choose another county

  northwest corner of Highway 59 (Waukesha Road) and Highway 67 (Kettle Moraine Drive/Elkhorn Road)

WARNING!  Attempting to find Haunchyville may bring upon you a trespassing violation courtesy of the Muskego Police Department.

According to one story, a community of midgets was formed near Muskego after the big circus era ended.  Their village was hidden from prying eyes and protected by a normal-sized man brandishing a shotgun.  Sometimes the 'Haunchies' would throw rocks at trespassers and threaten them with pitchforks and axes.  This story has prompted many to go on thrill-seeking visits to the area, which in turn has prompted local law enforcement to crack down.  Full story in the book "Weird Wisconsin".

The Waukesha County Historical Society & Museum has a display of Rube Goldberg-style devices invented by Russell E. Oakes, who showcased many of the in the "Popular Science" movie shorts of the 1940's.

  101 West Main Street
Waukesha, WI  53186

hours:
(Tues - Sat)  10am – 4:30pm

Museum is also listed in the History section below.

Brothers Dean and Dale Crites were pioneers in Wisconsin aviation history.  In 1938, Dean was able to pick up a handkerchief with his plane's wingtip.  The Waukesha Aviation Club has a museum in the Crites Field terminal dedicated to local aviators including the Crites.

  Golden Guernsey Dairy
2101 Delafield St.
Waukesha, WI  53188

  15400 W Cleveland Ave.
New Berlin, WI  53151

  W320 N9127 Highway 83
Hartland, WI  53029
(262) 966.3840

Sure, I finally get to The Kiltie and it's closed for the season.  Looks like another roadtrip is in store for Oconomowoc and its signature outdoor dining establishment, the 1946-era Kiltie, loved by all for its roller-skating carhops and scotch laddies.

Kangaroos in Wisconsin  (1978)

In 1978, Wisconsin gained a new complexity in the form of a renegade marsupial from the Outback.  Some folks scoffed at the notion of kangaroos on the loose in the Midwest.  Others scratched their chins and surmised that these hopping rodents could possibly be escapees from a local circus.  A grainy photo was produced.  Hoaxers added fuel to the fire with concocted "roo" sightings.  The furor eventually died down when no hard evidence emerged.  That all changes 27 years later, when a male kangaroo is captured near Dodgeville (Iowa County), followed later in the year by an incident in Juneau County, where a man kills a young kangaroo (some say a wallaby) in his own driveway.

Delafield UFO Sightings

"It sat there, hovering for about three minutes. Then it started to sway back and forth, faster and faster. We got kinda scared of what it was going to do, so we started to drive away."
- section from UFO Wisconsin 10-15-01 report

Brookfield Thunderbird  (1988)

general information:

Mysterious World
www.mysteriousworld.com

Thunderbird Site List
1. www.angelfire.com
2. www.angelfire.com 

Waukesha UFO Sightings

"The whole bottom was illuminated with red and blue lights...that's how I could tell the shape. The lights weren't individual bulbs but more like florescent tubes..."
- section from UFO Wisconsin 08-13-93 report

3 Reports of Same Mukwonago UFO Sighting  (2003)

"When I first saw it, I thought it was an asteroid and told everyone to get out of the way because it looked like it was heading right to us."
- section from UFO Wisconsin report

Old Army Barracks

Oconomowoc Lake Demon

  Oconomowoc Lake is directly east of Oconomowoc.

Menomonee Falls UFO Sightings

"I braced myself for the impact, expecting to hear a loud boom and see an explosion with a burst of flames, but there was no sound, and I didn't see any flames."
- section from UFO Wisconsin 03-26-03 report

Max Meier's Hartland Inn

Tabernacle Cemetery

"People have seen a person standing next to a tree in the cemetery. Also, bright flashes of light have been known to be seen by the fence that surrounds the right side of the cemetery."
- section from The Shadowlands website

Muskego UFO Sightings

"Well, within a few seconds there appeared a second object, and then a third and a forth. They were all flying in counter clockwise circles stacked over the same airspace separated by altitude."
- section from UFO Wisconsin 04-13-02 report

The "Son Tree"

Waukesha South High School

Reports of paranormal activity include a column of darkness that follows students.  Most of the incidents have taken place within the school theatre where a student had allegedly committed suicide.

