Mob Myths, Brothels, And The Baraboo Inn’s Restless Spirits

A rail town bar with a brothel upstairs. A mob-friendly speakeasy with a basement meant for settling scores. A fire that nearly erased it all—and a renovation that seemed to wake the house. We head to the Old Baraboo Inn in Wisconsin to pull the thread on a history that refuses to fade and the hauntings that line up a little too neatly with the past.

We start with the Inn’s origins and its connection to Chicago via the rail line, then move into the Prohibition years: poker downstairs, liquor flowing, enforcers on duty, and an execution pole that still bears scars. From there, we follow the 1988 blaze, the decade of silence, and BC Farr’s painstaking rebuild that reopened the doors in 2002 and, by many accounts, stirred the spirits. Along the way, we hear about Mary—the saloon dancer—seen twirling by the jukebox, the knock-and-pace presence in the upstairs hall, and a basement entity that shows preference with the walk-in cooler door.

The stories are specific: cigar smoke with no source, a barstool flipping, batteries draining, a sudden cold hand to the leg. We interrogate claims of an EVP from Al Capone and the ethical puzzle of alleged child spirits, asking whether some presences borrow familiar forms to lower our guard. Throughout, we balance history with investigation, weighing what can be verified against what simply fits the building’s lived habits. No grand answers, no experts—just careful curiosity, grounded context, and a willingness to leave space for the unknown.

If you’re drawn to haunted bars, mob history, and the strange ways places remember, this one belongs on your list. Listen, share with a friend who loves ghost stories and true crime, and tell us your take: what lingers at the Old Baraboo Inn? Subscribe for more deep dives and leave a review to help us reach curious minds like yours.

Thank you for listening to the Paranormal Peeps Podcast.  Check us out on Facebook Paranormal Peeps Podcast or Coldspot Paranormal Research and on Instagram coldspot_paranormal_research

Transcript

Welcome And Episode Setup

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Between the realm of the dead and the journeys of the living, join Josh, Jamie, and Elisa as they delve into the vast world of the paranormal and breathe life back into the history of the departed.

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Hey everybody. Welcome to the Paranormal Peeps Podcast. I'm Josh.

SPEAKER_02 0:18

I'm Jamie. And I'm Elisa.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

And can you believe it?

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Episode two.

SPEAKER_02 0:27

So far, guys.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Technically episode three, but episode two of real content.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Yes. The other stuff was real. What we're doing is real.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

But it's not about spooky topics. It was just more about what we're doing and where we're going this year. Where we're going.

Baraboo Inn: History And Lore

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Yep. So what's this one about?

SPEAKER_00 0:54

This one, we are going back to Baraboo, Wisconsin.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

Did we ever find out if that's how it's said?

SPEAKER_00 1:01

That is exactly how it said. We figured it out. Figured it out.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

Baraboo.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Baraboo.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

That's kind of a fun name.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

It is fun. And honestly, I want to go there.

SPEAKER_02 1:13

Well, tell us about it.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Because uh, one, Wisconsin is just a fun place to be. It's it's uh hilly and full of trees and cheese. And cheese. And there was no other reason to go there but then hills and cheese.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

Oh cheese.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

And hauntings.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Yeah, well, let's hear about the haunting part.

SPEAKER_00 1:34

Nestled in the shadow of Devil's Lake Bluffs, where the tracks of the old Chicago and Northwestern Railway still hum with the ghosts of a thousand departures, stands a building that refused to die. To the casual traveler passing through Baraboo, Wisconsin, it looks like a charming historic tavern, but to the locals, they know it as the old Baraboo Inn, and they know that inside those walls the past doesn't just linger, it speaks.

SPEAKER_03 2:07

Cool.

Brothels, Speakeasies, And The Mob

SPEAKER_00 2:08

Built in eighteen sixty four, this landmark has worn many masks, a respectable boarding house, a rowdy saloon, and a clandestine brothel where secrets were brought and sold in the dark. It was a favorite haunt of the legendary Al Capone on his runs to the Northern Woods, a place where poker games ended in gunfire, and the basement floors supposedly hid more than just bootleg whiskey. Tonight, we're stepping across the threshold to meet the residents who never checked out. We're talking about Mary, the saloon dancer still seen twirling by the jukebox, the ladies of the evening who met tragic ends upstairs, the heavy, lingering presence of the men who ruled the Chicago underworld. Grab a stool and keep your back to the wall. From bloodstained history to the unexplained shadows that roam the bar today, we're diving into the dark heart of one of the most haunted pubs in America.

SPEAKER_02 3:17

Right on great intro.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Yeah. And is it just me or is every place a brothel at some point?

SPEAKER_02 3:25

It's like a bar. And a brothel? An institution of some sort or a school of some sort turned into a brothel or whatever it's like. Like it's it seems like a common thing.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

It does, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_01 3:39

In a lot of these.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

Well, and uh even here, like we we went down to Eureka and we stopped at now it's called um The Naked Bark. The Iron Skillet.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

Yeah. It's where porters used to be.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

Yeah, where porters used to be on the end. And that was a brothel.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

Yeah, apparently that was a brothel at one point.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

So yeah, they're kind of everywhere. And that was a pretty it's a pretty nondescript looking building, too.

