Local history is often told through its legends, and these haunted tours in Wisconsin will have you face-to-face with the ghosts of the past,  Whether it’s a ghost tour through Milwaukee or Lake Geneva’s many haunts, a stroll through one of Wisconsin’s most haunted cemeteries, visiting the ghosts of Madison around the capital building, exploring the witches of Whitewater, or taking a trolley through the spooky history of Wisconsin Dells.

Mad City Ghost Walks was inspired by a deep appreciation for Madison’s fascinating history and haunted past. From Civil War connections at Camp Randall to the restless spirits wandering the University of Wisconsin’s storied halls, Madison’s eerie side is ever-present. The tour winds from the Capitol Building, down the iconic State Street, to the Memorial Union, along the lakefront, and through Fraternity Row—each location steeped in strange and unexplained happenings.

Created to share Madison’s rich and mysterious history, Mad City Ghost Walks offers a glimpse into the paranormal events that continue to intrigue the city today.

Jeffrey Dahmer Tour

422 S 2nd St, Milwaukee, WI 53204

About

Experience the notorious Jeffrey Dahmer tour. Hangman Tours presents Cream City Cannibal, a gruesome walking history tour down the same Milwaukee streets where serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer poached 7 of his victims before taking them back to his apartment for dinner.

Whitewater Spirit Tour

Whitewater, WI

About

The Whitewater Spirit Tour explores the dark side of Whitewater, the city so full of ghosts, legends, occult practices and weird history that it has earned the nickname “Second Salem.”

Get access to the haunted sites usually closed to the public!

The tour will visit the infamous Witches Tower in Starin Park, the crypt of Mary Worth at Hillside Cemetery, Oak Grove Cemetery and more. Learn the true history of Whitewater’s more peculiar historical figures, such as Morris Pratt and his school of Spiritualism, killer Nellie Horan who poisoned her entire family, and the Poison Widow who tried to off her family to start a new life.

Wisconsin Dells Haunted History Tour

750 Wisconsin Dells Pkwy S, Wisconsin Dells, WI 53965

Explore the dark side of the Dells by trolley with the Wisconsin Dells Haunted History Tour. Visit the haunted Spring Hill Cemetery and the grave of confederate spy Belle Boyd, learn about the young girl and the Union soldier who haunt the Brat House Bar & Grille that served as a church in its past life, hear the stories of rowdy lumber rafts men at Timme’s damn, learn about Ghost Molly at the Showboat Saloon and more from the comfort of an air-conditioned Wisconsin Dells Trolley.

You will hear the stories that the family-friendly Waterpark Capital of the World doesn’t want you to hear on the Haunted Dells Trolley Tour.

The Rave Haunted Holidays Tours

Milwaukee, WI • Things to do • Christmas • Milwaukee

Encounter the ghosts of one of Milwaukee’s most notorious haunted places when you go backstage for The Rave Haunted Holidays Tours.

The Rave/Eagles Club is decked out for the holidays, so it’s a great time for a Christmas ghost tour of areas of the historic building that are rarely seen by the public.

Your unique experience begins in The Craft Beer Lounge, where you’ll receive a free holiday inspired drink. Then, you’ll take the elevator up to the Penthouse Lounge to start your self-guided tour. Along the way, you’ll experience The Spectacular Eagles Ballroom and be able to take pictures ON the iconic stage, experiencing the view that thousands of artists have enjoyed.

Head down to The Rave, where you can again take pictures of yourself on the stage, and many photo ops throughout the room.

You’ll be able to walk through various dressing rooms, and experience parts of the building that only the stars see.

The tour ends in the Haunted Poolwhere you can see thousands of autographs of artists that have played The Rave/Eagles Club over the past 30 years.

Spirits of the Silent City

2405 W Forest Home Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53215

About

Forest Home Cemetery and Caper Company presents an exclusive after-hours experience with professional actors portraying residents of Milwaukee’s oldest, largest cemetery.

