Ken S. Posted April 17, 2016 #1 Share Posted April 17, 2016 (edited) I came across a series of articles in the Milwaukee Journal while doing research of another nature about something dubbed the "swearing ghost" -- apparently eventually determined to be a "hoax". - - - - - Milwaukee Journal - March 5, 1923 Police Guard Family Plagued by 'Ghost' Laborer Says 'Spirit' Writes Letters and Hurls Things; Doc- tors Investigate Weird manifestations of a "swear- ing ghost" have so terrified the fam- ily of Cornelius Gottfried, 159 Sher- man st, during the last three months that the police department has provid- ed protection, and the assistance of Dr. Harry E. Bradley, police depart- ment alienist, has been invoked. For two nights Dr. Bradley has re- mained in the basement of the home for several hours to calm Mr. Gott- fried and his wife, and, if possible, to catch the ghost at work. The police department also called Dr Paul H. Rupp, county physician, who spent one evening at the place. Dr. Bradley visited the home again Sunday after- noon. The mystery remains unsolved. Huddle in Terror The Gottfried family lives in the basement. Gottfried is a laborer. He owns the building, and the two upper floors are rental to Italian families. At present Gottfried and his family are so terrified that they have aban- doned all rooms except the kitchen and bedroom. There are three chil- dren, of which Catherine, 12, is the oldest, and they all sleep together, huddled in terror in one small room. Four months ago Mr. and Mrs. Gott- fried were aroused from sleep by a sharp noise. Investigation showed that seven books had been hurled out of a bookcase against the opposite wall. The books were found lying on the floor. An hour later, exactly at midnight, Gottfried told Dr Bradley, the pillows were jerked from beneath the heads of the two smaller children, Verna and Joe, and hurled against the wall Since his first appearance, the "ghost" has made regular visits. He is more active Saturday and Sunday evenings than other times, but hardly a day has passed in four months but what he has left in the home a note or some other evidence of his activity. Dr Bradley has more than 50 [?] notes, written in a scrawling, almost illegible hand, turned over to him by the Gott- frieds. Convinced of Evil Spirit Gottfried Sunday afternoon re- counted his experiences of the last four months. The conviction of both Gottfried and his wife that some evil spirit is in their home is so sincere that the police and alienists are aroused and are making every effort to relieve them. "At first I thought it was the chil- ren, and I took the strap to Clara and Verna," Gottfried said. "Then things happened that I can't account for. After the books and pillows were hurled the writing began. Such vile writing! On the walls at first an then the notes." Vile and obscene words, scrawled in crayon on the kitchen and bedroom walls, were seen by Dr Bradley and Dr. Rupp on their first visit, but Sun- day afternoon they had been washed away. Gottfried handed Dr. Bradley five notes, scrawled on a page torn from a book, two in envelopes and two on ordinary note paper, that the "ghost" had delivered during the day. "Fluttered from Ceiling" "They fluttered down from the ceil- ing," Gottfried declared. " My wife had gone to the church and I was in the rock- ing chair. The children were at home. Every door and window was closed. I heard a rustle and there on the floor lay the paper. This happened five times." Mrs. Gottfried told the alienist of experiences when Mr. Gottfried was away and of the terror that they caused her. "A glass of water was hurled from the table and into my face," she de- clared. "I was going out of the side door and the water left the table with- out anyone being near it. Catherine saw it. "Another day I heard a sizzling at the stove. I ran into the kitchen and [CONTINUED ON PAGE 2, COLUMN 2] {the continuation of the article is almost completely illegible in the digitized version of this newspaper} ALSO: {photo caption} Home of 'Ghost' Here's the home of the Sixth ward's latest ghost at 159 Sherman st. Grouped in the doorway is the family of Cornelius Gottfried, owner of the premises and occupants of the basement apartment. The ghost is a week-end visitor, usually operating on Saturday and Sunday. Inset is a picture of Catherine, 12, eldest daughter of the Gottfrieds. The ghost has never acted up unless Catherine is at home. Edited April 17, 2016 by Ken S. