Many strange legends abound in the Driftless Area, but encounters over the years with a creature dubbed the “Mineral Point Vampire” may be the most bizarre of all.
Located in the heart of Wisconsin’s Driftless Area, Mineral Point is a small town with a lot of history. Founded in 1827, it became one of the Midwest’s earliest mining hubs, drawing settlers eager to extract its abundant lead and zinc deposits. The arrival of skilled Cornish miners in the 1830s brought not only advanced mining techniques but also a distinct cultural imprint, visible today in the stone cottages of the Pendarvis Historic Site. Although lead mining waned in the late 19th century as the miners headed west for gold rush, Mineral Point reinvented itself. The town attracted artists and preserved its historical charm, which now makes it a beloved destination for heritage tourism.
As a backdrop to its rich history, Mineral Point has become a hotbed of folklore and ghost stories, with bizarre tales ranging from the spirit of an executed murderer, a werewolf, and even a recurring vampire.
The Haunted History of Mineral Point
Mineral Point has a long and rich history shaped by the Cornish miners who settled there. These miners brought with them their distinctive architecture, customs, and superstitions, some of which persist in local lore today. They spoke of mythical creatures known as “Piskies” and “Tommy Knockers.”
Piskies, goblin-like beings, were believed to sometimes swap their own children with human infants. Meanwhile, Tommy Knockers (small, mischievous spirits who lived underground in the mines) were said to protect miners who respected them by leaving behind the crusts of their pasties.
The town also carries a darker legend: the tale of the notorious Ridgeway Ghost. This apparition, believed to be the spirit of a man (or it might be two brothers) killed in a bar fight during the area’s lead-mining heyday, has haunted Mineral Point in recurring waves, reportedly appearing in 40-year cycles from the mid-1800s into the 1900s.
Another prominent ghost story comes from the Walker House. Although their website denies it, the historic building is said to be haunted by the spirit of William Caffee who was hanged nearby in 1842 for murdering Samuel Southwick at Berry Tavern.
In 1987, in the middle of a sunny spring afternoon, as many as twenty people apparently witnessed a werewolf running in the daylight into a building, where they watched it transform back into a human. The story was related second hand to Wisconsin researcher Linda Godfrey, and can be found in her book Hunting the American Werewolf.
But among all of Mineral Point’s eerie stories, one stands out for being particularly strange: the legend of the Mineral Point Vampire that comes from multiple eyewitness reports spanning decades.
Encounter with the Mineral Point Vampire
1981: Incident at Graceland Cemetery
The Mineral Point Vampire legend began on the night of March 14, 1981. Local police officer Jon Pepper was routinely shining his light through Graceland Cemetery, where there had been ongoing problems with vandalism, when his light flashed over a huge, dark figure among the gravestones.
Pepper described the figure as “a huge person, wearing a black cape with a white painted face…… about 6′ 5″ and ugly.”
He approached the figure and asked what it was doing, but in response it just turned and ran. Pepper gave chase, pursuing the figure until it reached the edge of the cemetery, leaped over a four-foot fence, and vanished into the darkness of the adjoining bull pasture.
Pepper and several other officers investigated the scene the next day. They didn’t find any damage or disturbance of any kind. They followed footprints in the snow to the fence where the vampire had jumped, but didn’t find any on the other side.
Although Pepper reportedly discounted the idea of a vampire, suspecting instead that the individual may have been mentally ill, the sighting sparked rumors that spread quickly through Mineral Point.
The next several weeks saw a rash of pranksters dressed as Count Dracula jumping out of the shadows at unsuspecting passersby.
Police Lt. Bill Trott told the Wisconsin State Journal that he couldn’t get any officers to go back out to Graceland Cemetery at night (Pepper included) and made it a point to clarify that this wasn’t an April Fool’s joke.
2004: Vampiric Apartment Heckler
The vampire seemingly went dormant after that as there were no sightings for 23 years. But that changed on a night in March of 2004, at around 9 PM, when police responded to calls from residents of an apartment complex who reported they were being “heckled” by a person sitting in a tree outside the building.
The description matched that of the so-called Mineral Point Vampire: a pale figure, dressed in dark, old-fashioned clothing, possibly a cape.
When officers arrived, the suspect jumped from the tree and ran off into the night, leaving tracks in the fresh snow.
They followed the tracks, which dead ended at a 10-foot-high cement wall.
Once again, the Mineral Point Vampire had disappeared without a trace.
2008: Encounter at Ludden Lake
In 2008, another bizarre encounter was reported, this time just outside of town at Ludden Lake. On the evening of July 11, Mineral Point residents Brandon Heinz and his girlfriend, Jamie Marker, were fishing off a jetty on the lake’s west shore when they heard strange noises beneath them. It sounded, they said, like something or someone climbing along the wooden structure of the jetty. Heinz attempted to scare the intruder away by stomping, but when he shone his flashlight between the boards, he and Marker heard splashing as something moved toward the far side of the jetty.
They turned to see a pale-faced figure with dark hair, pulling itself up onto the jetty.
“It was wearing some kind of Dracula looking cape and a suit, sort of,” Heinz reported.
Heinz and Marker stood frozen as the figure rose to its feet. Then, Marker turned and ran up the path toward Heinz’s vehicle. Heinz threw his flashlight at the figure and followed her. As they reached the vehicle, Marker turned and screamed at the sight of the figure running up the path toward them. The couple sped away and immediately reported the incident to the police.
Officers searched the area but found nothing.
When Heinz and Marker returned the next day to retrieve their belongings, everything was intact and accounted for except for Heinz’s flashlight, which was nowhere to be found.
“Whoever it is,” Heinz said, “they can keep it.”
Vincent Price in Mineral Point
Coincidentally, the town with a vampire problem has an unlikely connection to the iconic “Master of Horror” himself, Vincent Price. His mother Marguerite Cobb grew up here, with several generations of his ancestors being prominent Mineral Point citizens.
Price’s great-grandfather, George Cobb, was a well-known local merchant and Superintendent of the Mineral Point Railroad. Cobb’s office remains preserved at the Mineral Point Railroad Museum, and the store he built is now the Commerce Street Brewery Hotel.
The Cobb family home still stands on Cothern Street, beside the elementary school, and the family also donated several stained-glass windows to the town’s Trinity Episcopal Church.
Although Price never lived in or even visited Mineral Point, he made a significant donation to the church in 1962 to repair its organ, which had initially been dedicated to the memory of his great-aunt, Laura Antoinette Cobb.
In 1983, while Price was lecturing at UW-Madison, he responded to a letter from the curator of the Mineral Point archives, writing, “I have heard all about Mineral Point from my mother and father, but being the last of four children, it was rather far removed and I remember little of the tales except for Shakerag Street.”
The Cobbs and other ancestors of Vincent Price are buried in Graceland Cemetery (along with no-so-spooky actor/producer/Betty White’s husband Allen Ludden), the very site where the Mineral Point Vampire was first sighted.
The Cobb house still stands beside the elementary school on Cothern Street.