Brookfield UFO Sightings

"We also looked up and saw a huge, oval-shaped, silver craft that was the size of a football field just hovering silently over the shopping center. There appeared to be small windows encircling the outside of the UFO."
- section from UFO Wisconsin 1978 report

Sunset Playhouse

The ghosts of two former members of the theatre, including an actor known as Pinky, have been observed on numerous occasions.

Heaven City Restaurant

"This restaurant sits on an Indian Burial Ground. The employees said that they saw glasses crashing to the ground after hours. They saw ghostly mages wandering through the restaurant. One time a young boy went upstairs and said he didn't believe in ghosts and he broke both of his legs."
- section from The Shadowlands website

Oconomowoc UFO Sightings

Menomonee Falls Main Street

Eagle UFO Sightings

"They would grow bright then fade and grow bright again as if they were energizing their craft from the power lines."
- section from UFO Wisconsin 1972 report

Ghost of Old Woman on Blackhawk Trail  (1996)

Vernon UFO Sightings

"When I saw this object it was about a football field or two away from the cloud cover."
- section from UFO Wisconsin June 2003 report

"Little Witch"

A teenage girl in the 1800's becomes something of a human Ouija Board, both entertaining and frightening guests.

Lisbon UFO Sightings

"The objects themselves were not triangle shaped but the three we 'hovering' in a triangle shape."
- section from UFO Wisconsin May 1979 report

Green Monster of Pewaukee Lake

The Curse of Rainbow Springs Resort

Pewaukee UFO Sightings

"It was silver with round different colored lights going around the perimeter of the ship and they were blinking or alternating on and off. They were bright like Christmas tree lights...The saucer had a rounded peak at the top."
- section from UFO Wisconsin 1973 report

"Footsteps in  the Dark"

An octagon-shaped house is home to the sound of mysterious footsteps which occur at a regular time each and every night.

Fowler Lake

Grave of Little Lord Fauntleroy

The body of a well-dressed boy was found in 1921, leaving no clue to where he came from and how he met his dreadful end in the waters of an old quarry.

New Berlin UFO Sightings

"The object remained stationary and as I approached the definite V-shape became very clear. the object had 4 or 5 white lights on each arm of the V, totalling (sic) 8 or 10 lights in all."
- section from UFO Wisconsin 09-22-98 report

Crop Circles in 1987

Dousman UFO Sightings

"Next, the noise got quieter and quieter until you couldn't hear anything. Then it froze. All three of the lights got close together until it almost looked like one light. Then the front light flashed twice, it flew up for a couple seconds and just vanished."
- section from UFO Wisconsin 11-25-03 report

La Belle Cemetery

  From Highway 16 in Oconomowoc, take North Fowler St northward, then turn right onto N Oakwood Avenue.  Turn right onto East Grove Lane and into the cemetery.

Grace Lutheran Church & Elementary School

The ghosts of murdered children allegedly have been seen sitting at desks.

Orange Lights Over Stonebank  (2002)

"They were in a dice type formation. Then the top 2 lights flipped position, stopped, and all 5 moved North, out of sight."
- section from UFO Wisconsin report

Harvey the Hill Street Ghost
at Millevolte Recording Studio

A ghost makes himself known in the studio that is adjacent to the cemetery.