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeeSember Posted April 17, 2016 #2 Share Posted April 17, 2016 Kinda hard to read like that, shows that it is supposed to have pictures also, could you give the link to the original site please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken S. Posted April 17, 2016 Author #3 Share Posted April 17, 2016 (edited) Milwaukee Journal - March 6, 1923: School Girl, 12, Held as 'Ghost' Clara Gottfried Taken to Detention Home for Observation Efforts to solve the mystery of the "swearing ghost" who for four months has terrified the family of Cornelius Gottfried, 159 Sherman st., caused de- tectives Tuesday to take Clara Gott- fried, 12, oldest of the three Gottfried children to the juvenile detention home. The girl was taken to the home at noon Tuesday by Detectives Edward Biersach and Charles Mueller, after Dr Paul G. Rupp, county physician, and Mrs. Letitia Stiles, juvenile proba- tion officer, had made another inspec- tion of the home and had further ques- tioned the parents and the girl. When the officers accused the little girl of writing the notes and causing the other manifestations that caused the family of five to huddle each night in one small room, she stoutly denied that she was in any way responsible. Paper used by her in school and her writing books in the possession of Dr. Harry E. Bradley, however, caused the action of the police. Bright for Her Age Clara is unusually bright for her age, physicians say. She is alert and talks rapidly and with plausibility con- cerning her own actions. The physi- cians say, however, that the ghost has never appeared at the home except- ing when Clara was there. The writing on the walls was done with crayon such as children use in school. The books in which the scrib- bling mysteriously appeared are marked with crayon. A book on magic, which Clara has possessed for some months, is not marked and is one of her prized possessions. When the glass of water sprang from the table and splahed over Mrs. Gottfried, Clara was in the room. Ex- amination of Mrs. Gottfried showed that she had her back to the table. Clara, the mother says, was not near the table. When the books jumped from the bookcase and crashed against the walls Clara was asleep in the room. Followed by "Ghost" The "ghost" first appeared when the family lived in Bay View five months ago. Gottfried told the police that he became so alarmed that he sold the home and bought the place on Sherman st. in the hope that the family would not be found there. "I can't hardly believe that Clara could do those things," Gottfried said Tuesday. "It may be so, but I have believed that someone is playing magic on us. I went to a medium and she told me that some evil spirit who was an enemy of mine must be doing those things." Physicians plan to let Clara attend the school at the detention home for a week or 10 days. In the meantime they will watch for other ghostlike manifestations at her home. Spook of 1919 Recalled The Sherman st ghost recalls the "spook of Hubbard st." that brought thousands of curious persons out in zero weather in the winter of 1919-1920 to hear the noises in the house at 701 Hubbard st. At that time the building was occupied in part by Joseph Kraus, treasurer of the Gayety theater. the ghost first began to manifest itself in October, 1919. Like his Sherman st counterpart, he was a week-end per- former. his medium was rattling win- dows, making strange noises in cellar and garret, pounding on walls and casting strange shadows and lights through windows. When the new of the Hubbard st spook became public the block in front of 701 was jammed with thousands each night. Extra po- lice had to be called to handle the traffic. Judges, lawyers and friends of the police got card admission to the premises to see and hear the spook perform. The cause was never discov- ered and the spook subsided as sud- denly as he came. Police investigated for weeks and arrested a boy in the neighborhood, but the theory of wire- less and radio waves causing the sounds was never proven. ALSO: {photo caption} Terrified by "Swearing Ghost" Detectives, trying to solve the mystery of the "swearing ghost" that has terrified the family of Cor- nelius Gottfried, 159 Sherman st, for five months, acted at noon Tuesday by taking Clara Gottfried, 12, to the detention home. The above picture shows the home owned by Gottfried and the arrow points to the section occupied by the Gottfrieds. The family has slept huddled together in one small room in the basement. Above reading from left to right are Cornelius Gottfried, Mrs. Gott- fried, Joseph, 5, Verna, 7, and Clara, 12. Edited April 17, 2016 by Ken S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken S. Posted April 17, 2016 Author #4 Share Posted April 17, 2016 Milwaukee Journal - March 7, 1923 Gottfried Girl Under Key, but Pesky Ghost Prowls Despite the detention of Clara Gott- fried, 12, accused by the police of be- ing the "ghost" responsible for the terror of the family of Cornelius Gott- fried in their basement home at 159 Sherman-st, the spirit appeared again Tuesday night and Wednesday morn- ing. Both Mr. and