Original subtitles

A picture-perfect wisconsin circus town...

We used to come down to the river

And watch the elephants bathe.

...Where mysterious things happen.

I kind of wondered, "what kind of town did I move in to?"

Menacing figures and violent spirits

Are lurking in the shadows...

I started feeling something was just crushing me.

...Linked to a dark past...

I feel like somebody had cursed us.

...That can't be shaken.

- Somebody go with dennis. - Somebody go with dennis.

Give him some light. Somebody go with dennis.

If you respect them, they'll respect you.

If you don't, you're gonna be in trouble.

Located in the american midwest,

The magical small town of baraboo, wisconsin,

Is best known as the birthplace of the ringling bros. Circus.

Like all local residents,

Mary schaefer grew up among the elephants and clowns

And delighted in the greatest show on earth.

I have lived in baraboo for my entire life.

I worked here for four years.

But while working at the al ringling theatre,

She discovered another side of her beloved circus town.

One day, I was here cleaning up after a show by myself.

I was up cleaning in the boxes.

There was popcorn everywhere.

I can feel eyes on the back of my neck.

There's just a wall of dark in front of me.

And I feel a hand...

...Reach up into my abdomen and squeeze.

It was anger.

And, "this is my space, and you can't be here."

So, I found out that the spirit that's up there

Is locally referred to as the shadow man.

Situated between chicago and minneapolis...

Baraboo, wisconsin, is a quiet small town

Where residents take immense pride

In their exceptional history.

Baraboo is famous for being the hometown

Of the ringling bros.

August ringling, the father of the ringlings,

Brought the family to town.

In 1884, they start their circus,

Ringling bros. Circus.

This was a great place to be.

There was abundant crops, particularly if you had

Elephants as part of your family,

Which eat 300 pounds of food each a day.

The circus is indeed in town!

We used to come down to the river

And watch the elephants bathe.

What wisconsin kid says that except if you live in baraboo?

But those who know the town well

Have discovered that life in baraboo

Is not all acrobats and balloons.

Beneath the big top, there is a different kind of energy

That lurks in the shadows of the community

And has unsettled many of its residents.

When I first moved here, I thought,

"what a beautiful town that we have."

And then more and more people

Were telling me their ghost stories,

And I learned about a different side of baraboo.

I kind of wondered, "what kind of town did I move in to?"

There is a lot of spirit activity

Down in this historic area of town.

At circus world,

A museum dedicated to the town's big-top history,

Many employees, including director scott o'donnell,

Repeatedly encounter things that they cannot explain.

Our staff has had numerous instances

Of being felt like you're being watched or followed,

Phantom sounds that have happened over the years.

And this strange activity

Isn't confined to circus world.

Other places throughout the town of baraboo

Also have an eerie reputation.

I came to this hospital around five or six years ago,

And we're walking down this hallway.

It's pretty creepy going down there.

And all of a sudden, I just hear this unhumanlike growl...

...Come out from I don't know where.

My whole body kind of just went like --

A pins-and-needles numbing. And couldn't move.

I was just so scared.

This is their place, okay?

If you respect them, they'll respect you.

If you don't, you're gonna be in trouble,

And I've seen that happen over and over and over again.

Circus world employee harold burdick

Has heard stories about the shadow man.

There's talk of that all over,

But until I've seen stuff and heard stuff myself,

Then I started believing.

It could be haunted.

One morning, I was in cleaning the ring barn.

And I looked, and I swear to god...

Dark shadow come across that floor,

And it walked right across in front of me,

Right through that door into that tack room.

I ran out of the building that day.

Could this shadow figure

Be the same menacing spirit

That attacked mary schaefer in the al ringling theatre?

He was about 6 feet tall, very slim,

And most people think that he's the ghost of al ringling.

After her terrifying experience,

Mary is careful to respect the shadow man's space.

He exists up there.

That is his box, and that is his space.

For the most part, if you leave him alone,

He leaves you alone,

But if you have to encroach in his space,

He makes his presence very known, or at least he has to me.