The Grand Oshkosh Ghost Tours

100 High Ave, Oshkosh, WI 54901

About

Built in 1883, The Grand Opera House in Oshkosh is the oldest operating theater in Wisconsin, and it has the spirits to prove it. Possibly the most haunted place in Oshkosh, guests and staff frequently hear footsteps throughout the building. They also encounter the ghost of a former manager named Percy Keene, an unusual orange mist on the stage, and a phantom dog so corporeal in appearance that actors were once asked to remove it from the stage during a performance.

The Grand Oshkosh Haunted Happenings Ghost Tours will take you behind the scenes and into spooky areas of the 140-year-old theater, including the auditorium and basement, that the public seldom sees to hear the true tales of these eerie encounters.

Take one of the family-friendly tours, or commune with the spirits on the darker late night tour.

Appleton Haunted History & Mystery Tour

Houdini Plaza, Appleton, WI

About

Perched at the northern tip of Lake Winnebago, Appleton, Wisconsin, may be known for its charming Victorian architecture and scenic Fox River views, but its past is far darker than it seems. Long before the city was founded in the 1830s, the Fox Valley Indians made this land their home. Beneath the surface of its storied history, however, lurks something far more unsettling. From Houdini’s legacy to the vanished Outagamie Asylum, Appleton is steeped in ghostly lore that has sent shivers down spines for generations.

Embark on a two-hour journey through Appleton’s haunted streets on the Appleton Haunted History & Mystery Tour, where the eerie and unexplainable still linger. Your guides will unveil the city’s sinister secrets, sharing chilling tales of the paranormal that will make you see Appleton in a whole new, spine-tingling light.

The tour starts in Houdini Plaza, at the Houdini bust at the back of the plaza, located at 100 W. Lawrence Street in Appleton.

Cedarburg Gothic History Tour

W62N546 Washington Ave, Cedarburg, WI 53012

About

Walking Hand in Hand with the Spirits

Celebrate 20 spirited years of the Cedarburg Gothic History Tourwhere you and your favorite ghost, phantom, or apparition can raise a glass of earthly spirits. Vodka with a vamp? Daquiri with a demon? We gotcha covered. Leave the soul searching to us.

Lake Geneva Ghost tour

The Lake Geneva Ghost Walk explores the area’s ancient Native American legends, haunted history, and curiosities such as the Lady in Black who haunts Law Park, the Handlebar Mustache Ghost of the Baker House, and Jenny the lake monster, as well as the spirits of the Maxwell Mansion, the Riviera, and the Geneva Theater.

You’ll also learn about the abandoned Oakwood Sanitarium, where Dungeons & Dragons creator Gary Gygax roamed as a child. Tormented souls still wander the Havenwood Apartments where the sanitarium once stood.

Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes Boat Tour

1124 N Old World 3rd St, Milwaukee, WI 53203

It is estimated that there have been at least 6,000 shipwrecks on the Great Lakes. Over 30,000 lives have been lost in those wrecks. Each of the losses is a story waiting to be told.

Gothic Milwaukee and Milwaukee Boat Line have teamed up to bring you the one-of-a-kind Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes boat tour. Explore the tragedy and haunted history of shipwrecks in Lake Michigan and beyond with award-winning tour guide Anna Lardinois, author of Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes and Milwaukee Ghosts and Legends.

This 90-minute sunset tour will take you back into the deadly history of Lake Michigan with stories of the SS EastlandTragedy, the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and more.

Madison Ghost Walks

Madison, WI

Discover the history of Wisconsin’s capital with the Madison Ghost Walks haunted tours. Learn about Madison’s colorful characters, monsters, vengeful spirits, and urban legends through these fun and spooky tours by American Ghost Walks.

King Street Spirits Ghost Walk

Explore the paranormal stories of King Street and Capitol Square, the oldest part of the city, with the ghosts of the Great Dane Pub and Brewery, the Majestic Theatre, the capitol building, and more.

