Post by drifter on Oct 24, 2007 15:01:27 GMT -6
I'm submitting this story about (or at least related to) Mary Buth because yesterday a co-worker asked me what I thought of a picture that another co-worker's sister had taken that apparently had a ghost in it. I told her I was skeptical, and she then asked me if I believed in ghosts, etc. As I thought about it, this experience came to mind. I'm not a big believer in ghosts and paranormal, but I'm not totally closed minded about the possibilities either. I normally wouldn't bother writing about this and I feel a little leery about posting it, but after I told her this story I went to look up some info on Mary Buth and to my surprise I found a movie based on the legend!?
I also found an article by Mike Nichols, albeit an old one, in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ( www2.jsonline.com:80/news/metro/oct00/nichcol06100500a.asp )that looks at the legend in a very skeptical, left-brained approach where he asserts that the home owner who may have seen a ghost must have been drinking whisky and uses accounts from people who know someone that knew someone else who knew Mary Buth as a nice lady as reason to debunk the legend. Actually, this article made me even more interested in the legend and its mysteries. He mentions that the Buth family were some of the first settlers in the area and that they suffered a host of tragic family deaths in a very close proximity of time. He also mentions that Mary Buth and her brothers were really eccentric and Mary was the intermediary between them because they lived in the same house but wouldn't talk to each other and none of them ever married. It was this article and others that made me want to tell my story.
I also feel bad for the owners of the house who have to deal w/ all the kids and questions, etc. about the legend. But, I think it's inevitable given that the street is named Mary Buth Lane and the legend is so entrenched in the locals minds, and now a movie besides!? I remember reading about the Mary Buth legend in a book called Haunted Wisconsin when I was in seventh grade in 1988. It gave a brief, but detailed description of some of the hauntings, but I can't seem to find that particular story anywhere on the internet.
Anyway, with all that being said, here's my experience:
When I was around 17 or 18 (probably in 1992) I wanted to learn how to use a stick-shift, so my friend's girlfriend let me use her car as a means to learn. We lived in Germantown only about two miles from the Buth's homestead, and we must have decided to drive out that way because it's more rural and less traffic for learning to drive stick. Anyway, we were driving north on Mary Buth Lane and had just passed Lovers Lane on the left when we saw two people, a man and a woman walking on the right side of the road down in the ditch. They were both dressed really strange. He was wearing a black suit that looked really old, like something they'd wear in the 1800's or turn of the century and he may have been wearing a round black hat, and she was wearing a white frilly dress (maybe even a wedding dress?) that seemed to be from the same period. I can't remember what either of their faces looked like or if I had ever even saw their faces. I think it must have been around twilight, because it seemed like it was getting a little hard to see and we must have had our headlights on because when we drove by they both seemed to get excited and even frightened by us and she seemed to turn away while he was holding his hands over her face to block the headlights from the car, or maybe he didn't want us to see her face? Whatever the reason it was really strange and we were pretty shaken up. We decided to come around again so we continued on Mary Buth Lane until it hit another road (don't know the name) and took a right and another right onto Friestadt Road and then back onto Mary Buth Lane again. We saw them again and they had moved closer to Lover's lane and the same thing happened. At this point we were pretty freaked out and I don't think I wanted to stick around, plus I was learning to drive stick so I felt even more uncomfortable, but I think my friend insisted we go look one more time. So, we did. Only this time they had turned onto Lover's Lane and were on the right side (north side I think) of the road kind of in the ditch, and again they seemed frantic and he was covering her face. I can't remember if we went back and they were gone or if we just took off, but that was the last we saw of them.
I don't think I'll ever forget that night and I doubt if my friend's would either. I don't live in Wisconsin anymore and haven't seen or heard from either of them in probably about ten years, but I'm sure they'd remember too. It didn't seem so much scary at the time as it did really strange, and now that I think about it again, it was really really strange. Anyway, many seem to focus on Mary Buth as the legend, but what if these hauntings aren't just being made by Mary Buth, or what if they aren't Mary Buth at all, but someone else, maybe related or maybe not? People seem to want to dismiss this legend because of the lack of details, but to me, this makes it that much more intriguing.
I also found an article by Mike Nichols, albeit an old one, in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ( www2.jsonline.com:80/news/metro/oct00/nichcol06100500a.asp )that looks at the legend in a very skeptical, left-brained approach where he asserts that the home owner who may have seen a ghost must have been drinking whisky and uses accounts from people who know someone that knew someone else who knew Mary Buth as a nice lady as reason to debunk the legend. Actually, this article made me even more interested in the legend and its mysteries. He mentions that the Buth family were some of the first settlers in the area and that they suffered a host of tragic family deaths in a very close proximity of time. He also mentions that Mary Buth and her brothers were really eccentric and Mary was the intermediary between them because they lived in the same house but wouldn't talk to each other and none of them ever married. It was this article and others that made me want to tell my story.
I also feel bad for the owners of the house who have to deal w/ all the kids and questions, etc. about the legend. But, I think it's inevitable given that the street is named Mary Buth Lane and the legend is so entrenched in the locals minds, and now a movie besides!? I remember reading about the Mary Buth legend in a book called Haunted Wisconsin when I was in seventh grade in 1988. It gave a brief, but detailed description of some of the hauntings, but I can't seem to find that particular story anywhere on the internet.
Anyway, with all that being said, here's my experience:
When I was around 17 or 18 (probably in 1992) I wanted to learn how to use a stick-shift, so my friend's girlfriend let me use her car as a means to learn. We lived in Germantown only about two miles from the Buth's homestead, and we must have decided to drive out that way because it's more rural and less traffic for learning to drive stick. Anyway, we were driving north on Mary Buth Lane and had just passed Lovers Lane on the left when we saw two people, a man and a woman walking on the right side of the road down in the ditch. They were both dressed really strange. He was wearing a black suit that looked really old, like something they'd wear in the 1800's or turn of the century and he may have been wearing a round black hat, and she was wearing a white frilly dress (maybe even a wedding dress?) that seemed to be from the same period. I can't remember what either of their faces looked like or if I had ever even saw their faces. I think it must have been around twilight, because it seemed like it was getting a little hard to see and we must have had our headlights on because when we drove by they both seemed to get excited and even frightened by us and she seemed to turn away while he was holding his hands over her face to block the headlights from the car, or maybe he didn't want us to see her face? Whatever the reason it was really strange and we were pretty shaken up. We decided to come around again so we continued on Mary Buth Lane until it hit another road (don't know the name) and took a right and another right onto Friestadt Road and then back onto Mary Buth Lane again. We saw them again and they had moved closer to Lover's lane and the same thing happened. At this point we were pretty freaked out and I don't think I wanted to stick around, plus I was learning to drive stick so I felt even more uncomfortable, but I think my friend insisted we go look one more time. So, we did. Only this time they had turned onto Lover's Lane and were on the right side (north side I think) of the road kind of in the ditch, and again they seemed frantic and he was covering her face. I can't remember if we went back and they were gone or if we just took off, but that was the last we saw of them.
I don't think I'll ever forget that night and I doubt if my friend's would either. I don't live in Wisconsin anymore and haven't seen or heard from either of them in probably about ten years, but I'm sure they'd remember too. It didn't seem so much scary at the time as it did really strange, and now that I think about it again, it was really really strange. Anyway, many seem to focus on Mary Buth as the legend, but what if these hauntings aren't just being made by Mary Buth, or what if they aren't Mary Buth at all, but someone else, maybe related or maybe not? People seem to want to dismiss this legend because of the lack of details, but to me, this makes it that much more intriguing.