But the shadow man is not the only ghost

Mary is afraid of running into.

When I was 6 or 7 years old,

My dad took me to come see a movie,

And I was sitting in the chairs right over there.

As I was waiting for the movie to begin,

I was looking at the heads of the ringling brothers

Up on top of the stage, and as I followed it along,

I got over to where the organ pipes were.

And there was this little boy

In a grandpa hat, suspenders,

A white shirt rolled up to his elbows,

Pants rolled up to his knees, watching the film.

And I'm like, "dad, there's a boy up there!

There's not supposed to be a boy up there!"

My dad looks, and he doesn't see anything.

It didn't occur to me that he might not have been

A flesh-and-blood human at the time.

Working at the theater a decade later,

Mary has forgotten about the little boy she saw as a child.

I was cleaning up after a show.

Nobody was in the theater.

So I went in here to go turn off the lights.

As I opened the door, I looked back down the hallway.

And there was this boy.

And I thought, "I'm so sorry.

Did I turn the lights off on you?"

He keeps getting closer and closer and trying to talk at me,

But I couldn't hear anything coming out of his mouth.

It was terrifying.

Who is the boy,

And why is he intent on stalking mary?

The birthplace of the ringling bros. Circus,

The greatest show on earth,

Is practically embedded in the town of baraboo's dna.

But amidst all the magic and joy,

There are countless stories

Of frightening experiences with shadowy figures.

And mary schaefer has had several eerie encounters

With a mysterious boy at the famed al ringling theatre.

He was trying to talk at me,

But I couldn't hear anything coming out of his mouth.

He gets to be here and is gone in a flash.

In two seconds difference --

Full flesh and body, thought he was human,

And then gone.

I just left. I was scared.

Like, white shirt, grandpa hat, suspenders, pants rolled up.

Where have I seen this before?

And that's when I realized that little boy I saw

When I was 6 may have been a ghost.

Why is the little boy

Still roaming around the theater after all these years?

Mary is not the only person to come into contact

With the spirit of a small child.

Across the street from the theater,

At the al ringling mansion,

Joe colossa may have also seen the same mysterious boy.

This is the al ringling mansion.

He was the eldest of the seven ringling brothers.

We purchased it in 2013.

Though joe and his wife, carmen,

Had heard some strange stories about the mansion

Before they bought the property,

They didn't take them very seriously.

I thought it was very interesting,

But it certainly wasn't a major concern at that point.

And all of a sudden, boom, here we are, and it happened.

Joe and carmen were on the top floor of the mansion

When they first discovered that there might be some truth

To the rumors about their home.

So, the hooks that are here in the ceiling

And the little bit of rope that's hanging there

Is from the original swing that was here

When the ringling kids would play up here.

And a few years ago, my kids and I went

And bought a new swing.

It was in the summer, and it was about 100 degrees,

And yet all of us around the swing were freezing cold.

It got so cold that you almost felt like

You could see your breath.

Fearing that they are not alone in their home

And frightened of what could happen next,

Joe and carmen dig into the history of the mansion

To see if they can figure out the source

Of the unexplainable activity.

That is al ringling,

The eldest of the seven ringling brothers.

Circus man al ringling is the mansion's original owner,

And joe learns that he died in the home in 1916.

So, one day, I was looking in this direction,

And in the mirror where I'm standing,

I noticed al ringling -- in a black suit

With a high white collar and, it looked like, a mustache --

Went out the front door of the house.

The door never moved. There was no sound.

You don't really see the spirits dead-on.

That's very rare, at least in the mirrors.

We're pretty sure that he is here still.

His presence is in the house.

But the mansion isn't the only place

Where al ringling's presence can be felt.

Is it possible that he is the mysterious shadow man?

And could the young boy that mary repeatedly encountered

Be the same child swinging in the mansion's attic?

As joe continues to learn more about his house,

He discovers that there may be a reason

Why these spirits are able to travel so freely

Between the al ringling theatre and the mansion.

Al ringling had a tunnel that went from his ballroom

Here in the basement of the mansion

Over to the al ringling theatre, which is across the street.

Somewhere along here, there's a door that's bricked up

That goes to that tunnel.

Across the street, at the theater,

Local historian mark tully

Has heard the same stories about the tunnels

Linking the two properties underground.

Al ringling put a tunnel in

So he could get back and forth from his mansion to the theater

Without having to cross busy broadway.

But despite all the rumors about these tunnels,

Their exact location remains a mystery.

Now, I've looked at the blueprints,

And none of them have any "secret" tunnels on them,

But if they're secret, they wouldn't be

On the blueprints, would they?

While working at the theater as a stagehand,

Mark gained a much greater understanding

Of the strange and frightening things that go on there.

I consider myself skeptical, but every now and again,

You run into something you just can't really explain.

You get a lot of strange banging,

Knocking noises coming from inside the walls.

There was always weird noises that --

Doors slamming and things like that

When there was nobody around.

It's just dark and creepy.

Fascinated by stories and legends

Of al ringling theatre,

Mark is eager to unlock the building's many mysteries.

He has heard about mary

And the colossas' experiences with spirits

And wants to see if together they can find out more

About these mysterious figures.

So, I've seen a little boy in a white shirt,

Black suspenders, and a grandpa hat

Twice in my life here.

Mary's encounter reminds mark of a tragic story

That occurred in the theater many years before.

I worked in the theater a lot,

And there were always these scratching,

Banging sounds coming from inside the walls.

And one of the ghost stories that grew out of that

Was that there might have been some young boys

That were looking for an adventure

And waited until the movie was done and everybody left

And then started crawling around

And got into one of these little voids behind the walls

And were lost back in there,

Couldn't find their way out again.

No. God.

That would be horrible, thinking about dying that way.

My god.

The group wonders if these lost souls are

Traveling through al ringling's mysterious tunnels...

Continuing now.

...And search for any sign of their existence.

- So, there's that spot. - That's interesting.

This one.

As they explore the theater, mary becomes concerned

That this mission may aggravate the shadow man.

There's only one ghost in this building

That I'm scared of -- the shadow man.

I don't like him. He doesn't like me.

And it's not long before her fears are realized.

I don't like that.

My left leg just got really warm out of nowhere.

Was that a spirit?

The growing threat of another encounter

With the shadow man is enough to stop mary in her tracks.

I'd rather not make him angry again.

I just don't want anyone else to have that happen.

The group is convinced

That they need to respect the spirit's space

And end their investigation.

The tunnels that are around town, you know,

Maybe that's how these spirits are moving around

And popping up in all these different places.

But why do spirits of the circus

Linger in these buildings?

And what do they want?

Tour guide shelley mordini

Believes that, to answer these questions,

It's important to look beyond the circus.

A lot of people think that the spirits

That we have here in baraboo are connected to the circus.

But we have more stories that are connected to other things.

A new arrival to baraboo with her family,

Laura jones soon began to understand

Why ghost stories are widely circulated around town.

I moved to baraboo December of 2013

To a house on a street called mound street.

Hi, sweetheart.

So, one day, we're sitting on the couch,

And we're all relaxing, baby's asleep.

The door just blows right open.

We're from the city. We don't keep our doors unlocked.

But it kept happening.

That was very odd.

We were living there probably maybe a month and a half,

And there was definitely an escalation

Of just weird things happening.

One night, I was laying in bed.

The tv just came on.

I started noticing a smell.

The smell was -- it smelled like death.

Best known as the birthplace of the circus,

The al ringling theatre and mansion

Are relics from the show's heyday,

But in these ornate old buildings,

A mysterious and at times violent figure

Called the shadow man lingers.

And the horror seems to be spreading.

The entire window burst.

That was beyond spooky. I mean, it was beyond creepy.

Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh.

I had a newborn baby. I had four kids to take care of.

And I was just being bombarded in every direction.

Shh, shh, shh.

Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh.

Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh.

And then something bigger happened

That kind of gave less room

For rational explanations.

One morning, I woke up and get my kids up for school

And go into my daughter's room.

What's that?

She had scratches on her arms.

And, in fact, she had some pretty deep, like, gouges...

Honey. What happened?

...In places that she couldn't reach that were bleeding, too.

That just freaked me out to a whole different level.

It actually happened three more times,

And there's no explanation.

There was nothing in her bed.

It was unbelievably terrifying.

I wanted to protect my daughter. I just didn't know how.

I just wanted to know what the heck was happening to her

In the middle of the night.

It's gonna be okay.

I feel like there was a darkness,

That we had somebody that, like, cursed us.

So I called a friend. She came over.

And she smudged my house not once, but twice.

Basically what smudging is, is burning sage.

It cleanses the house of spirits.

I was open to anything.

But nothing really honestly helped.

And so then we moved out, and then everything stopped.

Laura decided to look for an explanation

That may help her understand all that her family endured.

I actually did not make the connection

That we were living on mound street

Until after we moved out of there.

I called the baraboo historical society

And asked them what the road was named for,

And they were able to confirm

That mound street is in fact named

Because there's native american mounds on mound street.

Laura learned that, long before the circus tents

Staked the ground, baraboo was home

To native americans of the woodland tradition.

In these early centuries,

They developed a deep connection to the fertile land

And, for hundreds of years,

Constructed elaborate earthworks known as effigy mounds.

Here in the baraboo area between 800 and 1200 ad,

There was a group of native americans

Known as the effigy mound builders.

There was over 300 effigy mounds here built in the area.

All sacred spaces, the mounds were built

In the shapes of animals like bears, buffalo, and eagles.

Some were used for ceremonies and rituals

While others served as burial sites for members of the tribe.

And some extremely rare mounds,

Including one in baraboo, were man-shaped.

Today, it is very significant as it is the only one

Of its kind remaining in the united states.

All right. So we're heading west

On water street toward mound street.

Okay.

Tourists come from all over

To see this rare earthwork.

We came to baraboo last year.

We knew that man mound was a very special historic site,

And we decided that we definitely wanted to go visit.

But when amelia cotter and jonathan pollock

Arrived at man mound park,

They found themselves feeling very unwelcome.

It was a very quiet morning. It was very desolate.

There were no other people around.

There were no other vehicles.

So, as we were walking around, all of a sudden...

...We heard this loud, high-pitched sound.

And it was coming closer to us.

I never heard anything like that.

I immediately had the feeling that we should get out of there.

I was spooked,

And then when we went to start the car...

...The car would not start.

I don't usually have

Strong feelings and impressions from places,

And this was a palpable feeling that we were not wanted.

Amelia and her partner, jonathan,

Are trying to get away from a terrifying presence

At man mound,

One of baraboo's historic native american effigy mounds.

This was a palpable feeling that we were not wanted.

When the car finally started, we were extremely relieved.

After we visited the park,

We took the time to learn a lot about it.

These effigy mounds would have served

As a place to go and honor the dead

Similar to how we treat our graveyards and cemeteries today.

As european americans began to populate the area

That is now baraboo,

They basically destroyed

Most of the mounds that were in this area.

When the settlers arrived,

They were focused on building homes and farming the land.

Any edifices that got in their way were plowed over,

And hundreds of mounds connected to ancient burial grounds

Were swiftly desecrated or wiped away.

Here I have a picture of man mound,

And when they were doing construction in the area,

They built a road right over the mound, cutting his legs off,

Separating him from the rest of his body.

They painted part of his legs on the road there

And then constructed plastic feet

Where the original mound portion of his feet had been.

They could have built the road anywhere,

But they built the road through the mound,

Then named the road man mound road,

Which is pretty incredible to me.

Did the disruption of graves

Inside the burial mounds at man mound

And other sites throughout the town

Unleash the violent spirits that haunt baraboo to this day?

From what I've been told,

The mounds on mound street are burial mounds.

Anytime you unearth a cemetery,

That is just unbelievably disrespectful.

Kind of freaks me out, because I'm native american.

I would think that whomever was buried there

Would be disrespected and bothered.

Laura believes that this upheaval is the reason

Why her family was under attack while living on mound street.

Bad luck is an understatement

Of what we endured in that house.

I mean, that was just insanity.

Perhaps also a sign of the lingering wounds

That stem from the destruction of the mounds,

Just a few decades after the ringling brothers

First settled in baraboo,

The town came upon hard times.

The ringling brothers make the decision

To leave baraboo

In the winter of 1917 into 1918

And relocate to bridgeport, connecticut.

It was a move that was not expected by this community.

It caught them totally off-guard.

It really accelerates this community

Into the great depression almost a full decade

Before it comes to the rest of the country.

Although circus world museum would eventually

Bring the elephants and acrobats back to baraboo,

At the time, the ringlings' departure

Was a devastating loss.

During this dark time, strange and unsettling activity

Continued to haunt the town.

We are here at the infamous old baraboo inn.

Located near the railroad,

The old baraboo inn was a place

That everyone from circus performers

To mobsters and tourists have passed through.

It's a tremendously historic building

Built in 1864 during the civil war.

It's seen every skirmish, every battle,

Every war we've been in.

It was a brewery and a winery when it was built

And a saloon on the main floor, brothel on the upstairs.

There were numerous gunfights in here.

A lot of people perished in here unfortunately.

This back here is a gangster back bar.

It was al capone's hangout and his gang during prohibition.

He was a crook, you know, but he brought in money.

He brought in alcohol. He brought in women.

He was good to people's kids.

And people used to hide him out here,

And he was kind of like a little hero.

One of the oldest buildings in town,

The construction of the old baraboo inn

May have led to some of the first mounds being destroyed.

Perhaps this is why b.C. Farr

Got a lot more than he bargained for

When he bought the place in 1998.

Any building that's been vacant for a number of years

And is in disrepair,

A lot of people claim that it's haunted.

They see this. They see that.

But this one really was.

Though b.C. Isn't shy

About the inn's haunted reputation,

Local couple dennis and brenda

Didn't know what they were getting themselves into

When they came to check out the historic tavern.

First time we came in together was probably late 2015.

There was maybe four of us in the bar,

And I had the sensation of someone picking up my hair

Back here on the left side and, like, playing with it.

I looked. There was nobody there.

But the bar is not the only place in the inn

Where b.C.'s guests have had unsettling experiences.

This is the downstairs.

This is the infamous basement of the old baraboo inn.

There was a lot of murders.

There is a existing pole, which is an execution pole

Where people were just put up against the pole and executed.

There's so much negativity,

So much dark energy happen in a basement,

And it tends to stay there.

From the initial destruction of the mounds

That once sat in this underground space

To the horrifying acts that occurred there decades later,

The basement's energy is so dark

That b.C. Rarely allows anyone else to venture there.

I was curious as to what really was down there.

It's kind of off-limits to people.

B.C. Let me down there.

Something was just crushing me.

Aah!

It felt like my whole body

Was being just wrapped up tighter and tighter.

In the town of baraboo,

Where strange and unexplainable encounters

Are regular occurrences,

Several people have been attacked by violent spirits

That feel they have been disrupted or disrespected.

While visiting the basement of the historic old baraboo inn...

...Dennis catencamp has provoked one of these vicious entities.

Something was just crushing me.

Within just a few seconds, I came upstairs,

And I was pretty shook up.

The basement is dark. Bad things happen there.

Despite his terrifying experience,

Dennis decides to return to the haunted basement

Hoping to make sense of what happened to him last time.

Well, look who's here.

But this time, he isn't going alone.

Guided by b.C., dennis is joined by brenda,

B.C.'s sister, shelley,

And perry, a psychic who is eager to try to understand

The dark entities who linger at the old baraboo inn.

Dennis, after your experience, you want to go back, really?

I'm a little apprehensive about going back into the basement,

But, yeah, I do want to go again.

All right. I'll take you down there.

Lots of bad things happened in the basement before,

And unfortunately there's some dark energy trapped down there,

And we do not want to disturb the dark energy.

- All right. Let's go. - All right. Let's go.

Let's do this. Watch your step.

I'm feeling pretty nervous right now.

I can hear it in your voice. I see you shaking.

I feel it, too. There is death behind that door.

Anybody wants to go in there, you can go in there.

I'm not going in there.

I'll lead if you want me to lead.

Feel a sharpness in my heart

As if I just got stabbed in the chest.

Like, I feel a sharpness in the pit of my ch--

In the middle of my chest right now.

That was an interrogation room

Where people were tied to a chair.

Pushing past his anxiety,

Dennis follows perry.

- He's going in. - That might be a mistake.

I feel, like, heaviness in my head.

Like, a little bit of a pressure in my head

That I didn't have upstairs.

I'm nervous about turning the corner.

Okay. We're gonna continue on over here.

All right. Watch your head.

This is the execution pole.

- Wow. - I'm getting really tingly.

This is blood bleeding through the pole.

I painted it and painted it and painted it.

Just keeps bleeding through.

- Bullets all over it. - Bullet.

- Bullet, bullet. - Bullet, bullet, bullet.

I feel like there's bodies buried in this ground.

I was just -- I didn't want to bring it up, but...

There is definitely bodies

That's been buried underneath this.

Whether it's the spirits of the mounds

Or the souls executed in the basement

Of the old baraboo inn,

The group is certain that they're not alone.

I just want to make a note that my flashlight just died.

I don't have any more light. My flashlight energy's drained.

- It's dead? - It's dead.

Okay.

I'm feeling very anxious about proceeding.

Yeah, we need to get out of this room.

And I'm feeling pain throughout my entire body.

Dennis also has a terrifyingly familiar feeling.

A lot of pain right now -- chest, back, hips.

Yeah, maybe it's time to leave this room.

- Let's leave this room. - Get us out of here, please.

We only have one flashlight left.

- I want out. - Dennis wants out.

He wants out now.

Go back to the steps over here. Give him some light there.

Somebody go with dennis. Give him some light.

Somebody go with dennis. Make sure he's all right.

I want out.

Dennis wants out. He wants out now.

Go back to the steps. Right over here. He needs out.

The presence of a vicious spirit

In the basement of the old baraboo inn

Has once again overwhelmed dennis.

Give him some light there.

Somebody go with dennis. Give him some light.

Somebody go with dennis. Make sure he's all right.

Somebody go with dennis.

As dennis retreats upstairs to safety,

The others also feel the urge to leave.

Get shelley out of here. Let's get out of here.

Get her up the stairs.

I'm behind you guys.

That last part was just too much.

relax. Breathe.

Let it go.

I don't need to go down there ever again.

I started feeling pain down there,

And as we started to leave the room,

I almost felt like somebody was trying to pull me back.

I feel like I'm carrying

Somebody else's weight right now.

The overwhelming dark energy underground

At the old baraboo inn is impossible to dismiss.

In all places where baraboo's land

And the ancient burial mounds have been disrupted,

An often violent spirit seems to be unleashed.

Sometimes lurking in the town's underground passageways,

This terrifying manifestation

Demands the respect that it was once denied.

I think it's the same energies that are haunting these places

Because the stories we hear and the eyewitness accounts,

They're all about the same.

I think any time you disrupt a cemetery,

Burial ground, that you are disrupting a lot of energy.

This energy tends to reproduce itself,

And I think that is a major contributing factor

To the haunting of baraboo.

There is definitely bodies

That's been buried underneath this.

I don't think we'll ever know

What truly we're experiencing.

There's a lot of theories out there,

But when you explain everything else away,

What's left is the unexplained.