Brumder Mansion

A Milwaukee B&B with at least five named spirits spread across three floors and a former speakeasy basement. "Aunt Pussy" despises dogs in the Gold Suite, George Brumder Jr. drifts through his namesake room, a child's voice was captured on EVP saying "Don't leave, help me," and a mob enforcer named Joe watches performances from the corner of the basement theater.

The mirror in the Gold Suite bathroom lifted itself off the hook and shattered in the bathtub. Nobody was in the room. A few days later, fresh blood droplets appeared in the same bathtub with no source, no cuts, no explanation. In Emma's Room downstairs, a framed marriage certificate fell from the wall. The hook was intact. The wire was intact. The glass was shattered.

The Gold Suite's resident spirit is a woman who identified herself to a visiting psychic as "Aunt Pussy," though her real name was Susan. She has opinions about the decor (she hates it) and a firm policy on dogs: they're not welcome in her room. Guests have heard her shout "get the dog out of the bed." People who sleep in the Gold Suite describe intense dreams of a stern woman standing over them. Dresser drawers open and close on their own.

George Brumder Sr. built this 8,000-square-foot mansion in 1910 for his son George Jr. and wife Thekla. Brumder Sr. had arrived in Milwaukee from Germany in 1857 and built a publishing empire around German-language newspapers, including the Germania. He became one of the most affluent German Americans in the country, wealthy enough to build grand homes for each of his children.

George Jr.'s ghost occupies his namesake suite on the second floor. Investigators have picked up unexplained EMF anomalies in the room and triggered shadow detection equipment without any visible cause. Guests describe cold breezes, objects that vanish and reappear in different spots, and the sound of footsteps and humming when no one is walking.

The third floor belongs to a ghostly child. Near Marion's Suite and the Gyenth Suite, objects move and a child's laughter echoes through empty hallways. During one investigation, a team captured an EVP of a young voice saying "Don't leave, help me!" In the Gyenth Suite, guests have felt the sensation of someone climbing into bed beside them. Faucets turn on and off by themselves. A spirit investigators call "the Good Doctor," believed to be a physician who once kept an office on the third floor, is blamed for pulling electrical cords from outlets and adjusting vents.

Then there's the basement. Between 1927 and 1932, a man named Sam Pick owned the property and ran a speakeasy downstairs, allegedly with connections to Al Capone. They built a tunnel from across the street so people could enter without being seen. The upper floors may have functioned as a brothel. The basement spirit is Joe, a former mafia enforcer who worked as the speakeasy's bouncer. Performers in the theater that now occupies the basement see Joe's figure sitting in the far corner, as if he's catching a show on his break. Loud, unexplained banging echoes through the backstage corridors. One guest described a figure rising from the floor, staring at them, and sinking back down.

Carol and Robert Hirschi bought the mansion in 1997 and restored it into a bed and breakfast with a basement theater. The spirits came with the purchase. "From the mediums, to the ghost hunters, to the guests, everyone has said the spirits aren't evil or mean," the owners have noted. The vacuum cleaners do keep unplugging themselves, though.