SPEAKER_01 4:08

Yeah. Today they're called love stores or what? Oh yeah. Yeah, the love store. Um what's another one?

SPEAKER_00 4:22

You know what I mean. That's just an adult bookstore.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

It's not just books.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

I mean, I wouldn't know.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

I haven't been in one, but well, right, but I'm they have like things like that.

SPEAKER_00 4:34

Yeah, but I mean, and they do have them in legitimate ones in Nevada.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Right. So I f but I feel like the love stores and stores like that with the pornographic stuff, you know, whether it's movies, books, toys, whatever, I feel like that's the new brothel of the day, in a way. So you may not have like, you know, women you can pay for, but essentially you're kinda in a way doing the same thing, aren't you?

SPEAKER_00 5:08

In a way. I mean, there are uh in a lot of the big cities, there are undercover brothels and that are running.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

Yeah, they're called massage massage par parlors.

SPEAKER_00 5:20

That's what they're called here.

SPEAKER_02 5:24

Didn't they bust one over in Lehigh?

SPEAKER_00 5:26

Yes, they did.

SPEAKER_02 5:26

Well, and like when I lived in holiday, they busted one that was near our house. Oh, wow. That I passed by all the time, and it was huge. Like, it was all over the news, and I was like, I knew that place was that was something bad. Like I knew it because it was way too popular. Well, it was one of those things that it was like you never saw women go in there. Just men. Just men. And it was surprisingly empty. Like they're the way that they covered the windows. Oh you know, the way they kept the lights dim.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:06

Like I know when you get a massage, generally you have the dim light. You can have like the cool atmosphere or whatever. But you're not covering your windows so you can't see the front of the entrance. Like the little waiting area or whatever. Yeah, generally that's open so you can see, like, oh, this looks like a really nice place. I don't know. A reception desk. Yeah. But when they cover those dang windows, something's fishy. Like, hmm. I don't want you seeing.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

Yeah, especially the storefront windows. Yeah. The door and the windows leading in.

SPEAKER_02 6:37

I feel like that's a red flag in itself. And they make it look like totally normal because it's a bunch of ads for something, you know, or like deals that they're doing, but it's like covering the entire windows, like these bunch of little pieces of paper covering the windows. Weird. Like that's sus.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

Boy, that reminds me of some of the gas stations I've been to.

SPEAKER_01 6:58

Yeah, well, we won't make a broccoli.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

They're usually in like seedier parts of towns and stuff, and so all of the windows are covered with like beer ads and alcohol ads.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

Right.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

And it's like there's no light getting into this place.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

Yep, there's reasons. At a gas station, I used to work, the whole big front window part was bulletproof.

SPEAKER_00 7:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

It wasn't even a bad part of town.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

No, it wasn't. It is now. Yeah, it's I'm going there now.

SPEAKER_01 7:32

That whole town sucks.

SPEAKER_00 7:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Anyways.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

All right. Back to Baraboo. The inn first opened in 1864 as a tavern in brothel in the late 1880s and 1890s. Being located right across from the rail station uh means there was a connection between the little town and Chicago.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

Oh, there you go.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

So an easy just hop on the rail, and you're there. So during Prohibition, the place was turned into a speakeasy.

SPEAKER_02 8:10

I can see that. Oh, totally.

Basement Executions And Dark Tales

SPEAKER_00 8:12

So here you get the whole package of all the sinful delights you can handle, all run by the mob. Of course. So you got alcohol, run downstairs, in the in in the basement, you had like poker games, and in the upstairs rooms, you had the brothel.

SPEAKER_02 8:32

Yep. That seems fairly common for how it worked back then. One-stop shop.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

One-stop shop. Uh the mob had a habit of taking uh over places where they bought their illegal beer and alcohol to sell. Owners went along with what the mob wanted, of course. Um, as the mob made an offer, they couldn't refuse. Uh the owner of Bobby Mackey's in Kentucky did refuse and was murdered.

SPEAKER_01 9:02

Oh. Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 9:04

The owner of the slippery noodle in in Indiana.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Of all the names.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

The slippery noodle.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

What should we call it? Let's see. Let's call it the slippery noodle.

SPEAKER_00 9:22

Is it really a bar or is that really a brothel? Let's just not go to it. A little of both. A little bit of both. Um, he did it, so they accepted and lived to tell about it.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

Wow, I wonder what happened to him.

SPEAKER_00 9:37

I don't know. I have to look we have to look that one up.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:40

Just be careful on your Google search of slippery noodle.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

It may bring up things you don't want to see. I'm good.

SPEAKER_00 9:48

So the m members of the mob, both well known and unknown, made this place their stomping ground. Al Capone loved visiting it as one of his hideaways. He loved to uh frequent as he took uh, you know, rest from his Chicago life. Oh, yeah, I'm sure. Um being a mob-run establishment, there was the required killing area for those who broke the rules at the Speakeasy, mostly carried out by a sadist who loved his job. In the case of the Baraboo Inn, the killing and torture area was in the basement.