UW Campus Ghost Walk

From the ghost of printer Orv Larson in Vilas Hall to the spirits and “cadaver chute” of Science Hall. Who are the bodies buried beneath the Lincoln statue on Bascom Hill? Who is Tunnel Bob? Hear all the spooky legends of the UW-Madison campus.

Lost Souls of State Street Ghost Walk

Meet the ghosts of Madison’s entertainment district: Pete the Projectionist of the Orpheum Theatre, magician Timothy Hergor who hung himself in the Capitol Theater in the 1920s, spirits of the workers killed in the Wisconsin State Capitol South Wing construction accident, and more.

in Stories/by Charlie Hintz

Buckle up, we’re going for a drive down some of the most haunted roads in Wisconsin. From a phantom hitchhiker, witches, and ghostly roadkill, to the notorious Bloody Bride and dead Boy Scout troop, this is a spine-tingling road trip into some of the Badger State’s darkest and strangest legends where the supernatural and the tragic intertwine.

Down these haunted highways and cursed country lanes you’ll find chilling back roads ghost stories that will make your skin crawl and your imagination run wild.

Let’s go for a haunted joyride into terror!

Phantom Hitchhiker of Hwy 12 – Baraboo

Baraboo, the birthplace of the Ringling Bros. Circus, has plenty of ghosts. Al Ringling himself is among the spirits said to linger in his old mansion. The old Baraboo Inn is believed by some to be one of the most haunted bars in the country, with upwards of 30 spectral ghosts including gangster Al Capone. The spirit of a distraught mother wanders the woods around Ringling Road, where legend says a deranged Ringling employee was murdering children and dumping their bodies down an old fieldstone well. There were even ghosts of circus elephants causing havoc around town in the 1930s.

Highway 12 runs along the western edge of town. It’s here that unsuspecting drivers encounter the phantom hitchhiker – a man walking along the side of the road in jeans and a green army jacket. They pass him…just to see him again a mile or so down the road.

The Jay Road Jogger – Boltonville

A thickly forested stretch of road in rural Washington County called Jay Road is home to two haunted legends. Residents and passersby have encountered ghost cats reportedly from when a group of teenagers once set the home of a local crazy cat lady ablaze.

And then there’s the Jay Road Jogger, the spirit of a woman who, according to legend, was hit by a car while jogging down the road. Her body is said to have been lost in the swamp and never recovered. Unwitting drivers will catch her spectral form in her headlights, and then she vanishes…only to appear in their backseat!

Boy Scout Lane – Stevens Point

A spectral bus and an entire ghost troop of Boy Scouts is said to haunt Boy Scout Lane. Why the scouts are doomed to haunt the woods around this road varies by legend. According to some, the scoutmaster murdered the entire troop. In others, the bus got into a deadly accident or caught fire, killing everyone aboard. Another story says that the entire troop and their leaders vanished without a trace and were never seen again.

Visitors to Boy Scout Lane have felt an uneasy sense of foreboding and the feeling of being watched. They have reported seeing lanterns or flashlights in the woods, and hearing branches breaking around them in all directions.

Drivers who stopped along the road have reportedly discovered fingernail scratches and the handprints of children on their vehicles.

Witch Road – Ripon

Callan Road, known locally as Witch Road, is a short, unpaved jaunt that loops off Hwy KK in Fond du Lac county. It’s here, along this isolated gravel road, where the dilapidated home of a murderous witch is said to still stand somewhere in the woods. The branches of a gnarled tree are said to form her likeness, and the spirit of a lost girl still trying to escape the old crone has been seen among the trees.

Visitors have heard strange sounds, unexplained lights, cold spots, and other phenomena. The house in the woods and witch legend are said to originate with the story of two spinster sisters who inherited the family farm after their parents died, and lived out the rest of their lives there. Locals whispered rumors about the two women, who rarely came into town, and supposedly lived very private lives. When the sisters died, the house was left vacant and soon became the victim of vandals who set it afire.

