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Milwaukee "swearing ghost" -- March 1923


Ken S.

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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 by Ken S.
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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?

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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 by Ken S.
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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."

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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 by Ken S.
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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}

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Milwaukee Sentinel - March 9, 1923

post-160447-0-00522900-1461429703_thumb.

post-160447-0-63519100-1461429711_thumb.

Hi, what is the story here? can not read the majority of it....I can make out "trick of photography".

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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 by Ken S.
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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".

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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.

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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?

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  • 2 weeks later...

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.

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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.

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