But I’m terrified! It’s scary that I feel so old and wonder about my life and what do I have to show for it.
How much longer do I have to enjoy life?
That’s why I try to live in the moment because we could all be dead tomorrow and I wasted all of my good days worried about what’s gonna happen in the future and none of us know, it’s the great unknown.
My body aches every day and gets worse as aging continues. I used to wish for it all to end but I have my family holding me here.
Just the thought of not being here anymore is the most scariest notion for me. Spending time with my family, reading my favorite novels, riding and caring for horses, visiting lighthouses and my fave zoo, and going to the ocean to listen to the waves and view the dolphins swimming past.
I wish I was immortal but wishes don’t really come true except my wish for my wonderful family.
What would you do if you lost all your possessions?
Hey there, nature lovers! Ready for a wild adventure? Look no further than Shalom Wildlife Sanctuary LLC, the crown jewel of Wisconsin’s zoos. Since 1979, we’ve been bringing smiles to families and wowing visitors with our incredible array of animals in their natural habitats. It’s not just me tooting their horn — TripAdvisor has them ranked as the best zoo in the Badger State! That’s amazing because Wisconsin has so many excellent zoos. Where does TripAdvisor get its information? From people just like you who love to visit zoos.
They are not your average zoo. How about a four-mile wonderland where you can stretch your legs or cruise in style on a golf cart? Their big, beautiful enclosures give our furry, feathered, and scaly friends plenty of room to roam. You’ll get to see them living their best lives. They also have a petting zoo where you can get up close and personal with some of their friendlier residents. Their team of zookeepers? They’re not just animal lovers; they’re animal experts with degrees in biology or zoology.
I love this place and how well they take care of their animals. It is amzing to see their new baby cubs and how their mother Ginger loves them.
Take the time to visit this amazing place! You won’t regret it!
These haunted cemeteries in Wisconsin are full of history and legends. Some may be nothing more than local lore passed on through generations of bored teenagers looking for a thrill, while others are born straight from the headlines of creepy and bizarre true stories.
From the disturbed graves of Ed Gein‘s old stomping grounds and a portal to Hell itself, to tales of witchcraft, brutal axe murders, and a haunted triangle in “Second Salem,” the legends of these four Wisconsin cemeteries will never rest.
And neither will their spirits, it seems.
Spiritland Cemetery
Various writings claim that the quiet graveyard a few miles outside of Plainfield got its name because, long ago, a grieving husband would frequent his wife’s grave there, where he was able to commune with her spirit.
But why are the spirits restless in Spiritland?
Some believe it is because between 1945 and 1957 this cemetery was one of three where Ed Gein would go to dig up freshly buried bodies for his ghoulish hobbies. Since their graves have been disturbed, the dead have been unable to find peace.
Glenbeulah Cemetery
In the quiet town of Glenbeulah, a dead end is quite literal. Where Walnut Street stops, the path to the old burial ground begins, weaving through the woods to the top of the hill where Walnut Grove Cemeteryseems almost intentionally hidden away.
Many of the cracked or fallen gravestones date back to the mid-1800s. There are plots surrounded by wrought iron fences, and trails leading off to graves isolated by themselves in the woods.
As the legend goes, a man once hanged himself from a tree in the cemetery, but the force of the drop tore his head from his body and sent it rolling down the hill into town. Many believe it is the apparition of this man they have seen wandering among the graves at night.
Some have also reported seeing the apparition of a little girl, which may be connected to the grave of infant Grace Baumann who died in 1943 at just five days old. Visitors often leave toys and teddy bears for her at her gravestone.
The Witches Triangle – Whitewater
There are so many legends of witchcraft in Whitewater that it has come to be known as the “Second Salem.” An old stone water tower in Starin Park is at the center of many of these legends, where some believe witches were buried and rituals are still carried out to this day. But it’s the city’s three cemeteries – Calvary, Oak Grove, and Hillside – that form the Witch’s Triangle. All land and buildings within the triangle are believed to be haunted in Whitewater, and this is where the area’s disturbing historical legends reside.
Calvary Cemetery:
The Horan family moved to Whitewater in 1880. Within 4 years all but Nellie were dead. Father and Mother were the first to go. The majority of their money was left to their youngest daughter Agnes, who was, not surprisingly, the next to go. There were only two daughters left, Nellie and Annie, when the latter succumbed to the same fate as befell the others. Suspicion fell on Nellie when a chemical analysis revealed strychnine in her sister’s stomach.
Nellie’s motive to be the sole recipient of her parent’s estate was clear. But when a witness came forward who saw Nellie purchase a quantity of strychnine just a few days prior to Annie’s death, Nellie knew the secrets of her murderous scheme were unraveling. According to news reports from the time, Nellie decided death would be better than facing the consequences and she consumed the remaining poison herself. Before the final throes carried her from this world, the reports say, Nellie confessed to the poisoning of her entire family, as well as one other victim who remains unidentified to this day.
The truth is Nellie was prosecuted for the murder of her family, but the jury acquitted her because they didn’t believe she could commit such a monstrous act.
She married and lived a long life, finally dying in 1938 at the age of 77 or 78.
