Gypsy Heart
Gold Member
Put Your Haunted Treasure Legends Here 
The story is thereās gold in them there hills ā and its guarded by a ghost.
The cold, damp air howls through the coulees, ridges and valleys leading up to Wildcat Mountain State Park, two miles east of Ontario. On an overcast fall Wisconsin day, the remaining brightly colored fall leaves, with their oranges and yellows, make the mountain surreal. Against the gray sky, it appears as if some of the trees themselves are glowing.
If the interweaving roads and trails leading up to the mountain could tell a story, it wouldnāt be just one story, it would be many.
The Mountain itself is said to be haunted by a very specific ghost ā Wildcat Mountainās Sentinel.
The story of the Sentinel was chronicled in the 1996 book Driftless Spirits by Dennis Boyer. An attorney by trade and one of Wisconsinās finest folklore authors, Boyer wrote about his interview with a unnamed Rockton resident.
During the term of Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld, who held that post from 1892-1896, a load of gold in an iron-plated wagon was supposedly traveling from Billings Mont., possibly to Chicago. The reason? According to Boyerās story, āSomehow there was a connection (between a Billings family) Governor Altgeld of Illinois, William Jennings Bryan, and some Oklahoma radicals.... Mention was also made of shadowy groups and odd conspiracies.ā
However, word got out that a load of gold was on the road, and soon everyone, from treasury agents to common highway thieves, was looking for it.
As the wagon train with the gold passed Wildcat Mountain, the man from Billings in charge of the expedition had the gold buried high in the rocks at night. Then the wagon train carried on. However, āLatin American revolutions and World War I claimed the lives of everyone who had seen where the gold was buried.ā
āThereās a treasure up on Wildcat Mountain. Did you know that? Most people donāt! ... Gold like you wonāt believe. Bags and bags of it. Worth millions, I would guess.ā
An excerpt from from the story āWildcat Mountainās Sentinelā appearing in Dennis Boyerās
1996 book, Driftless Spirits.
Attached :
Odd stands of rocks dot the landscape atop Wildcat Mountain's ridges. There appear to be endless places to hide a treasure, yet mark it well to be found later. (Matt Johnson photo)
The story is thereās gold in them there hills ā and its guarded by a ghost.
The cold, damp air howls through the coulees, ridges and valleys leading up to Wildcat Mountain State Park, two miles east of Ontario. On an overcast fall Wisconsin day, the remaining brightly colored fall leaves, with their oranges and yellows, make the mountain surreal. Against the gray sky, it appears as if some of the trees themselves are glowing.
If the interweaving roads and trails leading up to the mountain could tell a story, it wouldnāt be just one story, it would be many.
The Mountain itself is said to be haunted by a very specific ghost ā Wildcat Mountainās Sentinel.
The story of the Sentinel was chronicled in the 1996 book Driftless Spirits by Dennis Boyer. An attorney by trade and one of Wisconsinās finest folklore authors, Boyer wrote about his interview with a unnamed Rockton resident.
During the term of Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld, who held that post from 1892-1896, a load of gold in an iron-plated wagon was supposedly traveling from Billings Mont., possibly to Chicago. The reason? According to Boyerās story, āSomehow there was a connection (between a Billings family) Governor Altgeld of Illinois, William Jennings Bryan, and some Oklahoma radicals.... Mention was also made of shadowy groups and odd conspiracies.ā
However, word got out that a load of gold was on the road, and soon everyone, from treasury agents to common highway thieves, was looking for it.
As the wagon train with the gold passed Wildcat Mountain, the man from Billings in charge of the expedition had the gold buried high in the rocks at night. Then the wagon train carried on. However, āLatin American revolutions and World War I claimed the lives of everyone who had seen where the gold was buried.ā
āThereās a treasure up on Wildcat Mountain. Did you know that? Most people donāt! ... Gold like you wonāt believe. Bags and bags of it. Worth millions, I would guess.ā
An excerpt from from the story āWildcat Mountainās Sentinelā appearing in Dennis Boyerās
1996 book, Driftless Spirits.
Attached :
Odd stands of rocks dot the landscape atop Wildcat Mountain's ridges. There appear to be endless places to hide a treasure, yet mark it well to be found later. (Matt Johnson photo)
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