Mrs. Gottfried as- serted that the ghost manifested his appearance, the first time at 7 p. m., Tuesday, eight hours after the police had removed Clara, and again early Wednesday morning, when Mrs. Gott- fried found another mystery note be- side her pillow. "We were in the kitchen Gottfried declared Wednesday, "and it was about [unclear] The lifter in the lid of the stove jumped out and was thrown across the floor. I was standing in the hall- way just off the kitchen. My wife and children were seated near the stove, but were not looking at it. We heard it hit the floor. It fell just be- hind me." Wife Tells of Note Mrs. Gottfried corroborated her hus- band's story and added her own ex- perience, which was with the note found on her pillow early Wednesday. "My husband and children had left the room," she said. "I was still in bed. We till sleep altogether in one room, because we are afraid. "When I opened my eyes, a note was lying on the pillow right next to my cheek. here is the note." Mrs. Gottfried exhibited a small piece of paper, such as is used by sc[oo]l children [...] copybook work—a p[...] about two by three inches. On one side, in the same handwriting, ap- parently [that] which appears on the other [...] a the possession of the pol[...] and [...]ounty physicians, the wo[...] Dr [...]ad[...] were scrawled [...] m[...]illeg [...]s[...]the [...]th[...]no[...] [...]he[...]le[...] [...]o[...]a[...]was Fears "Black Art" [...] some en[...]ng [...] [Gott]fried [...] How[...]d Clar[a] th[...] his person if he [...] a person [...] Dr. Paul H. Rupp who caused the removal of Catherine to the Detention home, admitted that while there is a possibility that Catherine did not do all of the work, the demonstration Tuesday night simply means that there is another ghost about the place and that some one else will have to be locked up. "Ther[e is] something wrong up there somewhere," he aid, "Everything pointed to Catherine, If the parents still produce notes an see manifesta- tions of ghosts further action will be necessary." Face Court Hearing A petition has been obtained sum- moning the entire family to juvenile court. They will appear before Judge Gustave Gehrz Fraiday. Perhaps the court will be able to solve the prob- lem. At least Gottfried and his wife will have an opportunity to explain things." A protest against the removal of Catherine from her home because of the ghostly writings and the other manifestations was made by E. J. King, president of the First Church of Higher Spiritualism, who visited the Gottfried home and also the De- tention home. "Catherine is a perfect medium and the whole affair is simple," he de- clared. "The fluttering of the notes and the writing on the wall is obvious to a spiritualist. "When Clara is not here the spirits may or may not come, but she is a psychic, a perfect medium. Leave her alone in the room and the spirits will come. I know it." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken S. Posted April 17, 2016 Author #5 Share Posted April 17, 2016 (edited) Milwaukee Journal – March 8, 1923 Hold Ghost Is a Poltergeist An earthbound spirit may be play- ing pranks on the Gottfried family. That is a tentative explanation of the Sherman-st "swearing ghost" offered Wednesday by Miss Louise G. Loebel, Fond du Lac, secretary of the Wiscon- sin State Spiritualist association, which is holding its annual convention in Engelmann hall, Auditorium. Investigation of the house at 129 [?] Sherman-st may be made by the new board of directors of the association this week, when the convention pro- gram has been finished. Miss Loebel and Edward E. Mick, Milwaukee, vice[-] president, said Wednesday they will lay the matter before the board at its first session and suggest the board it- self visit the house and interview the parents, or appoint a committee to do it. Miss Loebel declared she will in- terview the parents personally of the board does not see fit to take official cognizance of the "ghost house." "The description of what has taken place in this house sounds as though it may be the work of a poltergeist," said Miss Loebel Wednesday interviewed in the convention hall. "A poltergeist?" interrogatively. "Yes. An interferer." "Do you mean a spiritual interfer- er?" "No," interpolated Mr. Mick, "not spiritual. A spirit, perhaps, but not spiritual." "No, not spiritual," concurred Miss Loebel, "an earthbound spirit. "Of course, it may be a trick, but if [it] is not, it may be a poltergeist," she continued. "How old is the girl?" asked Miss Loebel, when questioned as to the pos- sibility that Catherine, daughter of Cornelius Gottfried, might be a me- dium." "Twelve," she was informed. "Yes, she could be a medium an[d] not know it," with an inquiring gl[ance] at Mr. Mick, who nodded in appr[ecia-] tion, ["]particularly if the parents [are] not conversant with spiritualism.