Sampson's Saloon and Hotel
The Ridgeway ghost, it must be said, was not one spirit bu t rather a mischievous phantom who could change its appearance at will. The ghost would appear as dogs, horses, pigs, sheep, and several different human forms, including a headless horseman. The ghost roamed the countryside frightning farmers, miners, and travelers alike. It would accompany buggy riders or lead haulers as they ventured out along the Ridge Road after dark, terrify farmers returning from the fields, and generally frighten the wits out of anyone unlucky enough to cross its path.
But is there any basis in fact for an appearance by a ghost haunting the country around Ridgeway? We may never know for a certainty, although there are scores of stories about the ghost and several different versions of century and a quarter, to the early 1840's, to begin the tales of the Ridgeway ghost.
One of the seedier extablishments along the Ridge Road was Sampson's Saloon and Hotel. A traverler risked his earthly future in this pit of human scum. The Ridgeway ghost may be the earthbound spirit of one naive wayfarer who stopped at Sampson's.
A peddler checked into Sampson's after a long day's ride, unaware of its unsavory reputation. He was seen entering his room but then vanished. Early the next morning, his fully saddled horse tried to enter the saloon-hotel. The animal failed in its attempts and was soon chased off, never to be seen again.
Soon after the peddler's apparent demise, people began reporting a bizarre apparition on the road near Sampson's. A giant black horse would gallop along the roadway, and on the horse's back was the torso of a headless man mounted backward in the saddle. The headless horseman would keep pace with and often pass the frightened travelers. If anyone tried to converse with the macabre apparition, unearthly groans would issue from the incomplete body.
One buggy driver encountered the headless horseman in a most unusual way. As the driver rode along, he heard the sound of an approaching horse. Turning in the wooden buggy seat, the man beheld a stallion upon which rode a figure in black--minus its head. Instead of passing the buckboard, the horse reared and planted its front quarters firmly in the wagon box. Frightened nearly senseless, the wagon driver whipped his team of horses forward but the horse and rider kept pace. The beast's front legs were still in the wagon only inches behind the driver.
When (or if) the wagoneer recahed safety is not recorded.
Note:The information used for this and many of the other Ridgeway pages is borrowed from Haunted Wisconsin, by Beth Scott & Michael Norman.