Dark La Crosse Stories: Recent Episodes
La Crosse Tribune and La Crosse Public Library
Podcast looks at the seedier side of La Crosse, Wis., history. This podcast is a partnership between the La Crosse Public Library and the La Crosse Tribune. The stories, which are all at least 50 years old, cover everything from the city’s red-light district and counterfeiters, to a double homicide and suicide, and murder over a pearl when La Crosse had an established pearl industry. For more information and to see video versions of these episodes featuring historic photos and headlines, click here >> http://bit.ly/darklacrosse
What happens when an unsavory business opens in a historic home in the heart of an upper-class residential district?
In 1883, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in La Crosse opened the St. Mary's Indian School, a boarding school that was on the reservation of the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa Indians with the mission to convert Ojibwe children to Catholicism, a history the FSPA now must reconcile with the survivors and descendants of St. Mary's.
At the turn of the 20th century, disgraced Reverend Martin Hanson left a North La Crosse congregation, his family, and the family pet wondering what happened to the man they thought they knew.
In October 1927, the La Crosse County Coroner drove to Madison with a macabre cargo - a human stomach, destined for the state toxicologist’s office, exhumed from Oak Grove Cemetery just days after its burial.
An evening performance of Howe's Great London Circus descended into chaos as a raging summer storm moved through La Crosse in 1875.
A hot summer night in 1935 that began with celebrating at the Crystal Room in the Hotel Stoddard ended in tragedy on the Old Wagon Bridge spanning the Mississippi River.
In December 1907, in the Olmsted County Courthouse in Rochester, a beautiful, young and popular socialite woman was being held facing six counts of forgery and three counts of obtaining money under false pretenses.
Her plea? Not guilty.
Decide for yourself whether Aimee Sickle Lloyd is guilty or not, and learn more about what happened to female prisoners in Wisconsin in this episode of Dark La Crosse Stories.
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What happens when archival records leave out crucial histories of those who persecuted by the writers of history?
In this episode of Dark La Crosse Stories, listen to the account of the persecution and forced movement of Indigenous people -- the Ho-Chunk peoples -- as told by a citizen of the Ho-Chunk nation.
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A notorious criminal ends up in the La Crosse County jail in 1913 after a drunken night out. The man was known for kidnapping high profile individuals and holding them for ransom, long before kidnapping was a common crime.
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Did the end of World War II usher in a crime wave in the United States? In La Crosse County, men and women defended their property and livelihoods against "homegrown Hitlers" in the latest installment of the Dark La Crosse series.
What post-war societal problems contributed to the turn to crime? Find out in episode 55, "Homefront Hero."
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When one of Minnesota's oldest weekly papers takes a shift towards the sensational, a community becomes divided, with reputations at stake. Some lives are changed forever.
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The echoes of what sounded like a bombardment along the Mississippi River south of La Crosse in the fall of 1902 was a desperate attempt to retrieve the bodies of a well-known La Crosse business owner and his grandson.
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A second chance at love seemed promising for Mrs. Hope McEldowney of West
Salem, a widow of 44 years of age in 1913. McEldowney met a clairvoyant on one of her jaunts to Chicago who operated a bookstore on upscale Michigan Avenue with
occult rooms in the back. She became a regular client, and the two became more than just friends.
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A hardworking brother, born the 11th son of a farming family, noted for his good character and straightforward life by family and neighbors alike, a man whose final act appeared to be reading the Bible in the kitchen by the fire. Or a desperate, demented man, prone to drinking and violent acts, his sudden fits of fury made even more menacing by the fact that he couldn’t speak above a whisper.
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A lot of rumors swirled around the "celebrated recluse" of La Crosse, Mary Ann Parker — but was there any truth that she murdered her husband?
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Mary Ann Parker was a strange woman who had been holed up in her house ever since her husband died. Were the rumors true about her?
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You may visit this now family-friendly block to get ice cream and sweets, but it has a sordid history in La Crosse.
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One of the biggest shadows to loom in the La Crosse Police Department.
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"The boss bigamist of the United States belongs to La Crosse."
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The issues of drugs and addiction are nothing new to La Crosse.
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What's the scariest La Crosse ghost story you've ever heard?
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"Halt" would be the last word officer Perry Gates ever said.
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Four members of the Goose Green Gang cause trouble on the area segment of the Milwaukee Road.
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In 1927, famous aviator Charles Lindbergh flew over the city of La Crosse, dropping a note — but it wasn't the top headline of the day.
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A young La Crosse woman's wedding day was going perfectly — until an ex decided to take a "shot" at stopping the big day.
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One of La Crosse's most known tragedies, told through the voice of someone who was onboard the ship.
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A $133 bank robbery, a bear's layover, a courtroom brawl and more interesting vignettes from La Crosse's history.
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This latest, gruesome episode tells the story of one affair between a La Crosse couple came to an end with a hammer on Dead Man's Curve.
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The twists and turns continue in part two of this Brinkman Ridge story.
