1864 Saloon, Boarding House & Reportedly Active Bar
135 Walnut Street, Baraboo, WI 53913
Research updated May 2026
Age
21+ for bar service; ghost hunts typically 18+
Cost
$$
Bar and grill prices are moderate. Ghost-hunt event tickets are typically in the $50 to $90 range depending on the format.
Access
Limited Access
Three-floor 1864 building with original stairs to upstairs and basement
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1864 · 1864 Boarding House · Former Brothel · Prohibition-Era Roadhouse Lore · Travel Channel Feature
The Old Baraboo Inn was built in 1864 as a boarding house directly across the street from the Baraboo railroad depot, which connected the town to Chicago and the broader rail network. Through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the building operated as a saloon and a working brothel, serving rail workers and traveling men. Local oral history claims the inn served as a roadside stop for Prohibition-era figures including Al Capone — these stories are repeated in regional press and on the inn's own marketing, but no primary documentation (newspaper records, federal indictments, period photographs) confirms a Capone visit. Treat this as legend, not history.
Wisconsin Frights and Madison.com archival reporting summarize accounts of three women who reportedly died at the brothel and at least two former owners who died on-site; numbers vary between retellings and the inn's investigation lore has accreted over decades. The brothel-period rooms upstairs are the principal subject of the inn's resident-figure stories.
The property currently operates as a bar and grill at 135 Walnut Street, with hours Thursday through Saturday 5 PM to 10 PM and Sunday 11 AM to 6 PM. The kitchen serves a Friday fish fry and Saturday prime rib alongside a casual menu. The owners openly host paranormal-investigation events and the building has been featured by the Travel Channel and named to Food Network's list of America's most-haunted locations.
American Hauntings runs Night at the Old Baraboo Inn as a recurring overnight ghost-hunt program, and mini ghost-hunts plus special events are sold via the inn's Eventbrite page.
Sources
Madison.com archival reporting and longstanding local accounts describe a saloon-dancer figure observed on the upstairs landing and a smaller, older woman seen near the bar's downstairs entry. The brothel-period figure most often named is a woman called Mary, said in oral history to have died in the upstairs rooms. A small number of children are also reported in the building's lore, and at least two former owners are said to remain present.
Reports collected by American Ghost Walks, American Hauntings, and Wisconsin Dells press describe a wide variety of phenomena: objects moved between rooms, balls of light briefly visible in the basement, taps to the head and shoulder, voices from unoccupied corners, doors opening and closing without environmental cause, sudden temperature drops, and full apparitions of an elderly woman.
The basement and the upstairs rooms are the most-investigated parts of the building. The basement was historically used for storage and rail-worker bunking; current investigators report a heavy presence in the back corner. The upstairs former brothel rooms are where investigators most frequently report personal-experience phenomena, including being touched.
The Old Baraboo Inn was featured on the Travel Channel and named one of Food Network's ten most-haunted locations in the United States. The book Where the Party Never Ended: Ghosts of the Old Baraboo Inn collects investigation accounts and oral history of the building.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Casual bar-and-grill service in the original 1864 saloon space. The downstairs bar is the working barroom; staff are accustomed to discussing the building's documented investigation history with curious patrons.
Overnight ghost-hunt event run by American Hauntings with full access to all three floors — the main saloon, the upstairs former brothel area, and the basement. Equipment and structured investigation periods are provided.
Shorter evening ghost-hunt events scheduled multiple times per year, including National Ghost Hunting Day programming. Format includes saloon-floor and basement access without overnight stay.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Memphis, TN
Earnestine & Hazel's occupies a building at 531 South Main Street that began as a pharmacy in the late 1930s under Memphis businessman Abe Plough, founder of what became Coppertone. Plough gave the property to two of his hairstylist clients, Earnestine and Hazel, who turned the ground floor into a cafe while the upstairs operated as a brothel into the 1980s. Bud Chittom and Delmer George purchased the property in 1992 and reopened it as the bar that operates today.
Goodsprings, NV
The Pioneer Saloon in Goodsprings, Nevada, was built in 1913 by Clark County commissioner George Fayle and is one of the oldest continuously operating saloons in the state. It is closely associated with actress Carole Lombard, whose 1942 plane crash at nearby Mount Potosi was coordinated, in part, from the building.
Cincinnati, OH
Arnold's Bar and Grill at 210 E 8th Street is the oldest continuously operating bar in Cincinnati, established in 1861 by Simon Arnold in a building dating to the 1830s. Three generations of the Arnold family ran the business through 1959, including the Prohibition era when Elmer Arnold reportedly distilled bathtub gin upstairs while pivoting to a food menu. Ronda Breeden purchased the bar in 1998; her family operates it today.