Why Ripon College Is One of My Favorite Haunted Places in Wisconsin

Another late night in Benstead Theatre. I was sitting in the center of the room, working on a project, when all of the theater lights shut off—even the ghost light on center stage. They weren't on a timer, and no one was in the tech booth. "Raphael, cut it out. Turn the lights back on!" I demanded.

And turn on they did.

For many arts students in the Clarence J. Rodman Center for the Arts at Ripon College, Raphael was just part of being an artist on campus. We didn't know where he came from, but I knew he was around. He is just one of many haunts known to populate the college.

It shouldn't come as any surprise that Ripon College would have its fair share of ghost stories. After all, do you know of any other colleges with cemeteries directly next to campus? At this school, one is located along the path you walk to class or to lunch. When you walk past a place like Hillside Cemetery daily for four years, you become accustomed to the macabre. Some of our dorm rooms even looked out onto the cemetery, which means a little something more if a student mentions that they're dead tired during finals week. Many consider Ripon College to be one of the most haunted college campuses in the Midwest. On the other hand, I think Ripon itself is the best college town in Wisconsin.

The first recorded burial date in Hillside Cemetery is 1849, just two years before the founding of Ripon College. It isn't nearly as scary as some of the spookiest haunted cemeteries in Wisconsin. What is interesting about the cemetery, however, is that it has a section set aside to be a "potter's field"—an area where unclaimed or unknown persons would be buried. Could that be the reason nearly every building on campus seems to have a ghost story?

There was a basketball dribbling ghost in the Tri-Dorms, the high-heeled figure who clacks through the halls of Rodman, shadow figures in Lane Library, and a supposedly summoned being that wanders the Ceresco Prairie. These are all stories I heard through the years at Ripon. Could there be rational explanations for the happenings across campus? Certainly. But it is a lot more interesting if you lean into the campus lore.

As someone who loves a good ghost story, Ripon College is definitely my favorite haunted place in Wisconsin. Perhaps it's the many stories or the familiarity of Raphael demanding we be done in his theater for the day. Whatever it is, it's always enjoyable to discuss, and it seems there are always new stories to add to the collection.

Want to visit Ripon for yourself? Or just hang out in central Wisconsin for a spell? Use the Only In Your State's AI travel planner to recommend some of our favorite places. Maybe you can even travel down one of Wisconsin's most haunted roads to get there.