Ridgeway Phantom

Since the 1840s, something has been showing up on Old Military Ridge Road every 40 years or so. The Ridgeway Phantom is one of Wisconsin's oldest and most consistent haunting traditions.

The ghost of a man -- possibly two brothers killed in a bar fight during the lead-mining boom -- has haunted the Old Military Ridge Road since the mid-nineteenth century. More trickster than traditional ghost, the phantom has been reported in 40-year cycles. Residents of the Driftless Area treat it as a local celebrity, a persistent troublemaker who refuses to move on.