On the largest tract of privately owned land in Wisconsin, containing Wisconsin’s oldest and largest trees is a rather large, unassuming hunting
lodge. The area is beautiful. The driveway is about a mile long, removing the lodge from any traffic sounds coming from the rarely traveled County
Road T. Behind the lodge is a walkway that winds its way down to an inlet of the Saint Croix river with some great fishing.
The lodge’s history is a very interesting one, too. During the 1800s, it was a logging camp where loggers and young girls to act as staff for the
lodge were brought in for the summers. Later, Al Capone bought the place and actually had a tunnel built from the basement of the lodge down to a bomb
shelter located near the Saint Croix.
This lodge is said to be haunted. It’s been mentioned in some of those haunting books, and was even written about in the
www.spooneronline.com..." target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow"> Spooner Advocate in a Halloween piece they did on nearby hauntings.
Sometime in the early 90s, my uncle bought the place. When he first got it, the parties there were incredible. My extended family goes up to that area
every 4th of July, and the 20-some rooms seemed like a godsend. That first year, everyone scrambled to get a room at the lodge. That was the only year
that ever happened, and he only sold it a few years ago. Why?
That first year, it was like a bad made for TV horror film. A little girl could be heard and, at times, seen around the place, day or night. People
would see completely grotesque things, as well. For example, three of my aunts were walking into the lodge over towards the family room (one part had
been renovated, the rest, including most of the rooms, was still in its original 1800s state) when one of my aunts screamed. The washbasin that was in
the foyer was filled with blood!
Many other things happened that traumatic week. After that week, very few people would stay there, though my uncles would. On the surface, they would
claim that there wasn’t anything going on there, but in private conversations they would share some of their own experiences, too.
My uncle who owned the place would stay there very often, being a semi-professional trapper. There is one story that really sticks in my mind, though.
Someone was sleeping in a room next to the one he was sleeping in. Then, in the middle of the night, my uncle yells out, “Stop touching me and just
let me sleep!” Apparently, something would touch him while he was sleeping quite often.
My own experiences were far less exciting. I went up there with an uncle and a cousin of mine in the middle of winter. While playing the
best
game of Monopoly I have ever played, a candle slid across the kitchen counter and fell to the ground. We all thought it was odd that that happened,
and talk changed from stealing money from one another or the bank to experiences my uncle had had in the house.
The other experience was on that same trip (the only time I had ever slept there, normally camping for the 4th). The first night when I was going to
bed, there was this really weird feeling of menace. This is also really hard to explain, but it seemed like the darkness was overwhelming any light
coming from the window. I turned to face the wall, and the room kept getting darker and darker. I was resolute in my determination to stare at the
wall and the wall only. I was terrified, afraid to turn over and see what it was in this room that was causing the darkness to overwhelm the light.
This was when I was a baby Christian, and said something (no idea what) and forced myself to turn around and confront whatever this was. By the time I
had turned around, moonlight reflected off of the snow again filled the room and the feeling of menace was gone.
Other than my own experiences, I may have gotten some of the specific details wrong. However, considering my family just discovered the hunting lodge
is on quite a few paranormal websites, they’ve started digging…Because ATS is probably going to be the top hit, someone will let me know what I
got wrong and I can edit this. Who knows, maybe they’ll give me some more stories to throw on this thread!
