WISCONSIN'S BIGGEST HAUNTED FARMHOUSE

Built in 1852 by Augustus and Argalas Foote it was a country dreamhouse for the inseparable brothers and their wives.

It is set on three hundred acres of farmland just a mile outside Eureka on County Highway K, the cream brick home had a central hall, with fifteen rooms on each side. The furnishings on both sides were the same and some of the best that could be bought. The brothers and their brides, all with the same initials "A.F," made their home a showplace and figured they were set for life.

But the perfect situation was only a cover for tragedy. Within a couple of years, Anna, Augustus's wife, died during childbirth and the daughter died three months later. Augustus, Argalus, and Adelia were so distraught because of the deaths that they sold the house to a couple from Chicago-Mr. and Mrs. Herman Powers. They kept up the house's fine appearance, filling the stable with horses and having extravagant social get-togethers. For some unknown reason they sold the house in a couple of years.

The house started deteriorating after that. It stayed empty in the midst of rumors of ghosts from the Civil War era. The residents say that during the Prohibition era, Al Capone used the huge basement for making whisky. In 1935 the house was used by a local society for "haunted" Halloween tours, including a scary script for the tour guides.

Over the years, the house was used by tenant farmers for rabbit dens and wood storage. All of the owners gave up trying to replace the front windows, because the local boys kept throwing rocks through them. Most recently all that remains is the brick shell, and the twins are buried in a nearby cemetery. Trees have grown around the house so that all that is visible from the road is the top of the house.