Nellie Horan’s grave can be found in Whitewater’s Calvary Cemetery.
Hillside Cemetery:
In 1889, the Morris Pratt Institute was established in Whitewater to study spiritualism. Residents called it the Spook Temple. There, spiritualists used seances, talking boards, planchettes, and other methods to pierce the veil and communicate with the dead. Did these conjurations leave the town full of restless spirits?
The grave of Morris Pratt himself can be found in Hillside Cemetery.
Legendary axe murderer and self-professed witch Mary Worth, whom some believe cursed the town, is also said to reside in a crypt there.
Oak Grove Cemetery:
According to legend, a coven of witches used to conduct rituals in the Oak Grove Cemetery in the 1800s. The cemetery is now closed to the public.
The coffin of a baby girl was dug up from one of these cemeteries and left on the steps of a building at the nearby UW-Whitewater campus during the week of Halloween in 1970.
You can join in the annual October ghost tour in Whitewater which takes participants inside many of these typically closed locations, such as the Witches Tower, Mary Worth’s crypt, and Oak Grove Cemetery.
Rienzi Cemetery – Fond du Lac
William Tallmadge, the son of Wisconsin Territory governor Nathaniel Potter Tallmadge, was just 19 years old when he died on June 12, 1845. He was buried in a spot he had picked only two weeks earlier, upon the top of a hill on his family’s land which they called Rienzi Hill.
Nathaniel found solace in the beliefs and practices of spiritualism when the movement began not long after.
Many of Nathaniel’s experiences communicating with the dead through various mediums were recorded in the 1853 book Spiritualism, Volume 1. He wrote that his youngest daughter, then 13, “plays the piano on the instruction of the spirits.” She had never played piano before in her life and had no understanding of notes, he claimed, until one day she sat down at the keys and played Beethoven’s Grand Waltz.
The same year Spiritualism was published, Tallmadge donated the hill and the surrounding eight and a half acres of his farm for use as a public cemetery. Since then, Rienzi has become the final resting place of Civil War generals, senators, congressmen, athletes, musicians, and, depending on who you ask…witches.
Witch’s Circle:
At the very back of the cemetery stands a lone monument and a plot marked by four small cornerstones. This, according to legend, is the Witch’s Circle. As the story goes, nuns from a religious order known as the Sisterhood of the Nativity were getting pregnant and performing witchcraft.
The women were excommunicated from the church and, upon their deaths, buried in unconsecrated ground at the back of the cemetery.
Some claim to have found a witch’s house somewhere in the woods behind the circle.
The old stone receiving vault is said to contain a glowing portal to Hell that opens at night.
Rienzi Cemetery is just down the road from another one of the most haunted places in Fond du Lac, the notorious Witherell house.
The historic Octagon House in Fond du Lac is full of ghosts and secrets. Whether for bootlegging during Prohibition or as a stop on the Underground Railroad, the purpose of its many secret passages and hidden rooms remain a mystery. But one thing is certain: When you’re there, you’re never alone in the house. Octagon House is haunted by the family that lived there more than 150 years ago.
The Octagon House, considered to be one of the most haunted places in Fond du Lac, is located in the historic district at 276 Linden Street. It was built in 1856 by Isaac Brown, the first mayor of Fond du Lac, on the site of an established settlement and trading post.
At the time, it stood alone on the edge of marshland with nothing but wild territory beyond.
The octagonal home includes four rooms on the first floor and seven rooms on the second, built around a central staircase.
But the house is also filled with secrets.
Nine of them, to be exact, such as the false fireplace in the parlor that conceals a small wooden stairway. According to the Wisconsin Historical Society property record, it leads to a “basement tunnel and then to the river.”
A small storage room is concealed beneath the porch.
A crawl space hides behind panels of fake drawers in an upstairs bedroom that leads into a secret room. There, a message scratched into the wall dated 1888 seems to give directions to the next safe house along the path of the Underground.
Some believe Brown built these features to aid in the escape of runaway slaves on their journey north to freedom in Ontario. Others contend that the Underground Railroad didn’t extend as far north as Fond du Lac, that slaves came to Wisconsin through places like the Milton House about 90 miles south, and then quickly departed from Racine, Kenosha, or Milwaukee.
Another rumor is that Brown built the house as a fort in which he could hide in the event of an attack by the Native Americans dwelling in the untamed lands on the other side of the river.
During the Prohibition era, when the US government banned the production and sale of alcohol across the country, bootlegging was widespread in Fond du Lac. The city’s reputation earned it the nickname “Little Chicago” in reference to its enterprising neighbor to the south where gangsters like Bugs Moran and Al Capone ran massive operations in the trade of illicit booze.
Some academics believe the secret spaces within the Octagon House were built during that time for the clandestine storage and transportation of liquor.
The real reason for the secret rooms and tunnels may never be known for sure.
When Isaac’s son Edwin married the daughter of the influential Pier family, Isaac gave the house to the happy couple as a wedding gift.
Edwin and his wife Ruth raised three children – Louis, Edward, and Hattie – there.
When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Edwin joined his friend Edward Bragg on the battlefield fighting for the Union.