["] The ghost refused to work Wednes- day night, and the rest of the Gott- fried family was undisturbed. Co[...] pointed, and did nit return Wednes- day night. {remainder of article (c. 2 paragraphs) largely unreadable} Edited April 17, 2016 by Ken S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken S. Posted April 18, 2016 Author #6 Share Posted April 18, 2016 Milwaukee Journal – March 9, 1923 Ghost Hearing Play for Clara Gottfried Child Taken From Home, but Stars in Leading Role The "ghost" hearing in juvenile court Thursday was a [ver]itable social triumph for Clara Gottfried, 12, iden- tified by police and [alien]ists as the "ghost" of the Gottfried home, 159 Sherman-st. True Judge Gustave G. Gehrz sent Clara to the detention home for children, but [...]r th[is w]ould not dim the scintilating [...] of the little star of the [...] [dra]ma. Clara, undersized, appear[...] [...]d [...] the blue uniform of detention home with her blond hair combed [?] [strai]ght back. She smiled self-consciously at every mention of her name, and her quick black eyes missed not a thing. She awaited expectantly her opportu- nity to "steal the act" and recognized and seized it when she was called to testify. Has Grande Dame Air Majestically, the child swept up to her position near the judge, seated her- self with a grande dame air, and smoothed her skirt in caricature of a grownup lady. And when she spoke, she chose her English with astonish- ing preciseness, gesticulated with her hands, raised her shoulders, and mani- pulated her eyebrows to emphasize points in her testimony. The gymnas- tics of her imagination had judge[,] court attendants and audience aghast most of the time she was on the stand. "You can imagine," she told the judge, with inimitable tone and ges- ture, "that I found these writings on the wall and these objects flying through the room extremely puzzling. "When the pillow would f[ly] through the room such an ugly si[...] w[ould] come from it [...]" and then, w[...] [...] eyebrows "really, I can't exp[lain ?] [how ?] ugly it was. Candy Burns Finger "Often my [...] in the night and tell me [...] [...] punched her. [...]e [...]w[...] black man. I did see a [...] [...] ed up in different [...] our door when I was [...] w[?]a[...] [the ?] children and spoke in our language, low German, you know. He wanted me to buy some candy. I became frightened and closed the door in hi face. The he handed me the candy right through the plate glass. I burned my fingers so terribly that I threw it in the stove." The Gottfried home, it was testified, was often the meeting place of relig- ious groups known as "holy jumpers" and "holy rollers." It was character- ized as filty. The family[--]father, mother and three children[--]sleep [in] one room in a double bed, [...]ngle bed and a crib. The handwriting in Clara's copy book corresponds with that on the wall and in notes which "fluttered from the ceiling." The "ghost" spelled several words in an unusual manner and Clara spelled the same words in the same unusual manner. The girl said she did not know the words written on the wall and in note were bad until her mother told her. The child told of attending religious meetings where "they shouted and jumped, and hollered, 'Praise the Lord.'" Father Given Warning Judge Gehrz warned Gottfried he may lose his other two children, Erna, 7, and Arthur, 4, unless conditions at the home improve and the children are protected from environment which led Clara to write obscene words. Cornelius, the father, protested that the testimony was exaggerated. He said the quarter were only temporary, for he intended to move his family up- stairs in the same house soon. "You must take care to guard these other children from the conditions which overstrained Clara's mind," said Judge Gehrz, "or we will take them, too. People like you, who are lim- ited mentally [?], anyway, should not at- tempt to handle matters like this. "The meetings you have had at your home will have to stop. You will have a lot of [...] ones coming there until you are all crazy. Rest, rational surroundings, and healthy thought will make Clara all right again." The court will receive a report on the girl's condition weekly. The case of Mrs. Gottfried will be handled in county court. The cases of Erna and Arthur have been continued in juve- nile court, pending improvement, or non-improvement of the home. - - - - - {this is the last I can find from the Journal, although I would think there are a few more; next will be articles from the Sentinel} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken S. Posted April 19, 2016 Author #7 Share Posted April 19, 2016 (edited) Milwaukee Journal - March 5, 1923 Milwaukee Journal - March 6, 1923 Edited April 19, 2016 by Ken