About
Long before it became a quiet resort destination, Delavan stood at the center of America’s traveling circus industry. From the 1840s through the late 1800s, more than two dozen circuses wintered here, training animals and performers along the shores of Delavan Lake. Among them was a massive Asian elephant named Juliet, a star attraction of the Mabie brothers’ Olympic Circus who performed alongside the far more infamous killer elephant Romeo. While Romeo would go on to earn a reputation as one of the most dangerous circus animals in U.S. history, Juliet’s story ends in a quieter but far stranger way, one that has lingered in Delavan folklore for more than a century.
Juliet died in February of 1896 while wintering in Delavan. At the time, disposing of a multi-ton elephant posed a logistical problem with few options, especially when the ground was frozen, making the act of digging an elephant-sized grave was impossible. According to historical accounts tied to Delavan’s circus era, handlers made Romeo drag Juliet’s body onto the frozen surface of Lake Delavan and left there. When the ice thawed in spring, the carcass slipped beneath the surface and disappeared into the lake.
Local legend says Fishermen have snagged their lines on massive elephant bones, an elephant’s trunk has been seen breaking the surface of the water, and the distant trumpeting of an elephant’s call can be heard echoing across the water.
Today, the area near Lake Lawn Resort is widely believed to mark Juliet’s final resting place, just offshore from one of the resort’s piers. Whether rooted in truth, exaggeration, or generations of retelling, the legend persists. It ties directly back to Delavan’s identity as the 19th century “Circus Capital of the World” and to the darker reality behind that legacy, where even in death, the animals that once drew crowds may not have fully left. On still nights, when the lake goes quiet and the shoreline empties, some visitors swear the past hasn’t sunk as deep as it should.
Reported Paranormal Activity
- Sightings of a trunk-like shape rising from the water
- Unexplained low, trumpet-like sounds over the lake at night
- Fishermen reportedly pulling large, unidentified bones from the lake
Find more of Delavan’s haunted circus history in Spring Grove Cemetery →
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