Join Spectrum News 1 on a chilling trip across “America’s Scaryland.” During the month of October, we’re taking a deep dive into locations rumored to be hubs for haunted encounters. This is the first in a four part series.
MILWAUKEE — Once home to the so-called “Baron of Beers” — Captain Frederick Pabst and his family — the Pabst Mansion is rumored to be Milwaukee’s own “Haunted Mansion.”
The Pabst Mansion is a top search engine result for haunted spots in Milwaukee, but mansion staff said they aren’t so sure members of the Pabst family are still roaming the halls today.
“The staff of the Pabst Mansion don’t think it’s haunted,” said Jocelyn Slocum, the Pabst Mansion’s director of operations and curatorial affairs, “We like to say that it’s always been a spirited house and it still is.”
Built in the early 1890s, the mansion cost $254,000. That price tag included the house plus its furnishings and artwork. Frederick Pabst and his wife Maria Pabst threw elaborate parties and even a wedding, but the days of splendor were short lived.
In 1904, Captain Frederick Pabst passed away inside the mansion after suffering two strokes; his funeral was held inside the mansion. His wife, Maria Pabst, died in Milwaukee just two years later. The mansion was sold in 1908, acting as the Milwaukee archbishop’s residence and “the center of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee.” Eventually, the mansion became open to the public as a museum in 1978.
Paranormal enthusiasts and investigators have claimed to have had unexplainable experiences in the halls of the mansion.
“One time the staff was setting up for an event and noticed the candles popping out of the candelabra and hitting the ground,” Allison Jornlin, the founder of Milwaukee Ghosts, told OnMilwaukee in 2013. “So they picked them up and put them back, and it happened again. Then they realized it was Captain Pabst’s birthday.”
Jornlin said curators and contractors have reported mysterious chandelier movements, ringing bells and even Frederick Pabst sightings.
“This one’s scarier than a keg running dry,” Taylor Nicole, a self-proclaimed spooky-enthusiast, quipped.
Nicole has amassed more than 100,000 TikTok followers on her “Gothsconsin” page, where she discusses topics like folklore and haunted houses in Wisconsin.
“It’s actually kind of a product of the pandemic,” Taylor said about her social media segments. “I was working as a bartender and found myself unemployed for a time while we were going through that shut down and I just needed something to occupy the time.”
The Pabst Mansion is leaning in to the frightful mysteries of the Pabst family with a tour conducted entirely by candlelight through the 130-year-old house. “Illuminating the Dark” happens Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays in October, with an additional tour on Halloween. Tickets are available, here.