S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coolguy Posted April 21, 2016 #8 Share Posted April 21, 2016 Wow thats kinda cool thanks for posting 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken S. Posted April 23, 2016 Author #9 Share Posted April 23, 2016 (edited) Milwaukee Sentinel - March 9, 1923 Edited April 23, 2016 by Ken S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken S. Posted April 23, 2016 Author #10 Share Posted April 23, 2016 Milwaukee Sentinel - March 9, 1923 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken S. Posted April 23, 2016 Author #11 Share Posted April 23, 2016 Milwaukee Sentinel - March 7, 1923 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Topp Posted April 23, 2016 #12 Share Posted April 23, 2016 very difficult to read. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freetoroam Posted April 23, 2016 #13 Share Posted April 23, 2016 Milwaukee Sentinel - March 9, 1923 Hi, what is the story here? can not read the majority of it....I can make out "trick of photography". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken S. Posted April 24, 2016 Author #14 Share Posted April 24, 2016 (edited) Not sure why this was merged; the ghost photo is something completely different. I believe the poor quality is the result of google's digitization process. I'm assuming the entire articles are readable in the microfilm copies they used. ...and the post about the Wisconsin State Spiritualist association has been completely removed. That's fine, if nobody's interested in historical information I'll just post it somewhere else. Edited April 24, 2016 by Ken S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freetoroam Posted April 24, 2016 #15 Share Posted April 24, 2016 Not sure why this was merged; the ghost photo is something completely different. I believe the poor quality is the result of google's digitization process. I'm assuming the entire articles are readable in the microfilm copies they used. ...and the post about the Wisconsin State Spiritualist association has been completely removed. That's fine, if nobody's interested in historical information I'll just post it somewhere else. Hi, sorry, but there is nothing interesting anymore when its "eventually determined to be a "hoax". 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken S. Posted April 24, 2016 Author #16 Share Posted April 24, 2016 The "authorities" at the time decided it was a "hoax". There's no way of knowing what really went on because all we have is articles by very skeptical journalists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rashore Posted April 25, 2016 #17 Share Posted April 25, 2016 The "authorities" at the time decided it was a "hoax". There's no way of knowing what really went on because all we have is articles by very skeptical journalists. What do you think might have really went on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollyDolly Posted May 3, 2016 #18 Share Posted May 3, 2016 What went on I have no clue. My dad was born in Milwaukee and my grandparents later moved to Hot Springs in the early 1920s to take over great grandpa's businesses when he got ill. I've never heard my dad mention this at all. I do recall him talking about walking with a friend back when he was a teenager past Union Cemetery in Milwaukee one night. As they walked past it,he noticed a light moving in the cemetery.At first he thought it was the care taker making his rounds. But the way the thing moved and that made him realize it wasn't a real person with a light. He told grandma about it. He said she spoke to the old german caretaker who told her that on his rounds he had also seen a strange light moving and it wasn't any grave robber but had no idea what it might be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JesseCuster Posted May 4, 2016 #19 Share Posted May 4, 2016 Not sure why this was merged; the ghost photo is something completely different. It's generally considered good forum etiquette to post things with an accompanying description of what you're posting, why you're posting it, etc. Simply quoting verbatim a bunch of articles about a particular case across multiple threads without any intro or explanation just means people are likely to ignore it. People don't like to read large blocks of text without being given a reason to do so. Ditto goes for watching YouTube videos, clicking on links, etc. (I know you didn't do that but it's the same issue, you can't expect people to engage in a subject without making an attempt to explain what you're posting about and why)Is there something about this case you find interesting and wish to discuss? Are you simply letting others know about this case? Etc. etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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