Bender Park

Bender Park in Oak Creek is associated with two abandoned roads that have become fixtures of local ghost lore: Fitzsimmons Road and E. Oakwood Road, better known as the “Road to Nowhere.” Both roads once extended toward the Lake Michigan cliffs, but their final stretches are now barricaded and closed to traffic. The isolated roads, abrupt drop-offs and history of tragedy have made this corner of Oak Creek a source of stories about unexplained activity and an unsettling sense of being watched.

Fitzsimmons Road is the darker of the two in local legend. Stories claim that drag races once ended in fatal crashes near the road’s abrupt cliffside terminus, leaving behind restless spirits. Another legend connects the area to a deranged 19th-century farmer said to have murdered family members and neighbors with an axe. A dirt trail known as Plevoc Road branches from Fitzsimmons Road and is itself part of the lore, reportedly home to a reclusive hermit. Visitors exploring the accessible portions of the abandoned road have described an intense feeling of unease, adding another layer to its reputation as one of Oak Creek’s stranger places.

The “Road to Nowhere” carries a more specific and tragic story. On a summer night in 1976, a car carrying teenagers reportedly broke through a barricade on E. Oakwood Road and plunged more than 200 feet to the beach below. Two people died, while the surviving passengers suffered serious injuries, including one person who was permanently injured. Today, the barricaded road and its isolated position overlooking Lake Michigan remain a stark reminder of what happened there. The haunting stories surrounding Bender Park are folklore and reported experiences rather than established evidence of paranormal activity, but the combination of real tragedy, abandoned roads and generations of local legend gives the area an unmistakably eerie reputation.

Reported Paranormal Activity

• Restless spirits said to haunt the end of Fitzsimmons Road after fatal drag-racing crashes
• A reported sense of being watched or followed along the abandoned roads
• Unexplained unease associated with Fitzsimmons Road and the surrounding woods
• Local lore of a 19th-century axe-murdering farmer
• Stories of a reclusive hermit