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photo contributed by Jeff Dallas

Enjoy a meal with an ambiance of whirling, blinking, waving mechanical creatures surrounding you.  Outside the restaurant is a beautiful vintage carousel beckoning your children in the back seat to beg you to eat here.

  2902 E Washington Ave.
Madison, WI  53704
(608) 241-5291  MapQuest

hours:
(Sun - Thurs)  10am – 10pm  /  (Fri - Sat)  10am – 11pm

Ella's Deli: Play with your food
posted by 77square

double-click to enlarge video

In this (sometimes) quiet drinking hall, one room has several wall-size renderings of the famous northwoods lumberjack and his blue ox.

The basement of the Cress Funeral Home contains a museum of taxidermy created by its former owner Sam Sanfillippo.  The new owners still keep the display open for visitors, but if you wish to see the odd spectacle for yourself, call the number below ahead of time as you don't want to be crashing any funerals.

"Sid Boyum was a longtime Eastside Madison resident, an artist, sculptor and eccentric. After he retired from a career as an industrial photographer, he filled his property with a profusion of works, primarily in painted concrete, that range from the whimsical to the darkly outrageous."
- section from Design Coalition website

  original yard of sculpture at:
237 Waubesa St.
Madison, WI  53704

  polar bear chair in Elmside Circle Park

Octopus Car Wash is a multi-state business chain, yet there's still something bizarre about those octopus statues out front.  Some, like the one pictured above, rotate on their poles.

  907 S. Park St.
Madison, WI  53715
(608) 257-3991

  2202 University Ave.
Madison, WI  53715
(608) 238-1111

  1039 E. Washington Ave.
Madison, WI  53703
(608) 257-2929

photo contributed by Jeff Dallas

The Madison-based company's signature vehicle has 6 of these craft (no pun intended) in its fleet.  There is no guarantee that you'll see the Wienermobile near the company's property, but...who knows?  The Hotdoggers' blog (link at right) keeps track of where each vehicle is located for those of you who routinely stalk 7-ton frankfurter-shaped forms of transportation.
Each member of the Oscar Meyer Hotdogger team has passed Hot Dog High, which groomed them for life on the road, cheerfully representing the company and maneuvering the 27-foot-long sausage down busy freeways and around tight corners whilst working on their hot dog puns.

Weinermobile -- The Inside Story
posted by watcher9214

double-click to enlarge video

The collection of over 2500 rolls from around the world is between homes.

UPDATE:  The museum has moved to Elgin, Illinois.

  2 East Main Street
Madison, WI  53702
(608) 266-0382

tour hours:
(Sundays) at 1pm, 2pm, 3pm
(Mon - Sat) at 9am, 10am, 11am and 1pm, 2pm, 3pm
(a 4pm tour is also offered Mon - Fri between Memorial Day and Labor Day, excluding holidays)
 The sixth floor museum and observation deck are open during the summer months.

  (inside the south entrance of Resurrection Mausoleum)
2705 Regent St.
Madison, WI  53705

  211 S. Paterson Ave.
Madison, WI  53703

  Monona Terrace Convention Center
1 John Nolan Drive
Madison, WI  53702

Vitense Golfland offers a bevy of decorative statues which are scattered about their prominent miniature golf course, including:  the Statue of Liberty weird creatures a golfing rabbit, Bucky Badger, a purple hippo, the Tin Man, giraffes, a giant rooster, whales, seals, and dinosaurs.

  5501 Schroeder Road
Madison, WI  53711
(608) 271-1411

hours:
Memorial Day thru Labor Day  (Sun - Thurs)  7:30am – 11pm
(Fri - Sat)  7:30am – 11:30pm

  was at:  1354 Williamson St.
Madison, WI  53703 

  2710 Syene Rd.
Madison, WI  53713
(608) 271-5155  Mapquest

It was the early morning hours of June 24, 1977.  The nighttime quiet was broken by the sounds of a scuffle on Madison's east side.  A lone teenager was on the losing side of a beatdown being handed out by two others at the Skyline Standard Station.  Suddenly, a limousine pulled up to the scene and a man stepped out.  It was none other than the King of Rock 'n' Roll himself, Elvis Presley.  Still wearing one of his trademark jumpsuits that he had donned for a show earlier in Iowa, Elvis struck a karate pose and said "I'll take you on".  The bizarre spectacle ended the fight and Elvis departed after having the former adversaries shake hands.

To memorialize this mollifying deed, a granite marker was placed at the site of the altercation in 2007.