SPEAKER_02 10:24

I would kind of be a hired serial killer, right? Yeah. And get away with it.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

Basically, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:29

Yeah. That's what it boils down to. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 10:31

There's an execution pole in the basement that still has bullet holes where the victims were executed having their legs broken and suffered other painful injuries, and the dirt floors would just soak up the blood.

SPEAKER_01 10:47

Uh gross.

SPEAKER_02 10:49

I wonder if they did like an application thing where they were like, all right. So we need a serial killer. When you were a child, did you kill little animals? Did you check?

SPEAKER_00 11:05

If they had it today, they'd have a LinkedIn profile. Looking for a hitman. Must be uh a good shot. No moral compass. Good with the baseball bat. Leave no evidence. Handy with bleach.

SPEAKER_02 11:25

Keeps the space clean. Tidy.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

Clean workspace, people. Clean workspace. Customers who couldn't pay their gambling debts, tried to cheat, romanced the wrong waitress or shore girl, or were guilty of some other offense were the ones who suffered and died there. The mob enforcers in general, assigned to the each speakeasy, were not known for their forgiving nature. They knew their orders and exceptions were not made. The offenders were handed over to the executioner if the enforcers did not do it themselves.

SPEAKER_01 12:02

Well. So they had a system.

SPEAKER_00 12:05

They had a system. So the building suffered a catastrophic fire in 1988. Before this disastrous fire, it was a brewery and or winery, which must have pleased the spirits who were attached to the structure.

SPEAKER_02 12:23

I wonder though, would it please them? Would it just aggravate them even more because they couldn't drink it? Right? You know? Well, it's like right in front of their face, and they can do nothing about it.

SPEAKER_00 12:34

Or is it kind of like the TV show Ghosts where they just want to smell it?

unknown 12:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

It's like, can I just smell it?

SPEAKER_01 12:42

Isn't that kind of torture though? You can smell it, but you can't ever taste it. That would be I think that would be harder than it would be anything else.

SPEAKER_00 12:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:52

I'd rather not smell it. And if you're an alcoholic, right?

SPEAKER_02 12:55

That would be miserable. That's torture. That is torture.

SPEAKER_00 13:00

Yeah.

unknown 13:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:02

I don't know. I mean, it it's kind of like that that mixed bag.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

It's like well, and we really don't know. We don't. Can they smell it? You know, we we really don't know.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

And could they even taste? I mean, maybe they can taste it.

SPEAKER_02 13:13

Well, I've had like when we have done investigations, I've done questions like like when um like when we go to a restaurant and when we would do um the one in Santa Quin, the family tree. I'd ask, like, can you taste the food? And some would say yes, some would say no. Most of the time it's no.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

Yeah. Well, and we asked that at Fort Douglas, yeah, down in the poker room. We asked that same question, like, what was your favorite food when you were alive? Do you miss it? You know.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

Yeah, then we got an answer about an apple.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

Yeah, we got told to go eat one.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

But also we had that too when we were at Salt Air when you're asked, You want this cookie?

unknown 14:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:04

And then we got remember we got that light.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

I held up a cookie. Remember I held up the cookie? I was like, if you want this cookie, I'll share. Here's a cookie. And did it go straight into the cookie or out of the cookie? What was it?

SPEAKER_00 14:16

It was a light anomaly at the cookie. Yeah, it like in or out.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

In the cookie. We have that footage. Right. Oh, we gotta post some of this stuff, man.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

We we we really need to.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

All right.

Fire, Renovation, And Rebirth

SPEAKER_00 14:28

All right. So it kind of sounds like the late 70s, early 80s establishment when wine bars first started showing up. Um, they were kind of popular in Wisconsin at that time. So after the fire in 88, of course the establishment was closed. Um, and it was closed for 10 years because of all the fire damage. So in 1998, uh, a man by the name of BC Farr had a dream, um, and he ended up buying the building.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

So, like a decade later later. Decade later from the fire.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

Uh so he began renovating it. It needed a whole bunch of love after obviously after being.

SPEAKER_01 15:21

Well, it was probably absolutely gutted by the fire.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

Yeah, most likely.

SPEAKER_01 15:25

So you gotta look at structural damage and so he started on the second floor where the brothel apartments were, um, and then proceeded to the first floor.

SPEAKER_00 15:35

Um he for a time rented out the two rooms up as apartments.

SPEAKER_02 15:41

Really? Oh, I wonder how that went. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

Then we kind of need to find out.

SPEAKER_02 15:45

I know.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

Like you wonder if they had any experiences up there.

SPEAKER_00 15:49

Yeah. So after four years of renovating and restoring, uh, he opened the new establishment. The Barrow Boot Inn uh was open for business again in 2002 after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars renovating this 141-year-old fixer upper.

SPEAKER_01 16:11

Let me ask you, does it still stand today?

SPEAKER_00 16:13

It still stands today.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

Is it still open as an inn?

SPEAKER_00 16:17

Still open as a bar and inn. Oh, that'd be fun. And they offer investigations.

