Badger Bizarre

In June of 1988, the abducton of a 13-year-old girl in Massachussettes sent shockwaves through several communities in Wisconsin. 

The perpetrator of that crime, 30-year-old James Duquette Jr, was a native of Appleton, WI and had only just moved to Massachussettes months prior. A bombshell confession, not by Duquette himself, but by a friend, led police in Wisconsin to investigate Duquette for several cold cases, including the murde...

Wisconsin was home to many towns throughout its history that, for various reasons, simply don't exist anymore.

Whether bypassed by the railroad, faded away after a loss of industry, or disbanded by its own residents, the towns have been wiped from the modern-day landscape, some with visible ruins as reminders, and others have literally nothing existing other than stories.

Those stories are largely unknown to most people today, but ...

From the early 1970's through 1990, Racine was the site of several brutal homicides, shocking the community and creating fear and panic in its residents. 

Helen Sebastian, Eric Hansen, and John Michael Madden were all found murdered within only a few miles of each other, several years apart.  Although the murders were similar, as all were dismembered, were they committed by the same offender? Or was something even more nefarious go...

On November 9th, 1975, the ore freighter, Edmund Fitzgerald, once known as the "Queen of the Great Lakes" left the Burlington Railroad Loading Dock No 1, in Superior, WI.  Loaded with over 26,000 tons of iron ore, "Big Fitz" was to arrive at Zug Island, MI 46 hours later, as it had done many times over.

As recalled in Gordon Lighfoot's famous song, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," the ship never completed the journey, ending u...

Although not usually thought of as a state steeped in UFO history, Wisconsin lays claim to some of the most influential and important names in the field, dating back to the beginnings of the study itself.

From the founding of the oldest and largest civilian research organizations in the world, to 3 different towns claiming to be the "UFO Capitol of the World," to some of the strangest reported sightings in our nation's history, Wis...

On August 11th, 2009, 15-year-old Kayla Berg, after a fairly unremarkable day of hanging out with friends, went out with a trusted family friend, named Kevin Kielcheski.  Although Kevin was 9 years older, Kayla had known Kevin virtually her entire life, was somewhat of a 'protective older brother-type,' and there was nothing unusual about them spending time together, according to her friends and family.

Kayla has never returned hom...

Scott and Mickey talk with Jeff Finup, of Badgerland Legends and the Wisconsin Legends Podcast, about his newly published children's book, "Wisconsin Legends for Kids."

The book is a wonderful piece to stir your child's ever-inquisitive mind and sense of wonder, as well as learn about the rich cultural heritage of our state.  10 tales of Wisconsin history are featured, some fact, some maybe up for debate, but all with a flair of en...

From 1997-2010, a rash of drownings in the Mississippi River in La Crosse were mostly blamed by police on the culture of alcohol in Wisconsin. The deaths being attributed to people becoming inebriated, wondering down by the river, and ultimately falling in, unable to find their way out of the rushing or icy waters before succumbing. 

However, a pattern soon began to appear, as all of the victims were college-aged young men, athleti...

We celebrate Halloween again this year by bringing you stories collected at the 2nd Annual Great Lakes Paranormal Conference.  Real people telling us their real paranormal experiences, in their own voice.

Happy Halloween, everyone. We hope your week is frightful...

Facebook

Twitter

Website

Email us:  badgerbizarre@outlook.com

Opening Trailer:

Ed Gein Sound Byte : "Hard Copy" - Paramount Domestic/CBS Televsion

Frank Lloyd Wright...

On the night of December 26th, 1983, friends Margaret Anderson and Terry Apfel entered a Green Bay bar named the Back Forty, at 618 Bodart Way, during a night out. 

The Back Forty was owned by a member of the Drifters Motorcycle Club, and known as a popular hangout for Drifters members, and members of other motorcycle clubs as well.  Clubs like the DC Eagles, thought by some to be a more menacing, renegade motorcycle gang.

The moto...

In October of 1978, Adams County was rocked by the brutal murder of 20-year-old Nancy Potts, a nurse practitioner at Adams County Memorial Hospital, who was supposed to be married on the very day her body was found.

The killing of this seemingly innocent would-be bride opened up unhealed wounds around past violent crimes in the area, including an unsolved double murder with ties to Nancy's fiancee, Kenny Ray Reichhoff.  Reichhoff w...

In 1949, St. Coletta of Wisconsin, a non-profit organization in Jefferson providing residential services for people with disabilities, accepted a new resident.

This resident had a unique history, however, and the facility would need to implement very specific arrangements. 

Her name was Rosemary Kennedy, the 30-year-old sister of the current senator from Massachussettes, and future President of the United States, John F. Kennedy.

R...

On March 4th, 1998, the small town of Dane, WI awakened to the shocking news that the Rev. Alfred Kunz, the priest at St Michael's Catholic Church had been murdered in a brutal scene in the elementary school. 

Found as teachers began to arrive for the school day, Father Kunz was lying in a pool of blood in a hallway, a gaping wound in his throat, which was slit by an edged weapon. 

In the 26 years years since the homicide, the inve...

On August 25th and 26th, 1990, Alpine Valley Music Festival hosted 2 sold-out shows featuring headliner Eric Clapton, along with special guests, Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble, and the Robert Cray Band.

Both shows played to 40,000 strong, and the second show ended with one of the most legendary collections of guiratists on one stage at the same time, when Clapton was joined on stage by Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robert Cray, Jeff Hea...

Authors Heather Bourget and Kristin Menth have conducted paranormal investigations in some of the most haunted places in the nation, all part of continuing their quest to discover the true answers to the questions of the unexplained.

In their book, "Unlock the Unknown; Keys to the Paranormal," Heather and Kristin document their investigations in many of these locations, including numerous places right here in the great Badger State...

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.

Scott and Mickey discuss a number ...

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 investigation into Ruben's murder would sh...

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 very real, and affecting our world...

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") Louis-Charles were kept mostly sep...