Edwin would not make it back home to his young wife and children.
He died on September 17th, 1862 along with thousands more at the battle of Antietam, the deadliest one-day battle in American military history. His is buried in Rienzi Cemetery.
Edwin, Ruth and their children are long deceased, but for those who have had experiences in the Octagon House, they never left.
Residents and visitors alike have reported being touched by cold, unseen hands, and invisible forces pushing them down the stairs. They’ve heard the sounds of the Brown children playing more than 150 years after they occupied the home. Ruth and other full apparitions have been known to appear from time to time. Eyes stare out from the dark in the cellar where the hidden tunnel enters the house.
I regard Octagon House as being possessed by the spirit world,” long time owner Marlene Hansen said in 1976. Marlene, a former circus trapeze artist, dancer, and costume maker, bought the house in 1975 and owned it for over 40 years. In 2010, she filmed an episode of American Pickers in the house.
Marlene believes Ruth and the children are restless because they haven’t come to terms with Edwin’s death, why he left them and didn’t return alive.
“It isn’t a case of believing, it’s a case of experiencing,” Hansen told a news crew while speaking about her encounters in the house. “None of us know what’s on the other side.”
What could you do more of?
Vacations….wish I could do more of!
Life is so stressful and expensive!
I just want to run away to a deserted island away from everyone and everything.
I would build a lighthouse and live in it for the rest of life.
Little vacations help a little but not able to doany because of cost.
Door County is on a peninsula between Green Bay and Lake Michigan, in the state of Wisconsin. It’s known for its long shoreline and many parks. Peninsula State Park on Green Bay is home to sheltered Nicolet Beach, with its calm waters. On Lake Michigan, Newport State Park is a wilderness park crisscrossed with trails. Potawatomi State Park, in Sturgeon Bay, is fringed by limestone cliffs.
My Mom, daughter and I went to stay in Ephraim, door county for a girl’s getaway and it was the absolute best!
We stayed at a very nice resort with our own balcony and it had a pool with a jacuzzi for the guests to use which my daughter and I sure did and had so much fun bopping a beach ball in the pool!
We ate at quite a few restaurants which had delicious food and great seevice from the friendly workers. My faves were the Blue Horse beach cafe and Shipwrecked.
We took a tour of the Eagle Bluff lighthouse. I love lighthouses and try to see as many as I possibly can, so far I have seen 36! So many more to go!
We then moved on to lunch and a little vintage market to do a bit of shopping along with walking around other shops in town before dinner.
That night we enjoyed a spooky ghost trolley tour! It was so much fun and my Mom loved it! We actually got photos of spirits at the Noble house! We also went to a cemetery and lastly the Eagle Bluff lighthouse. We had a stop by the water where the guide Ronnie related a story of a horrible shipwreck. (Beforehand he came up behind me as I was looking out at the water and grabbed my shoulders- scared me to death!!!🤣)
On the way back he played spooky music and had us do a fun singalong, it was a blast! My Mom even loved it and joined in.
Omg! That’s a spirit! She was not in my photo!!!! I am flabbergasted! 😲
I an so spooked by this photo! My original did not have that spirit! It was just a picture of the lighthouse!
Look in the lit window on left side!Take a look at right side of gazebo! Thought was just a junk photo but the lady in white is there!If you can zoom in on the window! She is looking at you!Take a peek at the bottom right!
That was such an awesome experience! Spooky and amazing!
The next day we went to breakfast at the Sunset Harbor before moving on to our next lighthouse, my fave in Door County, the Cana Island Lighthouse!
Took a wagon ride back to parking lot, was quite a walk.
Afterwards we decided to relax at the beach for awhile before dinner. Calming and refreshing.
We then went back to the resort to change and go out for dinner. When we finished and went back to our room we decided to walk across the street to the resort’s private beach to enjoy the sunset.
Then went back to play in the pool again!🤣
The next and our last day was bittersweet, wanted to stay but knew had to get back to reality.
We stopped at a cheese shop with a wine shop next door! Convenient! My daughter purchased both lol!
We also stopped at my favorite shop of all time!
The Lighthouse shop in Kewaunee, WI. It sells all things related to lighthouses and alot of it! I spent quite a bit and now broke but so worth it! I hope that the shop lasts because the owner mentioned that their business has slowed down due to changes made to their roads.
Afterwards we drove the rest of the way back home. This trip was the best trip for me because it was with my Mom and daughter. My fave ladies!😊🩷
I took my hubby to a small ren faire today for his birthday and we had fun!
It was a small version on one but we walked around to see the vendors, a show and bow and arrow shooting.
That was fun to do simce havem’t done since high school.
I found a dollhouse there- a spooky one!!
My hubby was interviewed by fox 6!🤣
Some knight armor.Some coins to spend!Took a pic with a gentleman who knights people.
We then ventured to Halloween by Scary Jim and that shop beats Spirit Halloween! Was a fun and spooky store! Lots of items and costumes to choose from!
Hate clowns!
If you like spooky- go to this amazing shop!! 🎃❤️
I bought ghost face motion activated doll and a couple of cute spooky keyrings.
Live life to the fullest! Explore your world! 