Favorite Fox Valley Haunts

Ghost stories stir interest in historic downtown

Story by Jessica La Plante-Wikgren

Old buildings have character, the saying goes. As some local business owners can attest, the historic buildings that grace northeast Wisconsin’s downtown streets also have their fair share of ghosts.

On first blush, a person might assume that setting up shop in a haunted building would be bad for business, scaring some customers away. However, many local establishments situated on allegedly haunted lands have come to view ghost stories in a positive light, contributing to a business’s unique appeal and overall ambiance. 

Ghost stories can have the added bonus of raising people’s awareness of little-known historical jewels in their hometowns, helping people better appreciate some of the distinctive landmarks and locally-owned businesses in the region.

A few local businesses that have quite literally become the favorite haunts of local residents include Fond du Lac’s Ramada Plaza Hotel, Oshkosh’s New Moon Café, and Appleton’s Lawrence University.

Haunted hospitality
The tallest building in downtown Fond du Lac, the Ramada Plaza Hotel, is a nine-story façade that resonates with the beauty and grandeur of the Roaring Twenties. Today, guests are equally enamored with the Neo-Classical hotel as the Jazz Age patrons who first luxuriated at the “Retlaw,” as it was originally known.

Built in 1923 by Milwaukee businessman and philanthropist Walter Schroeder, the Retlaw (named for “Walter,” spelled backwards) was the crown jewel of Fond du Lac’s skyline, a “fireproof” design constructed from 400,000 bricks. Today, the majestic building on the corner of Division and Main Street consists of 100,000 square feet, 132 guest rooms, a fully equipped fitness center, a sauna and swimming pool, and its own restaurant – Cibo Steaks and Spirits.

A hangover from the hotel’s wild youth as a haven for Prohibition Era night-club-goers and gangsters, an underground tunnel once connected the hotel basement to a nearby speakeasy. Some of the more famous figures of the 20th-century have graced the pages of the hotel’s guest ledger, including John F. Kennedy, Eleanor Roosevelt and John Dillinger.

Quite literally, the spirit of the 1920s is alive and well at the Ramada. Rumor has it that the founder and original owner of the Retlaw haunts the place. An incident log kept by the hotel’s front desk staff reads like an anthology of ghost stories, describing all sorts of strange phenomena caused by a harmless but somewhat restless spirit which the Ramada staff has affectionately dubbed “Walter.” 

“They say that this is the (hotel) that Walter haunts because it’s the one named after him,” said Ron Schmitz, present-day owner of the Ramada.

Countless hotel staff and some guests have reported strange happenings over the years. Glasses in the hotel bar fall and shatter without being bumped. Lights and faucets turn on and off, unassisted. Green orbs and vaporous clouds have been known to drift through the ballroom and banquet facilities and televisions have the irritating habit of turning on by themselves, tuning into C-SPAN or CNN.

Chandeliers will occasionally sway in a perfectly still room, and human voices – murmurs, melodic whistling, and the occasional shouting – resonate from unoccupied rooms and empty hallways.

Although such incidents have given a few employees the goose bumps, most hotel staff have gotten used to Walter’s ghostly antics, regarding him as just another Ramada “regular” on the guest list.

Of all the manifestations, perhaps the strangest incident occurred in January 2001 on the seventh floor. Responding to frantic cries for help and pounding against the door of an upstairs room, a housekeeper asked the maintenance department to investigate. A maintenance worker rushed to the scene and observed the door of Room 717 thumping, as though someone were trying to break out. When the commotion stopped, he entered the room only to find it spic-and-span and eerily deserted.

Schmitz said the ghost has never endangered anyone’s safety and is usually pretty low-key, especially around strangers or hotel guests.

For some travelers and tourists, the hotel’s haunted past is a major attraction.

“We have a few people each year who come for the express purpose of the paranormal,” Schmitz said, adding that some even bring “video cameras and sensing devices. They get into it.”

At least one travel guide named the Fond du Lac Ramada one of the Top Ten “Haunted Hotels” in the United States.
Apart from that unusual distinction, the Fond du Lac landmark also has racked up an impressive list of awards and honors, thanks to its hardworking, friendly staff and dedicated management.

Designated a “Diamond Rated” property by AAA publications and a “Gold Key” Ramada, the downtown landmark is the only Midwest hotel listed on the National Register of Historic Places that is still in operation. Atmospheric beauty and attentive, friendly staff no doubt have something to do with the Ramada’s popularity.

Crystal chandeliers stud the high-vaulted ceiling of the hotel’s two-story lobby, casting a gentle glow upon polished woodwork, crème-colored walls and an eye-catching collection of armchairs and antique furnishings. In the vintage 1920s lobby, where time stands still, one would never suspect the hotel had been transformed into apartment units for the elderly during the 1970s. The building reverted to a hotel in the 1980s, when an investment group bought the Fond du Lac landmark and restored the hotel to its original grandeur, operating under the Ramada name.

In 2003, Schmitz purchased the business and set to work revitalizing the hotel’s reputation for high-quality lodging and historic charm. Energy efficient lighting, high-performance heating pumps and wireless broadband are a few of the extra touches Schmitz added. Schmitz hopes to make the Ramada a popular gathering spot for local residents in addition to accommodating out-of-town visitors.

To that end, the Ramada’s TruBlu Lounge has added live music to the hotel’s amenities. Second-floor banquet halls and a Cinderella-style “Crystal Ballroom” accommodate local weddings and business meetings. Schmitz also invites Fond du Lac residents to take advantage of the Ramada’s 6,600-sq. ft. fitness club by purchasing a membership.
Staffed by a fitness professional, the club is open seven days a week and features water aerobics classes on weekdays.