SPEAKER_01 16:24

Oh, so I have an idea.

unknown 16:25

No, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:28

What would that be, Jamie? I have no clue.

SPEAKER_00 16:31

Would it would it be travel to the town and investigate and stay? Let's see, the inn, uh Pete the the Ringling Brothers House and the Circus World Museum.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

How'd you know? Oh good guess.

SPEAKER_00 16:49

Guess I know where we're going after Ohio, right? Um, he transformed the former burned-out water damage building into a restaurant and bar with other features that were sure to be popular for uh private events, two dining and bar areas for private parties.

SPEAKER_02 17:08

Nice. That's cool.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

Yeah. I don't know how he fit all this in there because this place does not look that big.

SPEAKER_02 17:15

I bet the rooms are probably small.

SPEAKER_00 17:17

Probably. It's a table, and that's it. Um BC Farr found out that he had unseen presences cheering him on for years. Farr didn't disclose about what he had experienced with the Barabut and spirits, probably until his tenants complained about the spectral party noise heard downstairs below the first floor and the behavior of a very forward spirit lady on the second floor.

SPEAKER_01 17:45

Hey, she was just trying to get some business, right? Like, seriously, she's got to earn some money. She's working hard, so she's working hard for that money.

SPEAKER_00 17:55

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

So hard for it, honey. They should make a song about that. Yeah, they totally should.

Hauntings: Smells, Voices, And Movement

SPEAKER_00 18:04

Uh his employees as well may have told him of their experiences that made them afraid. So BC Farr uh probably invited some paranormal investigators to do some investigations, both scientific and psychic. Farr probably didn't realize how many spectral residents were still calling the place home or their of their favorite watering hole. Far started to promote paranormal events featuring ghost tours, speakers, and psychic events. But in 2018, FAR decided to retire. So the inn was put back on the market. Um, obviously in much better shape than 1988.

SPEAKER_01 18:44

Oh, definitely. Let's hope.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

Um believe it or not, the food channel bought it.

SPEAKER_01 18:51

Are you kidding? What?

SPEAKER_00 18:52

And they have continued to run paranormal events um to this day. So it's still open and still available.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

The food channel?

SPEAKER_00 19:04

The food channel. Of all places, of all places, that's who bought it. Yep. Um, unfortunately, Mr. Farr did pass away in 2023.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

Oh, that's too bad.

SPEAKER_00 19:17

Um deaths associated to this wonderful place. It's kind of challenging. I mean, obviously the mob didn't keep records of who they killed there.

unknown 19:31

Nope.

SPEAKER_00 19:32

Um, but one of the most known spirits um is Mary.

SPEAKER_01 19:41

Lady in White or Blue, sorry.

SPEAKER_00 19:46

Doesn't say. Um, but she was a prostitute. Um, and according to lore of the of the area, she bled to death in the building sometime in the early 1900s.

SPEAKER_02 20:08

What did she bleed to death of?

SPEAKER_00 20:10

That's the thing. There's no record. So there's no understanding of how she died or or who she was or anything like that. I tried looking it up, and what they what they came up with um is that in the 1900s, deaths at brothel at brothels was not often publicized.

SPEAKER_02 20:35

Oh, of course.

SPEAKER_00 20:36

So it's, you know, because obviously they were there's a social stigma, places of ill repute.

SPEAKER_02 20:43

Well, and they're trying to keep things hush-hush anyways. Right. They don't want to get caught.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

Exactly. So they're not gonna advertise this lady died and bled to death there. Um, and so unfortunately, nobody knows. But she's often seen as uh a woman dressed in a saloon dancer's costume or a Victorian style dress.

SPEAKER_02 21:06

Oh, she probably did both.

SPEAKER_00 21:08

Probably.

SPEAKER_02 21:08

So maybe she liked what waitress and well she was probably like a dancer, yeah, and then was a prostitute. Oh. So probably wore a dress to look nice. Maybe.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

And the dancer costume to entertain.

SPEAKER_02 21:22

Right. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 21:24

Um, so there's also two other ladies of the night that were killed in the inn, reportedly killed in the inn. No names, no identities. Again, we're back to the crappy record key record keeping crappy record keeping and not, you know.

SPEAKER_02 21:43

Does it say how they were killed? Nothing. Well, see, and that's what really makes me wonder if it was one of those things where because they were a prostitute I mean, even nowadays, there are so many prostitutes that go missing or whatever, or killed and Nobody knows anything about it.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

Look at New Jersey. When they where they found they finally found the guy that killed like 19 prostitutes.

SPEAKER_02 22:08

Yeah. I know.

SPEAKER_00 22:09

And because they just I mean, no one's keeping track of them, right? And because they're just walking, you know, working the streets. And so nobody nobody's looking for them.

SPEAKER_02 22:18

Well, and a lot of the time they've they've disassociated themselves from their families anyway.

SPEAKER_00 22:23

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 22:24

So anyone that really actually does care about them are probably prostitutes themselves. So they're not going to say anything.

SPEAKER_00 22:34

Right.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

Or if they do say anything, a lot of times I've heard that the a lot of times law enforcement won't listen. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:40

Because it's, you know.