According to Ripon Press, John and Cleora Thorndike bought a farm there in 1893. When they died, their twin daughters Grace and Gertrude (born in 1894) continued to live in the house. Grace died in 1971, leaving Gertrude as the last of the family living there until she died in 1987 and likely becoming the so-called “witch” of Witch Road.

Bloody Bride Bridge – Stevens Point

The Highway 66 Bridge in Stevens Point has taken on a more sinister nickname over the years and has become legendary as one of the most haunted places in Wisconsin. Bloody Bride Bridge gets its name from the story of a bride and groom crossing the bridge many years ago on their wedding night.

According to the legend, the couple got into a fatal accident on the bridge, and to this day the bride can be seen on rainy nights, wandering around on the bridge in her bloody wedding dress.

One story tells of a police officer who supposedly hit the bride when she appeared on the road in front of him. He got out to help her, but there was no one there. When he got back into his car, she was waiting in the backseat.

Paradise Road – Jefferson

You’d think there would be more spectral roadkill haunting dark, rural back roads like Paradise Road in Jefferson, but so far this seems to be the only one. Here, it’s said that drivers encounter the ghost of a decapitated racoon with fresh blood that glistens in the headlights. Other stories involve mysterious shadows, screams, and robed figures in the woods along the road. Legend says three sisters used to live on Paradise Road, until they were accused of witchcraft, dragged out of their home, and hanged from the trees where they still shunt the cursed land.

Add to the creepy factor that this road is very near the former home of Diane Borchardt, a Jefferson teacher who coerced high school students to murder her husband in 1994.

7 Hills Road – Fond du Lac

This harrowing stretch of road through the Fond du Lac countryside, with numerous high, steep hills, seems like exactly the kind of place where joyriding teens or an inattentive driver could meet their fate. According to the legend, 7 Hills Road is haunted by the spirit of a woman who missed the stop sign at the end of the road and careened into the tree ahead…splitting her in half.

Dubious as that particular detail may be, that could make for a chilling encounter on this eerie road at night.

Weary Road – Evansville

Based on the quantity of phenomena alone, this dark, narrow stretch of pavement zig-zagging sharply through the countryside near Evansville may be the most haunted road in Wisconsin. Weary Road is home to a number of varying legends from Old Man Weary, who’s said to appear to you after you’ve visited the road three times, to phantom cars and motorcycles. Even a spectral train has been reported careening down the tracks that cross the road.

Local lore says that Lewis Weary, the farmer the road was supposedly named after, was a kind-hearted old man who enjoyed entertaining kids from around the area. Parents began to grow suspicious of his intentions, however, and decided to put a stop to it by setting his house ablaze while he was still in it. Unbeknownst to the parents, several kids had been visiting Mr. Weary at the time, and they perished in the fire along with him.

Mr. Weary was innocent, according to the story, so maybe he’s still wandering the road waiting for the opportunity to avenge his death.

Another story says that teenagers had been joyriding out on Weary Road (probably dangerous in itself, considering it’s barely two lanes wide) when the driver lost control of the car and crashed off the bridge. In a similar version of that story, one teen had been car surfing when they made the sharp turn by the bridge, causing the kid to fall off the car to his death.

As a result, it’s said that if you park your car on the bridge at night, it won’t start up again.

Other visitors to Weary Road have reported scratches appearing on their arms and legs, hearing screams and inhuman sounds, seeing small imp-like creatures in the trees and dark figures moving across the road, as well as glowing orbs of light. A green, glowing shape is said to be Mr. Weary himself.

Haunted Roads in Wisconsin

These may be some of the most notoriously haunted roads in Wisconsin, but every community seems to have similar urban legends or folklore about a road outside of town haunted by some tragedy. Whether it’s the restless spirits of those killed in horrific car accidents, the ghosts of witches seeking revenge, or an entire bus full of spectral Boy Scouts, the legends of Wisconsin’s haunted roads will make you think twice about taking a night drive into the unknown.

Is there a haunted road near you? Have you had an encounter on one of the roads above? 

Ready to take a drive??