Milwaukee Ghosts and Legends

Book excerpt: A tour guide and founder of Gothic Milwaukee shares the spine-tingling tales of the Beer City's famous, and not so famous, specters and legends. Beneath Milwaukee's calm façade, its ghastly past awaits. The overbearing spirit of Frederick Pabst keeps persistent watch over the mansion that shares his name. The remains of the Newhall House Fire, the city's deadliest disaster, may lie beneath a new building, but those who lost their lives that night refuse to rest in peace. Even the suburbs hold their share of ghoulish secrets, including the furtive dwarves of Haunchyville, the fabled Bray Road Beast and the stubborn spirits lurking in Deacon West's house. “A breeze—a spine-tingling breeze—to read. It's extremely well crafted, organized into deliciously digestible segments and laden with descriptive yet straight-forward language. Lardinois stocks the stories with so many peculiar historical tidbits that the text is simultaneously scary, fascinating and educational. (Did you know the ashes of the founder of The Skylight Theater are still beneath the stage?)” —OnMilwaukee.com