SPEAKER_00 22:42

Well, yeah, because it prostitutes go missing all the time. Right. Maybe they left and went back home. Maybe they, you know, whatever. And then they wind up dead, and then they're like, oh yeah, well, you know, just a prostitute, or just whatever. And I'm sure that's, I mean, obviously that stigma goes on today, but I think it was even more so.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

Oh, I bet it was I think it was more commonplace back in the day versus today. Yeah. Today, you know, they take it seriously.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

Um, mostly. Two of the previous owners uh reportedly died in the building. And then obviously we have the murder grounds in the basement.

SPEAKER_01 23:25

So that's where all the blood soaked in, right?

SPEAKER_00 23:27

Right. So that's where the mob did their dealings, did their executions. The problem is, of course, we don't know who, when, how many.

SPEAKER_01 23:41

Well, and here's the thing, though. I I understand that they killed him down there and the you know the dirt floor soaked up the the blood, but surely they didn't bury him down there. So I'm guessing they hauled him up out of there.

SPEAKER_00 23:54

Somewhere, yeah. Dumped him somewhere.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

Wouldn't you think that there would like be like some blood in other places? Like, not like necessarily trail, because I'm sure they wrapped him up, but depending on how many killings were going on there, you you gotta expect that there would be some blood somewhere.

SPEAKER_02 24:10

Well, the thing is is they had such a system. You think that I mean, because I honestly wonder if because they had such a good system, if they didn't really leave much of a trace unless you would go down into that area.

SPEAKER_01 24:25

Dig up the dirt a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

Because I'm sure they would wait until it closed or until people were asleep or whatever, right? Take the bodies out and bury them wherever. Or dump them. Dump them somewhere, bury them wherever.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

Look at Las Vegas and look at Lake Mead.

SPEAKER_02 24:42

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

I mean, how many barrels do they find with bodies in them?

SPEAKER_02 24:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:45

And so, I mean, it's in that was the same thing. The mob was run in Las Vegas, people would just disappear disappear. They'd end up in the desert, they'd end up in Lake Mead.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

Yep.

Mary The Dancer And Other Spirits

SPEAKER_00 24:55

And there was no traces. No. Like they were just really good at making people disappear.

SPEAKER_02 25:01

Kind of like Jimmy Hoffa, right?

SPEAKER_00 25:02

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 25:04

And don't know where he is.

SPEAKER_00 25:05

Still gone.

SPEAKER_02 25:06

You have so many people who were probably enjoying what they were doing, killing these people, that I'm sure maybe even they didn't come out whole.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

Well, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 25:19

You know? That's true.

SPEAKER_00 25:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:24

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 25:24

Um, any of those pieces. That and that thing, I think that's what would be fun to go down there and try to try to investigate and piece some of that stuff together. Be try to see if you can get some historic pieces put together.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

Right.

SPEAKER_00 25:40

You know. Um, so some modern day pieces, uh deaths associated to the inn. Um, a man by the name of Anthony Inman's uh stabbing. So some modern day death associated to the build to the building. Anthony Inman, on October 4th, 2015, he was fatally stabbed in front of the inn following an argument that began at a different nearby tavern. So four individuals were actually charged with this homicide, but he would he died right in front of the inn.

SPEAKER_01 26:14

Right.

SPEAKER_00 26:15

And then, of course, as I said before, Mr. Um BC Fair, he passed away in on March 1st, 2023, at 59.

SPEAKER_02 26:26

Yeah, that's young.

SPEAKER_00 26:27

Yeah. So it was reported that he had multiple heart attacks. Jeeze. And that's what ended up killing him.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

Really?

SPEAKER_00 26:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:38

Poor guy.

SPEAKER_00 26:40

But he was he was one of the instrumental people to actually document the hauntings and stuff that were going on in the building.

SPEAKER_03 26:47

Right.

SPEAKER_00 26:48

And it, you know, it's said that as he was doing the work, things started to pick up. Which is kind of often what we've you know, we've heard is often the case is you start renovating these places.

SPEAKER_01 27:02

Activity increases. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:05

And I gotta wonder, in some cases, with the activity increasing, it's they're upset that you're changing things.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

Right.

SPEAKER_00 27:14

But I wonder if in this case, if they weren't happy that things were changing. It's like, hey, you're bringing back what was once there. Right. Instead of having a burned out husk, now you have this nice, you know, establishment again.

SPEAKER_03 27:30

Right.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

So let's get into uh just a few of the reported um hauntings and and goings on. Um visitors at the inn have reported instances of strange odors filling rooms, such as cigar smoke, flowers, or perfume, where there's no evidence of smells from a current tangible source.

SPEAKER_02 27:56

Right. That happened to us.

SPEAKER_00 27:58

It did at the Wash Show Club. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 28:00

And it it we were sitting around, I believe it was a table, right?

SPEAKER_00 28:04

No, we were just standing in it was sitting in a room.

SPEAKER_02 28:06

I know, but was there a table in the room? No.

SPEAKER_00 28:08

No.