Despite stiff competition from newer developments that have cropped up along U.S. 41, the Ramada Plaza Hotel offers an aspect of hospitality missing from many modern day accommodations, offering guests a “grand old lady, downtown hotel” that resonates with the beauty and spirit of a bygone age.

“Things are going well,” Schmitz said. “Occupancy is up. Our revenue is up. We have closed the gap with some of our competitors, and we have ‘Walter’ and they don’t.”

Full Moon Café?
Sheltering hundreds of people over the course of many decades, old hotels are hotspots for ghost stories, and the building located at the crossroads of Main Street and Algoma Boulevard in Oshkosh is no exception.

Although the famous Beckwith House is no longer a hotel – now harboring a coffee shop on the first floor – the building has retained much of its original character, including a ghost. 

Aaron Baer, co-owner of the New Moon Café located at 401 N. Main Street, said the kitchen of the café has a reputation for being haunted. The suspected ghost is the young boy who was in the hotel’s lamp room when a fire destroyed the building more than a century ago, Baer said.

According to the Dec. 11, 1880 edition of the Oshkosh Northwestern, a fire broke out at the Beckwith hotel when a kerosene lamp exploded. Despite a bell boy’s attempt to smother the flames, the fire quickly consumed the hotel, killing several people who were trapped inside.

For decades, employees who have worked on the building’s first floor have reported unusual phenomena taking place near the old lamp room.

“For the most part, things would fall in the kitchen area, which used to be the lantern closet,” Baer said. “I’ve actually gotten hit in the face with a bagel. (Things) fall at very odd angles. We’ve all seen it.”

If the ghost was trying to attract Baer’s attention, it succeeded. The strange phenomena in the kitchen prompted Baer to dig deeper into Oshkosh’s past, learning more about the history of the downtown area. The city, as a whole, is a treasure trove of little known facts and fascinating trivia.

Baer said he hopes Oshkosh uses its past as a selling point, encouraging visitors and residents to venture off U.S. 41 and take a leisurely cruise through the city’s scenic downtown.

With the help of his brother and business partner, Jason, Baer augmented the building’s natural charm by adding his own special touches. Comfy couches, local artwork, and made-from-scratch meals and bakery items give the restaurant its distinctive flavor. The café features a smorgasbord of food that is good for the soul, including breakfast burritos and wraps, sandwiches and soups, bakery items and the café’s weekend specialty – Belgian Waffles.

Although most customers flock to the café for its sumptuous cuisine and soothing atmosphere, a few people seek out the restaurant in the hopes of spotting a ghost. However, not all hauntings make great spectacles.

Baer has never seen a physical apparition, and the only oddities that take place are confined to the kitchen. Even without paranormal activity, the historic beauty of the 400 Block of North Main Street is reason enough to make the trip downtown.

“Being downtown and being in the middle of the community is pretty awesome,” Baer said. “Everybody who walks in here, we know their names; it’s really a great place.”

Haunted Lawrence
Getting people excited about history, especially local history, is the job of Lawrence University Archivist Julia Stringfellow. Although the university’s archives are a gold mine of information, so is the campus itself, molded from the dreams, hard work and charitable deeds of Appleton’s founders and early pioneers.

To make that history more accessible to college students, the university’s Times and Traditions Committee launched a “Haunted Lawrence” tour a decade ago. Held the Sunday before Halloween, the annual tour raises awareness about the history of an institution that is slightly older than the State of Wisconsin.

“Lawrence has been around since 1847, so we’re bound to have some haunted places,” Stringfellow said. “It’s a way to get people interested in the history of the campus.”

Students “learn about the history of the building, when it was constructed, who were the donors who provided the funds, and what’s taken place in the building over the years,” she said.

Stringfellow shares a few highlights from the tour, including some rather spectral scenes that have played out in the university theatres over the years.

Lawrence University’s Cloak Theatre has hosted scores of professional drama troupes, including England’s prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company. However, the ghost of Hamlet’s father isn’t the only specter to have graced the stage.

One night, a security guard stopped at the theatre while making the usual rounds and observed a group of women dressed in white dancing in a circle on stage. The apparition faded as quickly as it appeared.

Stringfellow said May Day celebrations were once held on campus at the site of the present day Cloak Theatre. Flowers, white gowns, and dancing around a May Pole were all hallmarks of the festival, which celebrated winter’s long-awaited end.

A similar incident occurred at the Stansbury Theatre, where lights have the quirky habit of turning on and off despite no known electrical problems. A security guard checking on the Stansbury Theatre after dark observed a ghostly woman sitting in mid-air above the stage. Stringfellow said the apparition may have been the theatre’s benefactress, Mary Ann Stansbury. A prolific author and poet, Stansbury graduated from Lawrence in the 1850s and established the endowment trust which made possible the theatre’s construction.

Haunted Lawrence also includes an excursion to the attic of Ormsby Hall, where hauntings have been reported since 1899, and a jaunt through the office of Hiram Jones, a Classics professor who died of a heart attack while teaching Latin class and is rumored to visit his old office every so often.

The tour culminates in the cupola of Main Hall, where students are invited to inscribe their names on the woodwork and ring the bell, a symbolic act that reminds students that they, too, are a part of the campus’ history.

More than just bone-chilling tales from beyond the grave, ghost stories inspire a sense of community and continuity, using people’s love affair with the paranormal to transmit oral histories and traditions from one generation to the next.
Ghost stories “help us connect to the past by learning about people a hundred or two-hundred years ago,” Stringfellow said. “In a lot of ways, people back then were very similar how we are today.”

Jessica La Plante-Wikgren is a freelance writer based out of Green Bay. She previously worked as a feature writer and staff reporter for The Door County Advocate and the Green Bay News-Chronicle. La Plante-Wikgren can be reached by email at jlaplante@centurytel.net.