A haunted hotel, a ghost ship and the afterlife of a priest — Manitowoc’s tales of the strange and unexplained

MANITOWOC – Tales of mysterious noises in abandoned houses or strange creatures rising out of cold lake waters fascinate folks year-round. But they tend to take on especially spine-tingling excitement during the Halloween season.

The Manitowoc area has its share of spooky stories — St. Nazianz even has been called one of the most haunted towns in the United States.

So, as the day for ghouls and ghosts draws near, here are a handful of local stories and legends of the paranormal.

Chad Lewis follows up on stories of hauntings and paranormal sightings throughout the U.S. and around the world. He’s written numerous books about Wisconsin folklore, including “The Wisconsin Road Guide to Mysterious Creatures.”

“Manitowoc is great for folklore,” Lewis said. “Right on the shores of Lake Michigan, which out of all the lakes in the Midwest has the most sightings of sea creatures.”

In one story, dating to the late 1800s, construction workers saw a huge sea creature rise out of the waters and make a big splash and go back into the water, he said.

Here’s more about some of Manitowoc County’s most notable local stories and legends of the paranormal.

Maribel Caves Hotel

One of the most well-known ghostly legends is the Maribel Caves Hotel.

Built in 1900, the hotel became known as “Hotel Hell” because of the disturbing stories. Over the years, stories have circulated that the hotel was set on fire three times, with some guests dying in their sleep. Skeletal remains of some of the victims could still be found on the third floor and basement before the structure was gutted, according to the lore.

Some take the story even further, saying the spirits of those killed in the hotel have lingered in the building. This spiritual activity attracted a group of local witches, who conducted secret rituals to curse the hotel, and in the process, they opened a portal to hell through the old foundation or water well in front of the hotel. This unleashed a horde of evil spirits who terrorized the town of Maribel until a good witch came to the rescue. This witch sealed off the portal, confining the demons to the boundaries of the hotel and surrounding property.

There are also rumors that the hotel served as a hideout for Chicago gangster Al Capone and that he ran a moonshine business out of the hotel and the water bottling company next door. One story says a little boy was playing on the roof of the bottling factory and was killed when it caught fire — and his ghost could be seen in a second-floor window.

The true history of the Maribel Caves Hotel seems to be much less sinister, however. When the Herald Times Reporter asked Sue Kornely in 2002 if these stories had any validity, she said it “was not entirely accurate.” Her husband, Richard — grandson of the original owner Charles Steinbrecher — told her that “The only ghost he ever saw was his grandfather walking around in his one-piece nightshirt.”

Although Capone didn’t set up residence at the hotel, he was known to visit. John Dillinger also is believed to have frequented the hotel as a stopover on his way to Eagle River.

The building was opened as a hotel and spa for travelers in 1900 and eventually became a tavern. It remained open in one form or another until 1985, when a fire destroyed its interior. The building was gutted in 2006, removing all remaining debris inside and leaving only the old walls standing.

The structure was significantly damaged during a severe storm in 2013.

Manitowoc’s Evergreen Inn Hotel

The Evergreen Inn Hotel (now an apartment building known as Manitowoc Place) is a historic building in downtown Manitowoc — and another hotel haunted by scary stories.

Many deaths are believed to have taken place in the building over the years. One resident, named Kathy, is reported to have jumped to her death from the sixth- or seventh-floor window in the 1980s. Residents have reported seeing her walking down the hall, mumbling to herself and entering her old apartment.

Some have reported seeing strange blobs of light in the building or noting an old elevator opened on floors other than the button that was pressed. Others have reported hearing pounding noises and odd whistling sounds.

Christmas Tree Ship

For those who enjoy nautical tales, there’s the story of the Christmas Tree Ship. This story spins the tale of the Rouse Simmons, a three-masted schooner famous for having sunk in a violent storm on Lake Michigan in 1912. The ship was bound for Chicago with a cargo of Christmas trees when it foundered off the coast of Two Rivers, killing everyone on board.

Locals have claimed ghost sightings in the area where the boat sank and ghost tours trace the direction of the ship’s final voyage.

Historic Washington House Museum

Ghosts also might be found at the Historic Washington House Museum at 1622 Jefferson St. in Two Rivers.

Curiosity has long existed about the possibility of resident spirits at the Washington House. Several investigative paranormal tours have been held at the site, which also is celebrated as the birthplace of the ice cream sundae.

The Washington House was built in 1850 as an immigrant hotel and is known to be the oldest building in the city of Two Rivers.

Phantom Hallow

Who doesn’t love a good haunted cemetery story for Halloween?

The area known as Phantom Hallow is near Manitowoc’s Evergreen Cemetery, just east of the cemetery and north of Spring Street.

This is where German Baron Carl von Brause built what he called his hunting lodge in the 1850s. He was looking to settle his family in a growing metropolis area.

“Arriving in Milwaukee, they set out on foot for Manitowoc,” according to an article in the 1936 Centennial Edition of the Manitowoc Herald Times. “When they came to the ‘Little Manitowoc’ northeast of the city, they decided that, in some way, they had passed the great community for which they were hunting, and they retraced their footsteps to the settlement to get their bearings.

“Their disappointment, when they found that the settlement through which they had passed was the ‘home of culture’ for which they were looking, might well be imagined. However, they received such a hearty welcome that they decided to stay.”

The baron built a home on the river, and soon, his family joined him. The baroness didn’t socialize much and was often secluded in their home and the surrounding woods.

“Unused to the performance of mental tasks, she passed the time with music and drawing — highly accomplished in the latter art — and probably dreaming of the gayeties and splendor of the past when she was a favorite member of the household of some royal court,” the article in the 1936 Centennial Edition of the Manitowoc Herald Times said.

After her death, rumors started that “a figure in white had nightly been seen hovering about her former home and that street strains of music had softly floated from the home in the night.”

Passersby also claimed to see mystical shapes and fantastic forms rising from vapors from the river, leading to the name “Phantom Hallow.”

St. Nazianz

Then, there’s St. Nazianz, which some have called one of the most haunted towns in Wisconsin and the U.S.

The legend starts with Father Ambrose Oschwald, the founder of St. Nazianz. He was born in Germany in 1801 and moved to Wisconsin more than 50 years later with a dream of creating a utopian community, where everyone shared everything.

Oschwald was said to have a special gift of healing people through faith. There were reports of crutches leaning up against the Lorretto Chapel that were left behind by people who had been cured by him.

After a life spent in the village, he became ill and died in 1873. After his passing, historians said many strange things happened in the town.

Residents reported shaking houses and lights appearing out of nowhere — and this happened everywhere — but not in the room where the priest lived before he died. They also say they said a suitcase in the room would mysteriously move from one spot to another, according to the Manitowoc County Historical Society. Some say they’ve had sitings of the ghost of Oschwald riding a white horse or haunting the area’s cemetery.

Don’t believe these stories? Feel free to check out these local “haunted” sites … if you dare. And for more about Chad Lewis, visit his website at https://www.chadlewisresearch.com/.

Contact reporter Patti Zarling at [email protected] or call 920-606-2575.

This article originally appeared on Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: A haunted hotel, a ghost ship and the afterlife of a priest — Manitowoc’s tales of the strange and unexplained

Reporting by Patti Zarling, Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter / Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter

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