SPEAKER_02 28:08

There was not a table in the room. There was a mannequin sitting in a chair in a room. That's true. Yeah, that's true. He was in there. But he we would smell it, it would go from one person to the next person to the next person, and it would just like rotate around the room. It was a s a fairly small room. It wasn't huge. No, it was not big.

SPEAKER_00 28:27

Ten by ten? Ten by five by ten? It was tiny.

SPEAKER_02 28:31

I would say five by ten or eight by ten or something like that.

SPEAKER_01 28:34

Yep. It was not big.

unknown 28:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:37

But yeah, we did, we did. And then in the Mackie mansion, we smelled cinnamon.

SPEAKER_02 28:41

Yep. But what was interesting with the cigar smoke is that was that place was also like a brothel. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 28:50

So yeah, brothel. They had all sorts of stuff going on there.

SPEAKER_02 28:54

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 28:55

And cigar tons of cigar smoke.

SPEAKER_02 28:58

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 28:58

I think we were probably getting the screen.

SPEAKER_02 29:00

Yeah, in the millionaire club. Yeah. Yeah. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 29:04

So people have heard, you know, various disembodied voices. It's also been reported that cell phones and electronic devices that have been drained of their battery power.

SPEAKER_02 29:15

Surprise.

SPEAKER_00 29:15

Surprise. In another but bizarre incident, a bar stool flipped over for no apparent reason and without any visible force behind it.

SPEAKER_02 29:24

Oh, that'd be cool. That'd be neat. I wonder if that happened during working hours.

SPEAKER_00 29:33

Oh, that'd be so neat.

SPEAKER_02 29:34

Or if that was like in the middle of the night and they found it like that.

SPEAKER_00 29:38

I would hope it'd be during like busy hours where like people are sitting there, you know, everyone's doing their thing, and there's the bar still just flips over. Uh a woman reported that a spirit entered her attempting to contact those around her. When the spirit departed, she was left drained of all energy. I don't know. I mean, I don't think I've ever heard of that too many instances of spirits trying to take over people's bodies.

SPEAKER_02 30:10

Well, I think it's more of their thought process, like what they think is happening. I don't know if that actually really happened. Yeah. That's what she probably felt an intense energy and it probably did drain her energy trying to be maybe not maybe manifest, but you know, use that for something else.

SPEAKER_00 30:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:34

So, and that does leave you drained.

SPEAKER_00 30:38

I mean, it could have tried attacking her.

SPEAKER_02 30:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:41

You know, or maybe it was just sitting on her lap.

SPEAKER_01 30:46

Never know.

Child Spirits, Identity, And Ethics

SPEAKER_00 30:46

You never know. Um, others uh sitting at the bar have reported a young child sitting on their lap or stroking their leg, feeling this contact. One woman asked the man next to her to feel her leg. Her leg was very cold, uh, unexplained by the room temperature elsewhere in the building.

SPEAKER_02 31:09

Yeah, we hear that a lot too. Yep. We've had that happen to us too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:12

Although, I will say this though. Um, it seems weird that a uh a young child will be stroking your leg.

SPEAKER_02 31:22

Well, well, my kids do that. They do they rub my leg all the time.

SPEAKER_00 31:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 31:27

Out of like love. They'll, you know, they'll go like this and just like rub my leg, but or for little kids trying to get your attention.

SPEAKER_00 31:35

Yeah. I wonder if you're not going to be able to do that. Why would there be a little kid there? Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Remember though, it was a boarding house too. Oh, right, right, right. It's right across the from the it's right across from the railroad track. So at the train station. So as the train comes in, people are gonna get off and go to the boarding house.

SPEAKER_01 31:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 31:53

And so you can have kids and stuff like that there before it was a mob run organization.

SPEAKER_02 31:59

Okay, okay. That makes more sense.

SPEAKER_00 32:00

Because it was built, you know, in the early 1900s, you know, right around 1898, right? Um, so it was built then, but the mob didn't come into power in in Chicago until the 30s.

SPEAKER_01 32:15

Right.

SPEAKER_00 32:15

And so you still got, you know, a bunch of extra history there.

SPEAKER_01 32:19

Yeah, there's a few decades in between. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 32:21

So I mean that would explain children and other pieces associated to it.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

Because I was like, hold up, wait a minute. Yeah, that's what I was thinking too, is why we're women bringing their kids.

SPEAKER_00 32:34

Yeah, and then there's also the yeah, we're not getting into that part.

SPEAKER_01 32:38

No, let's not go there.

SPEAKER_00 32:39

Um, there have been sightings of women uh the the of Mary at the bar, um, and she's been seen dancing next to the jukebox.

SPEAKER_01 32:51

Oh, that's cool. She likes music.

SPEAKER_00 32:54

So I wonder if that's actually more intelligent than.

SPEAKER_01 32:58

I would think so because they didn't have jukeboxes back in the day.

SPEAKER_00 33:04

No.

SPEAKER_01 33:06

So something tells me it's the music that's coming from the jukebox that's bringing her there. She enjoys it. Yeah. Like, what is this magic box? This is great.

SPEAKER_00 33:17

This is wonderful. He plays all the music I've never heard of before.