Hartland UFO Sightings

"About a minute later, another similar light appeared from the west, followed by a third, then a fourth, and finally a fifth light. No sounds."
- section from UFO Wisconsin report

Whittier Elementary School

"At this school sightings have been seen clocks stop and odors in libraries and classrooms swing open and water fountains spray water onto the floor. People have seen a little girl about 8 years old who had a heart attack in the girls bathroom in 1991, a 12 year old boy who drowned in freezing water in 2001, and a boy who was about 10 years old when he got hit by car when running out into the street to get his ball! Lots of spooky things happen at this school."
- section from The Shadowlands website

UFO Over Elm Grove  (1980)

"She told police she saw a bright yellowish, orange-white object flashing and sparking in the western sky."
- section from UFO Wisconsin report

Nashotah House and the "Black Monk" Ghost

Bigfoot Spotted by Two Boys  (2006)

" 'We saw just a hairy monster on the corner of the woods. I saw it leaning on a tree.' "
- section from WCSH story

Waukesha Area Chamber of Commerce

"It is an old colonial house on Wisconsin Ave. that used to be a house but is now transformed into an office. After work hours you can hear talking between people upstairs and downstairs. You also hear people walking up and down the staircases. During the day time many employees have lost belongings and weeks later find these belongings where they had left them before."
- section from The Shadowlands website

Sasquatch-like Activity in Menomonee Falls
(1996 - 1997)

"...well my son woke me up and said something strange was looking at him, he was really frightned, so he slept next to me on the floor. Well I was on this website and I showed my son one of your pictures, and he said that is what he saw."
- section from BFRO report

Dousing Stagecoach Inn
aka Dousman Dunkel Behling Inn

"Ghosts of America" Haunted Location Reports
(take with a grain of salt)

The reports on this site are presumably fiction, using random Wisconsin place names in the stories listed there.  Even so, you might get a kick out of reading them.

"The Farmer"

In the book "Milwaukee Ghosts", author Sherry Strub tells of an elderly man who never left his farm.  Not even after his death.

Fork in the Road Pub
formerly "Inn The Olden Days Restaurant and Pub"

Oconomowoc High School

"The Hille Curse"

An elderly ghost often comes to the back door of the very farmhouse where he committed suicide, one of a series of tragic events that plagued this home over a century ago.

"Featuring a variety of historic homes and buildings, this living history museum includes a log home, school house, barn, railroad depot, log cabin, and dairy.  The centerpiece of Old Falls Village is the 1858 Miller-Davidson House, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Each of the buildings also feature antiques and artifacts from the time."
- section from the Official Site

  (on the corner of County Line (Highway Q) & Pilgrim Road in Menomonee Falls,
just 1/2 mile east of Highway 45)
N96 W15791 County Line Rd.
Menomonee Falls, WI  53051

hours:
mid-May thru mid-Sept  (Sat & Sun)  1pm – 4pm

"Bring the whole family to see, hear and smell the same things the filled the senses of those hardy souls who chose to build new lives in a faraway place called Wisconsin...Today, the museum has grown to include more than 60 historic structures, from ethnic farmsteads that include furnished houses and rural outbuildings to a crossroads village with its traditional small-town institutions."
- section from the Official Site

  S103 W37890 Hwy 67
Eagle, WI  53119  MapQuest

hours:
• July & August  (daily)  10am – 5pm
• May, June, Sept & October  (Mon - Fri)  10am – 4pm
(Sat & Sun)  10am – 5pm
• November & December  (special events)

"Located in the 1893 courthouse (listed on the National Register of Historic Places), the museum houses permanent and changing exhibits of Waukesha, as well as the home to a comprehensive research library and museum store. "
- section from the Waukesha County Tourism website

  101 West Main Street
Waukesha, WI  53186

hours:
(Tues - Sat)  10am – 4:30pm
CLOSED HOLIDAYS

Also listed in the Attractions section above.

"Seventy-five years ago in the Town of Genessee Depot (30 miles west of Milwaukee), the most revered acting team in American theater history, Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, conjured a haven they called Ten Chimneys. Lunt and Fontanne were perhaps the greatest English-speaking acting team of the 20th century, a partnership strengthened by their well-publicized marriage of more than 50 years. The couple's artistic legacy endures through Ten Chimneys."
- section from the Portal Wisconsin website

  S43 W31575 Depot Road
Genesee Depot, WI  53127
Call for reservations:
or

hours:
April thru October  (Tues - Sat)  10am – 3pm
(reservations recommended)

More Waukesha County historical attractions listed at: