Badger Bizarre

Wisconsin's thoroughfares are steeped in paranormal legend, often times having multiple roads being named in the nation's "Most Haunted" directories. Murder victims, bloody brides, phantom cars, family tragedies, and lynched witches all make up some of the colorful stories of our highways, byways, and bridges, some having endured for many generations, others having been born of more recent events....

On Easter morning, 1994, 40-year-old Ruben Borchardt was murdered in his own home by 2 intruders.  Ruben was a life-long resident of Jefferson County, well-known, liked and respected in his community.    Ruben was a loving father and also a widower, losing his wife and mother of two of his children in a tragic car accident in front of the home that he built by himself for their family. The investi...

The land on which Devil's Lake State Park sits on displays some of the oldest illustrations of human occupation in all of North America. The landscape still bares the work of hands of over a thousand years ago, and the legends and rich mythology of the Native Americans have lasted the test of time. Is it posssible that some of what modern civilization has attributed to native mythology is actually...

In the summer months of 1789, during the public uprisings that would eventually turn into the French Revolution, the backlash against the French Royal family turned bloody as the family is captured and imprisoned in the medieval tower known as The Temple. King Louis XVI, Queen Marie-Antoinette, and their adolescent children, daughter Marie-Therese and son (and heir to the throne, or "the dauphin")...

The Exorcism of Anna Ecklund is known today as the most documented case of supposed demon possession and exorcism in American history.  Although occurring over several months in the small town of Earling, IA, the main players in the story - Anna Ecklund and the exorcist priest - were both Wisconsinites. The exorcism is famous today for its grueling and brutal sessions, which resulted in Anna becom...

On Chirstmas Day, 1977, 31-year-old Jerry Davies walked into the Madison Police Department and reported information that culminated in the most highy publicized trial in Wisconsin's history to that point. Just hours prior, Jerry participated in burying a human body in a frozen snowbank on the outskirts of Madison, and initiated an investigation that blew the lid off of Madison's secret underground...

In January of 1927, a large crowd of onlookers was gathering in a secluded woods outside of Platteville in an area where a search party had recently ensued for a missing person.  Something had indeed been found, but just what was it that the crowd was hoping to see?  The story of how authorities were led to this place, and the macabre scene in the woods, would again put Wisconsin on the front page...

In May of 2014, two young girls lured a third girl into the woods in a park in Waukesha and proceeded to set in motion one of the world's most talked about true crime stories of the last 2 decades.  Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier's attempted murder of their friend Peyton Leutner sent shockwaves through Wisconsin, and shed light on the dark side of internet culture, "Creepypastas," and one icon in...

  We celebrate Halloween this year by sharing your stories told to us at the Great Lakes Paranormal Conference this past September. Many of you shared with Scott and Mickey your personal paranormal experiences, and we share them here, in your own words.  Wisconsin has often been referred to as the most haunted state in America, and this episode will demonstrate exactly why that is. Enjoy, and Happ...

The institution of slavery is the darkest stain on our nation. Wisconsin's role, in both its implentation and end, is not usually thought of as significant, though history tells a different story. As early as the 1830's, abolitionists in Wisconsin were building a network of resources to aid in shielding freedom-seekers from those who sought to steal their God-given right to life and self-determina...

On a cold, unseasonably snowy November night in Madison in 1947, two unsuspecting co-eds found themselves thrown into what has since become known as one of the most heinous crime sprees in our state's history. 25-year-old Carl Carlson and his 19-year-old sister-in-law, Janet Ann Rosenblatt, had met in Madison to attend the Badger vs Michigan football game the next day, as Rosenblatt was a student...

Lead mining is one of the oldest industries in Wisconsin, and with it, comes some of the oldest tales and stories of the strange and bizarre. Mineral Point, and the hills of southwestern Wisconsin, is home to some of our most unique architecture, beautiful landscapes, as well as apparent centuries-old paranormal happenings.  Although today this area is an artist's haven, in the early decades of th...

On May 5th, 1886, a standoff between state militia and strikers protesting working conditions came to a climax outside of the Bay View Rolling Mills on Milwaukee's South side. After a hail of bullets, 9 people lie dead, and a state  - and in due time, a country - would be forever changed. Scott and Mickey talk about this incident, known as the Bay View Massacre, (or the Bay View Tragedy) its cause...

The Kettle Moraine State Forest is one of the crown jewels of our state. Roughly 60,000 acres of some of the most unique landscape in the world, molded and carved out by the last ice age.  While its reputation for some of the best outdoor recreation in the country is well known, the Kettle Moraine has a much more mysterious side as well. For decades, thousands of eyewitnesses have reported sightin...

In episode 25, Scott and Mickey discuss the events of the tumultuous summer of 1987, when violent crime was rampant, and numerous women were abducted and later found dead throughout the state. We focus our attention on the murders of 3 women from the south-central region - Angela Hackl, Barbara Blackstone, and Linda Nachreiner. When the bodies of these 3 women were found naked and dumped in wooded...

In episode 24, Scott and Mickey discuss the somber case of the "Monfils 6," a high-profile trial of six men charged with the murder of their co-worker. On November 22nd, 1992, the body of Tom Monfils was found in a pulp vat at the James River Paper Company, where he had been employed for the previous 10 years.  In what seemed like it should've been a fairly clear-cut homicide case in a closed spac...

In Episode 23, Scott and Mickey discuss the mystery that is St. Nazianz, in Manitowoc County, WI. Founded in 1854 by a German immigrant priest claiming to have mystical powers bestowed upon him by The Almighty, St, Nazianz went on to become one of the most important communities in the nation in regards to Catholicism.  After Father Oschwald's unexpected death in 1873, the Salvatorian's from Rome t...

In episode 22 of Badger Bizarre, Scott and Mickey discuss the crime-ridden life of Edward Wayne Edwards and how he forever impacted a small community in southeast Wisconsin. In August of 1980, a young teenage couple in Fort Atkinson went missing and were later found murdered. For 30 years, their murder went unsolved, until a surpring tip was called in to Jefferson County authorities in 2009, leadi...

Scott and Mickey discuss the very bizarre story of James Jesse Strang, founder of the now-defunct city of Voree, WI in Walworth County.  Strang claimed to be the rightful heir to the leader of the Church of Latter-Day Saints, after its founder, Joseph Smith, was gunned down in 1844.  After claiming he was shown where to find buried ancient texts in Voree by visions of angels, Strang amassed a foll...

The 2008 gun deer season was unlike any other in recent memory, with 3 human bodies being found in the woods by hunters throughout the state.  Two of them were rather quickly identifed, while one, found in a frozen creek in Fond du Lac County, would lead investigators on a murder mystery they are still attempting to solve yet today. Hear the heartbreaking tragedy of the young girl who came to be k...

Scott and Mickey discuss the legend of the Lake Michigan Triangle, a section in the Great Lake that has been the site of many mysterious disappearances of ships, planes, and people for centuries.  Generally defined as an area between Ludington, MI, Benton Harbor, MI, and Manitowoc WI, since the middle of the 19th century, countless strange events have occurred in this region of Lake Michigan, lead...

On February 18th, 1963, a quiet rural neighborhood in Green Bay, WI became the scene of one of the most horrific crimes in our state's history. 16-year-old Green Bay West HS student Harry Hebard came home early from school, gathered up weapons, and methodically killed every member of his household. Dead were his father, Jack Hebard, (37) his step-mother Joyce Hebard, (35) and his step-siblings, Jo...

Scott and Mickey discuss the fascinating saga of Laurie Bembenek and the murder of Christine Schultz.  The trial in which Bembenek was convicted of the crime was one of the most prominent murder trials in history, creating an international media sensation before the days of OJ Simpson or cable television.  Her subsequent escape from prison only added to its legacy and entered "Bambi" into folk her...

Scott and Mickey discuss the fascinating saga of Laurie Bembenek and the murder of Christine Shultz.  The trial in which Bembenek was convicted of the crime was one of the most prominent murder trials in history, creating an international media sensation before the days of OJ Simpson or cable television.  Her subsequent escape from prison only added to its legacy and entered "Bambi" into folk hero...

In 1900, strange rock formations were found in the middle of Rock Lake, a lake directly bordering Lake Mills, and 4 miles from the ancient Native village of Aztalan. For well over a century, these formations have been debated by scientists and resarchers about who built them, how, and if they are manmade at all - or even extraterrestrial. Scott and Mickey discuss these possibilites, and get into a...