SPEAKER_01 33:21

How'd you get a whole band in there?

SPEAKER_00 33:25

Uh another female spirit appears upstairs, knocking on doors, pacing the hallway, and making a general nuisance.

SPEAKER_01 33:34

Maybe she's trying to get in the rooms to clean them.

SPEAKER_00 33:36

Well, maybe. But one night she reported she reportedly called a man's name and scratched at his door until he fled.

SPEAKER_01 33:46

Huh. So maybe she was one of the gals. Yep, ladies of the night, and that was her room that she used for her business, and he was there and he shouldn't have been there, and she didn't want him there, so she freaked him out to get him to leave. Freaked him out to get him to leave.

SPEAKER_00 34:06

Maybe she maybe if he would have left a 20 on the nightstand, it would have been better.

SPEAKER_01 34:09

Maybe. He should have just woke up and said, Hey, in the morning before I leave, I'll leave some money on the nightstand. And then maybe she would have quit scratching. Right. And let us give you a tip. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 34:21

Um, in the basement, there's a presence down there that lets you know if they like you or not by using the walk-in cooler. So that's where the walk-in cooler is, located in the basement. And if he doesn't like you, you might find yourself locked in the cooler and the lights turned off.

SPEAKER_01 34:48

Dude. Mean.

SPEAKER_00 34:51

But if the ghost likes you, you might find the door opening by itself.

SPEAKER_02 34:57

Maybe it's one of those um killers that they would use now that in the basement.

SPEAKER_00 35:05

That's an interesting possibility.

SPEAKER_02 35:07

Yeah. He's just doing his job.

SPEAKER_00 35:10

Just doing his job. Oh, I like you. Let me open the door for you.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

I don't like you. Let me lock you in and shut off the lights. Right? You ain't going nowhere. Nowhere.

SPEAKER_00 35:23

So yeah, I mean, that's that's all of the reported hauntings. It's it's such a variant, like they're all everything I found on it was very vague.

SPEAKER_01 35:35

Right, but the ones that you did share, a lot most of them make it make sense sense.

SPEAKER_00 35:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:41

Like they really fit in with the whole history of that building and what went on there.

SPEAKER_00 35:46

It's got a it's it's kind of interesting because it's got such a dark history associated to it. Where when we talked about um the hauntings associated to the circus, those were light, a little more light, other than the killer elephant. Right. But they're just, you know, it's just a it's a different air about it.

SPEAKER_02 36:14

Right. But you have both though. You have the kids' school, the boarding house, and then you have the brothel. So you have both. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:26

You do.

SPEAKER_02 36:27

Um and I w I wonder if they ever intermix. Oh, that would be interesting. You know, like, because we've talked to spirits before, like where we've asked, do you communicate with other spirits? And they're like, Yeah. But it makes me wonder if it's like the energy levels are going to be different. So when you have a darker spirit or a darker energy, the the energy is low. Right. The vibration is low. Where when you have the like kids and the innocence and joy and fun, you that's a higher vibration.

SPEAKER_03 37:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:10

So I wonder if they can actually interact on different vibrations.

SPEAKER_02 37:16

I feel like they probably cannot.

SPEAKER_01 37:18

See, logically, I would say no, they can't. Yeah. But who really knows?

SPEAKER_02 37:25

Well, because like there are mediums that can interact only with people who have passed on. Right. That have that high vibration. And there are other mediums that can only interact with people who have not passed on. And then you have other mediums who can only interact with spirits that are dark. Interesting. So I that's why I'm like, how would this fit? Right.

SPEAKER_00 37:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:00

Interesting thought.

SPEAKER_00 38:01

Interesting. One of the interesting things I I found about um investigational evidence about the place is one team got an EVP from Al Capone.

SPEAKER_02 38:13

Oh, cool. Okay. And do you know what it said?

SPEAKER_00 38:17

I don't know what it said. I couldn't find the um the recording of it.

SPEAKER_01 38:23

But right, but didn't they say what he said? Even if you couldn't listen to their actual recording.

SPEAKER_00 38:27

No, they just said they got an EVP from Al Capone.

SPEAKER_01 38:29

I find it funny that they'd say that, but not say what it at least was.

SPEAKER_02 38:32

Unless it said his name or something.

SPEAKER_00 38:34

Right.

SPEAKER_02 38:35

Like, who are you, Al Capone? You know?

SPEAKER_01 38:38

That's the only way that I would unless whatever spirit was lying to them.

SPEAKER_02 38:41

Well, and that's That's the thing, is you just don't know.

SPEAKER_00 38:44

Well, well, the thing, yeah, and that's the thing, right? It's like unless you have audio recordings of Al Capone that you can cross-reference with the EVP of you truly do not know. Right, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 38:56

But then what if you get what if you get one of those spirits that can like mimic other people?

SPEAKER_00 39:01

Right.

SPEAKER_01 39:01

Then you still don't know, do you?

SPEAKER_00 39:03

Exactly, because you have you have um you know comedians and stuff like that that are amazing imitators.

