name.  As I understand it, there is currently some interest in exhuming her grave to see if  a body is actually  there, and if so, to see if there is a gunshot wound to the skull.  Either way, guests at the Fargo Mansion Inn have reported seeing the sad ghost of Addie walking along the upstairs hallway and sitting in her bedroom.    
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Have you Seen Marie? 

     In the 1970s,  two Milwaukee men, Paul Ranieri and Jeff Hicks, bought an old brick house in the 1600 block of National Avenue.  Built in 1840, it had served a number of purposes through the years, from being a private residence to a rooming house. There were stories that the building was haunted by Marie, who was said to have committed suicide. By the 1970s, the building was no longer occupied and was slated for demolition. Ranieri and Hicks set out to preserve the building for the sake of its architecture and history. 

    The first tenant, Donald E., moved in as soon as an upper rear apartment had been completed, and he worked on the renovations with the owners.  While in his apartment one day, he was startled to see a woman standing in his living room. He hadn't heard anyone coming up the stairs or entering the apartment. She had long brown hair, was barefoot and wore an ankle-length nightgown with lace.  Donald asked her several questions, but she didn't respond. She looked as solid as any living person, but strangely, it appeared as if there were a bright light shining on her, making her brighter than her surroundings. She then began a brief monologue about the house -- who had built it, and when different sections of the house had been added on. Suddenly, she simply turned and walked out the door. Donald jumped up and hurried to catch up with her, but when he reached the door and looked into the hallway, no one was there. This, it turned out, was the ghost of Marie.         
     The following Saturday morning, Donald joined the owners to work on renovating the building. He had brought in and installed a shelving unit from another apartment, and then went to join Paul and Jeff who were stripping off old wallpaper and preparing to refinish the hardwood floors in another part of the building. Suddenly, they heard the shelving unit crash down, and Donald ran to see what happened. The shelves were on the floor, but oddly, a potted plant that Donald had placed on a shelf was upright on the floor, as if it had been carefully set down.

     While Paul was working in one of the rooms one day, he had the uncomfortable feeling that someone was watching him. He glanced at the front hallway staircase and saw the filmy shape of a woman glide across the floor and melt into the wall! Paul said that the figure looked like the woman Donald had described, but was semi-transparent.  (continued...)

The Rose Gallery

Rose Gallery

          Whether one's interests lie in exploring the paranormal, or in an inward exploration of the spiritual, there are resources available to help you pursue this goal. One can purchase books to gain a better understanding of the subject, or attend lectures or classes. There are meditation aids ( crystals, etc.), tarot cards, or items to create an atmosphere conducive to opening one's mind to the possibilities (candles, oils). Finding stores that specialize in such items isn't always easy. My goal in the coming months is to explore some of the area's resources, and share information about the best resources available.
     I'll begin with my favorite, The Rose Gallery, in Lake Mills, Wisconsin. This fascinating store, located at 118 S. Main Street, is a true local treasure. The owners describe it as a "metaphysical store," a "bookstore and more" that carries "tools for the journey." Their products come from more than 60 different consignors, and range from aromatherapy and feng shu supplies to artisan crafted jewelry, music to minerals, chimes to beautiful framed photographs. And at The Rose Gallery,  you'll feel welcomed by some good folks who are knowledgeable and friendly!
     In addition to this, the Rose Gallery hosts lectures, workshops and classes, as well as monthly Angel Fairs (Psychic Fairs). You can call to make an appointment for an in-store service, such as a tarot reading or aura photography. You can learn more about the Rose Gallery at their website, and check out upcoming events via the Rose Gallery's Classes and Events link.  Learn more about their products via the sidebar on the Rose Gallery's Blog.