Old Baraboo Inn

Built in 1864, this inn has Al Capone-era mob ties and served as a speakeasy, gangster hideout, and brothel. It's considered one of the most haunted buildings in Wisconsin.

The Old Baraboo Inn at 135 Walnut Street was built in 1864 as the Bender House, a boarding house founded by George Bender, a German immigrant who came to Wisconsin to brew German lagers. Situated directly across from the railroad depot that offered easy access to Chicago, the building cycled through identities over its 160-year existence: brewery, saloon, billiard hall, hotel, restaurant, and, most notoriously, a brothel and speakeasy during Prohibition. Its convenient location on the rail line made it a favorite stop for vacationing Chicago gangsters. Al Capone, who maintained a summer hideout near Couderay in northern Wisconsin, is documented to have passed through Baraboo on his trips to the North Woods, and investigators claim to have captured his voice on EVP recordings at the inn.

As many as 30 spirits are believed to inhabit the building. The most frequently encountered is Mary, a prostitute who bled to death in the building around the early 1900s. Witnesses describe seeing her dressed as a saloon dancer, and she's been spotted behind the bar by multiple independent observers. Waitress Peggy Tobias and tenant Brooke Schonenberg both saw Mary behind the bar on separate occasions. Former tenant Johnny Flores moved out after just three weeks, driven away by voices calling out names from empty rooms. Several other individuals died within the building over the decades, including at least two additional prostitutes and former owners, contributing to what author Amelia Cotter documented in her book "Where the Party Never Ended: Ghosts of the Old Baraboo Inn." Cowboys, several children, and previous owners are among the spirits believed to be regular presences.

The inn sat vacant for thirteen years before owner B.C. Farr invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in renovations and reopened it as a restaurant and bar in 2002. The renovation appears to have intensified the activity. Dishware flies off racks. Brooms float across the kitchen. Doors open and close by themselves. Mysterious piano music plays when the instrument isn't in use. A woman's voice repeatedly calls out names. Customer Charlie Lotte watched as a rug on the dance floor was cut by unseen hands. Water dripped from a kitchen cabinet that contained no stored items, with no explanation. Staff and patrons report full-body ghosts, voices from empty rooms, the clinking of phantom glasses as if an invisible party is underway, objects moving on their own, balls of light, shadows darting through the rooms, taps on the head from unseen fingers, and sudden drops in temperature.

The Southern Wisconsin Paranormal Research Group conducted a formal investigation, collecting electromagnetic field readings and temperature data. The inn has been featured on Discovery+, the Food Network, and the Travel Channel, and was named one of the ten most haunted locations in the United States by the Food Network. The building now bills itself as the "Home of the Ghost Bomb," offering mini ghost hunts where visitors use specialized equipment to attempt contact with the spirits, and overnight investigations for those willing to spend the night in the building where the party, by all accounts, has never truly ended.