Summary
- Farmer John Sullivan was mysteriously shot in 1877 near a footbridge in Omro, Wisconsin, with no apparent motive or leads.
- Local spirit mediums held séances to try and contact spirits for clues about Sullivan’s killer, but they failed to provide any answers.
- A man named Mr. Wilson later saw a ghostly figure with a rifle on the same bridge and heard a voice claim, “That is the gun that killed John Sullivan.”
- The credibility of Omro’s Spiritualists later collapsed when materialized “spirits” during a séance were exposed as frauds.
- Spiritualism played a significant role in Wisconsin’s history, with towns like Whitewater earning a reputation for paranormal activity.
Omro’s Spiritualist Community
By the late 19th century, Wisconsin had emerged as an important hub for Spiritualism, the practice of communicating with the dead through séances and spirit mediums. Communities like Milwaukee, Madison, Lake Mills, Wonewoc, and Whitewater became prominent centers for this growing movement, each contributing its own unique energy to the strange and supernatural landscape of the state.
The Fox Valley, in particular, proved to be fertile ground for communing with the other side. Omro, a small town west of Oshkosh, was home to the First Spiritualist Society. Around 1870, the group built a hall where enthralled members of the public would gather to watch the spirits emerge on the dark stage during séances.
There, renowned mediums from around the country such as Moses Hull and the Davenport brothers frequently performed.
With their powerful connections to the supernatural, Omro’s mediums turned to the other side to solve the mysterious murder of farmer John Sullivan in 1877.
Murder on the Bridge
Sullivan had spent his day trading in town and was on his way home around 9 or 10 o’clock when he met his mysterious end near a footbridge across the Fox River. That night, residents near the bridge reported hearing a cry, followed by a single gunshot. Sullivan was found soon after, dead from a fatal bullet wound. He had no known enemies, and had spent most of his money on supplies in town earlier that day so robbery likely wasn’t the case.
There appeared to be no motive, and no leads.
Desperate for answers, local mediums took matters into their own hands. They held séances under flickering candlelight, calling on the spirits to reveal Sullivan’s killer from beyond the veil. But the spirits offered nothing. Séance rooms were silent, leaving the mediums frustrated and the community in fear.
A few weeks later, however, the silence was shattered in a way no one could have predicted.
A man referred to only as Mr. Wilson was crossing the same footbridge where Sullivan had been killed when a figure materialized from the shadows, rifle in hand. Suddenly, a disembodied voice whispered through the night, chilling Wilson to his core: “That is the gun that killed John Sullivan.”
Before Wilson could react, a blood-curdling scream pierced the air, followed by the unmistakable crack of a gunshot. The figure with the rifle vanished as quickly as it had appeared, leaving Wilson frozen in terror. He fled back into town, breathlessly recounting the incident to anyone who would listen.
Wilson swore he’d recognize the rifle if he ever saw it again. And by some accounts he did, but if so, he didn’t tell anyone where he saw it, or who it belonged to.
Sullivan’s murder was never solved and remains a mystery to this day.
Spiritualism in Wisconsin
Spiritualism wasn’t just a passing trend in Wisconsin; it was deeply woven into the fabric of the state’s history. Even Wisconsin Territory’s third governor, Nathaniel Potter Tallmadge, was drawn to the practice. Tallmadge was quite vocal about his connection to the spirit world, frequently holding séances on his farm near Fond du Lac, where spirits even taught one of his children to play the piano.
That same land is now Rienzi Cemetery, a burial ground rife with rumors of hauntings, witches, and a gate to Hell.
Further south, the town of Whitewater cemented its reputation as a spiritualist hotspot. In the late 19th century, a man named Morris Pratt opened a school dedicated to the study and practice of Spiritualism. The Morris Pratt Institute offered classes in metaphysical science, and its most popular events were the weekly public séances.
The small town became known as “Second Salem” due to the rampant legends of witchcraft and paranormal experiences reported there, all said to occur within the triangle formed by the city’s three cemeteries.
Even today, Whitewater’s eerie history continues to attract curious travelers and paranormal enthusiasts alike.
Downfall of Spiritualism in Omro
The inability for Omro’s mediums to find answers to John Sullivan’s murder in the afterlife may have casted some doubt on their abilities, but it was the scandalous revelation made by local boys during a public séance that is credited as their undoing.
During these events at the Spiritualist Hall, spirits would materialize on the stage for everyone to see, clothed in white gowns or habits made of lightweight gossamer fabric. They most likely resembled the white robe worn by Madison medium Louise Parke, which matches descriptions of the clothing worn by performers masquerading as ghosts in dark séance parlors.
At that time, a “spirit” could make as much as $3 per seance, a considerably sum that was more than most could typically make at their normal jobs.
On this particularly fateful night, as the spirits began to appear during a public event at the hall, a group of local boys in the front row charged the stage and revealed the spirits as frauds.
The Spiritualists abandoned the hall after that, and the building eventually became the Omro Opera House.
A version of this article was originally published in the Wisconsin Frights newsletter.