The Museum is a showplace for the history of this popular condiment.  It also sells quite a few varieties of the yellow stuff for your personal consumption along with many mustard-related novelties.

  7477 Hubbard Ave.
Middleton, WI  53562
(608) 831-2222 or (800) 438-6878

hours:
(daily)  10am – 5pm

"Dumpster-Diving Canine"

A woman sees two unknown wolf-like creatures going through her garbage.  Read the full story in the book "Weird Wisconsin".

Bozho the Mendota Lake Monster

An unknown beast with a large snake-like head is sighted several times dating back to 1899.

Twenty-Foot Serpent Seen in Lake Monona  (1897)

The creature was shot at, but survived.

Madison & Middleton UFO Sightings

"There were lights or windows running along each of the sides and there appeared to be people at the windows, at least black circles in the "windows" which I interpreted to be occupants."
- section from UFO Wisconsin 02-04-03 report

Confederate Rest
at Forest Hill Cemetery

Civil war soldiers from the south are buried in Madison.

Hauntings at UW-Madison

At a place as large as a state university, at least a few encounters are to be expected with the uncanny.  Many stories have been recorded of students and faculty experiencing paranormal occurrences on or near the campus. 

"The Witches of Picnic Point"

Leave those hackberry trees alone...

The Bar Next Door
formerly the Wonder Bar, mob hangout

Bourbon Street Grille
was: Muskie Lounge and Crab House

"Black Helicopters Active in Many States of the USA"  (1998)

So?

Calf Mutilated / Priest Slain  (1998)

"Victoria's Jailhouse Experience"

A woman awaiting trial in the 1870's endures nights of terror as a spectral horror visits the Madison Jailhouse.

"Through a Child's Eyes"

A young boy begins reacting to an unseen presence named Matthew, who once shared the same house...and still does.

Theatre Ghosts
at the Majestic Theatre

The Phantom Woodchopper

The sounds of an axe felling trees could be heard during the night, but no evidence of such activity was ever found.  This occurred in the Noe woods about a century ago, when the very road that ran by the forest was considered haunted.

Old Jailhouse Ghost

State Capitol Mural "Ghost"

  capitol location & hours listed in Attractions section above

"The Cabinet of Skulls"

In the book "Spooky Wisconsin", a tale is told of wrongly-acquired skeletal remain that may have caused otherworldly sounds to emanate from their hiding place.

Ohio Tavern

Proud of its own paranormal distinction, the Ohio Bar originated as a bank back during the roaring 20's, but has existed as a legitimate liquor-serving establishment since the end of Prohibition.  The stories or paranormal occurrences date back for many years, including some of a poltergeist nature.  A log book is kept at the bar, recording ghost-related incidents within the premises.

ghost stories from
"Ghosts of Madison, WI"

These following haunted locations are exclusively from Sherry Strub's book "Ghosts of Madison, Wisconsin".  As there are more stories than space on this page, they shall be included together here.  You can read the full stories in her book.

Madison Researchers into the Paranormal (MRIP)

madison haunted locations from the
Wisconsin Paranormal Investigation Team (WIX)

The WIX website covers the entire state of Wisconsin, so understandably they have a nice section on Dane County's haunted locations.

Madison Ghostseekers Society

"...full of wonderful information about the State's rich history. Explore Wisconsin's distinctive heritage and a variety of other American history topics through artifacts, photographs, full-scale dioramas, audio-visual presentations, and interactive multimedia programs."
- section from the Official Site

  on Madison's Capitol Square
30 N Carroll St.
Madison, WI  53703
(608) 264-6555

hours:
(Tues - Sat)  9am – 4pm  (closed holidays)

"...offers instructive exhibits that highlight important events in Wisconsin military history from the Civil War to the present...also operates a Research Center where books, photographic materials, oral histories, and archival collections can be accessed...cares for and safeguards a large collection of artifacts associated with Wisconsin’s military history."
- section from the Official Site

  30 W Mifflin St.
Madison, WI  53703
608) 267-1799

hours:
(Mon - Sat)  9am – 4:30pm
(also Sundays April through September)  Noon – 4pm

The fire station turned into a home & museum.

"Reconstructed dinosaurs, huge mastodon skeleton, colorful mineral samples, a six-foot diameter rotating globe and a walk-through model of a Wisconsin limestone cave."
- section from the Wisconline website

  1215 West Dayton Street
Madison, WI  53706
(608) 262-1412 or (608) 262-2399

hours:
(Mon - Fri)  8:30am – 4:30pm
(Saturdays)  9am – 1pm