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This first episode in a two-part story begins to unravel a mystery full of twists and turns from one family on Brinkman Ridge.
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Here's why many people believe this longtime building in downtown La Crosse is haunted.
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A paycheck dispute leads to foreman being shot to death in 1910.
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Dogs trained by a soda jerk at the Bodega Lunch Club were valuable in a variety of criminal and missing persons investigations.
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She was known to some as the Toast of the Northwest and to others as a femme fatale.
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A friendly fire incident in La Crosse turned deadly.
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This is the second in a two-part story that describes how a political celebration turned ugly in 1884.
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This is the first in a two-part story that describes how a political celebration turned ugly in 1884. The second part will be released March 17.
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La Crosse newspaper man Marcus ‘Brick’ Pomeroy took a controversial position during the Civil War.
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The story of the 1937 murder of a beloved La Crosse police officer.
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The sharp-shooting physician and politician, who called himself White Beaver, made his fortune selling cough syrup and his fame through dime-store novels full of outlandish tales of his frontier exploits with friend William "Buffalo Bill" Cody.
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The story of the 1888 overdose of Annie Daniel and the local doctor who was responsible for her death. Advisory: This episode includes description of violence against women.
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The 1947 story of a prominent La Crosse physician who was shot four times along Hwy. 16 while making house calls.
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On the 19th episode of Dark La Crosse Stories, the archives team at the La Crosse Public Library tells the stories of the deadly storm that hit the upper Midwest on Nov. 11, 1940. The Dark La Crosse Stories series…
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On the 18th episode of Dark La Crosse Stories, the archives team at the La Crosse Public Library breaks the tension with a few short vignettes into mysterious but funny events of the past.
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On the 17th episode of Dark La Crosse Stories, the archives team at the La Crosse Public Library explores the recent disappearance of a local teenager in a tale that haunts the city to this day.
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On the 16th episode of Dark La Crosse Stories, the archives team at the La Crosse Public Library shares the story of one of the city's first and most beloved police officers, and his legacy that stretched from the river…
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On the 15th episode of Dark La Crosse Stories, the archives team at the La Crosse Public Library uncovers a sordid tale of two pioneers, the end to their shared dream of finding riches in the mid-18th Century frontier and…
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On the 14th episode of Dark La Crosse Stories, the archives team at the La Crosse Public Library dives deep into the history of the Black and Mississippi Rivers, the logging industry and a deadly conflict that arose between two…
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On the 13th episode of Dark La Crosse Stories, the archives team at the La Crosse Public Library explores a tenuous link between the city's current mayor, Tim Kabat, and a counterfeiter who lived on the south side over a…
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On the 12th episode of Dark La Crosse Stories, the archives team at the La Crosse Public Library becomes embedded in the past with a story about service, struggle and murder.
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On the 11th episode of Dark La Crosse Stories, the archives team at the La Crosse Public Library tells the stories of Frankie La Salle, a veteran of the world’s oldest profession during its golden age in downtown La Crosse.
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On the tenth episode of Dark La Crosse Stories, the archives team at the La Crosse Public Library digs deep into a tale of a medical anomaly, desperation and finally, relief. The Dark La Crosse Stories series is made possible…
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On the ninth episode of Dark La Crosse Stories, the archives team at the La Crosse Public Library chases down a tale connecting the city of La Crosse to infamous mobster, John Dillinger. The Dark La Crosse Stories series is…
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On the eighth episode of Dark La Crosse Stories, the archives team at the La Crosse Public Library takes a look at a #metoo worthy story involving a "doctor" and an aspiring actress in the early 20th century. The Dark…
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On the seventh episode of Dark La Crosse Stories, the archives team at the La Crosse Public Library explores heartbreak and suicide in the late 19th century among the city's struggling logging industry. The Dark La Crosse Stories series is…
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On the sixth episode of Dark La Crosse Stories, the archives team at the La Crosse Public Library take a deep dive into old Tribune clippings from the roaring 20s to provide a glimpse into what life was like for…
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On the fifth episode of Dark La Crosse Stories, the archives team at the La Crosse Public Library travels back in time to revisit a bone chilling tale of ghosts, ghouls and unexplained happenings at the La Crosse railway yard.…
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On the fourth episode of Dark La Crosse Stories, the archives team at the La Crosse Public Library travels back in time to revisit a stabbing at one of the city's saloons from the perspective of a key witness whose…
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On the third episode of Dark La Crosse Stories, the La Crosse Public Library archives team weaves a horrid true tale of grave robbing, mutilation and a possible haunting in a mystery that alludes police to this day.
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For the second episode of Dark La Crosse Stories, the archive team at La Crosse Public Library travels back in time to revisit a story of jealousy and revenge, heartbreak and murder that left three dead, one of which was…
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For the inaugural episode of Dark La Crosse, the archive team at La Crosse Library travels back in time to revisit a jailbreak and car chase that rocked the city. The Dark La Crosse series is made possible by a…
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