SPEAKER_02 39:10

Oh, 100%. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:12

And so, you know, how do you and that's always the tricky part about investigating, right? We don't 100% know without a shadow of a doubt that that's Timmy, a little eight-year-old boy.

SPEAKER_01 39:29

And not something more malevolent.

SPEAKER_00 39:31

And not something more malevolent, or you know, a 68-year-old barmaid named Helga. You don't know.

Evidence Limits And Open Questions

SPEAKER_02 39:40

You don't know, but I've always struggled with child spirits, believing in child spirits. I've always struggled with that. Like being stuck on earth, I have always struggled with that because my spiritual belief system believes that kids pass on into and go into heaven. Right. They're innocent children. Right. And so automatically I can't imagine letting a kid that doesn't understand be stuck on on earth spirit bound. Right. I d I or earthbound. I just I don't understand. It doesn't feel like it makes sense, does it?

SPEAKER_01 40:23

No. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:24

No, I totally get that. So sometimes I always question too. Yeah. So sometimes I wonder if because you know how people have experiences with their children that have passed or a grandparent that have passed. And they'll show up how they know that you're gonna recognize them. Right. They could be younger, they could be older, whatever it is that you will be able to recognize them with.

SPEAKER_03 40:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:52

So sometimes I I wonder is if these spirits um do that to have that innocent feeling to them, and maybe they are actually an adult, but show up as a child, and how they do that, I have no idea, but I know it happens. Right. So like your experience that you had with that boy and you walk down the hall.

SPEAKER_00 41:24

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 41:26

So, like, it's hard for me to compute all that. Like, how does that actually work? Right. Right. Do I believe you experienced that a hundred percent? But do I believe that there's really an actual little kid that is still a little kid?

SPEAKER_01 41:44

Right. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. I think this is some of the stuff that keeps us coming, a lot of um paranormal investigators coming back, is because they're seeking answers. Oh yeah. I have so many questions. Yeah. And honestly, all investigating really does, at least for me and from my perspective, is give me more questions. Oh yeah. Totally. But I want answers, so I keep going back, I keep looking, I keep seeking.

SPEAKER_00 42:13

And and I think the only answer we we have actually diff in a way definitively proved in the sense is that this isn't the only existence.

SPEAKER_01 42:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:26

Because beyond that, we just don't know. I mean, we all have our beliefs.

SPEAKER_01 42:31

Right, of course.

SPEAKER_00 42:32

Um but we've known because we've asked spirits that have passed on about the other side, and we don't get definitive pieces. We get a lot of I can't tell you.

SPEAKER_01 42:48

Yes, and I really believe they cannot tell us, right?

SPEAKER_00 42:51

So they know but they cannot tell us, but they're not allowed to tell us. We have to wait. Well, right, and I think that makes a lot of sense in the in in the piece of like if I tell you now, then there goes all of the mystery, but it also goes all of the the piece, you know, the the the peace to it. Um and so yeah, it's very interesting in that avenue. Um so yeah, I mean, are there child spirits? Don't know. Are child I mean, because we've come across child spirits that have crossed before.

SPEAKER_01 43:30

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:31

Um, and so like that I believe.

SPEAKER_01 43:34

Yeah, I don't I don't necessarily believe that child spirits are stuck, but I do believe that they could come back and pop in and see, and that's what I believe.

SPEAKER_00 43:43

Yeah, but also in the same token, and to Elisa's piece of it, these kids, these small children that are stuck in the claim to be kids, claim to be kids, right? Is it you know, is it actually in a case? Case one of the um brothel workers, one of the ladies on the night, showing up as a young child to interact with people in a way to let someone's guard down.

unknown 44:14

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 44:15

Because let's face it, I mean, the one thing that we feel as adults and as humans, the the thing that is the most least threatening of all is a child.

SPEAKER_01 44:26

Right. Right. Because you let your guard down.

SPEAKER_00 44:30

Right. Because we we have perceived innocence.

SPEAKER_01 44:32

Right. I don't know. Lots of questions. Like I've already thought of a couple more as we're like sick. Right? And they just keep coming. Yep. Yeah. The questions keep coming. You you get more and more. The more you investigate, I think the more questions you actually do have.

SPEAKER_00 44:48

And the less answers you actually get.

SPEAKER_01 44:50

But we keep going back seeking.

SPEAKER_00 44:53

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:55

But we really don't know.

SPEAKER_00 44:56

Which is why we say there's never a professional. I mean, there's never an You cannot be an expert. There's never an expert.

SPEAKER_01 45:02

There's no such thing as an expert paranormal investigator. I don't care who you are.

SPEAKER_00 45:06

There's experienced.

SPEAKER_01 45:08

Experience is one thing.

SPEAKER_00 45:09

But not expert.

SPEAKER_01 45:10

But there is not an expert because nothing is proven 100%.

Listener Invite And Closing

SPEAKER_00 45:13

No. Well, everybody, if you like the uh the Baraboo Inn and or just Baraboo, Wisconsin.

SPEAKER_01 45:24

Or if you've been to the Baraboo Inn.

SPEAKER_00 45:26

Yes. Let us know. And as always, stay ghosty, my peeps.