- The Maribel Caves Hotel was built in the 19th century as a hotel and health spa. During this period, the upper class from around the midwest visited.
- During prohibition the spa became a tavern and after multiple fires, some of the haunting stories began. Eventually, a windstorm reduced the building to ruins in 2013, but the grounds are still said to be haunted.
- From the presence of one of the most infamous mobsters to a portal opened by witches, one tour guide tells me the hotel is known as "Hotel Hell".
The year is 1900, and a hotel health spa in Northeast Wisconsin draws the upper class from around the Midwest. That place is the Maribel Caves Hotel, which some locals say is now haunted ruins.
Disaster.
"There were three fires on the property", Maribel Caves Park tour guide, Andy Krahn said.
Supernatural.
"Ghosts walking up and down the hallways", said Sherry Dewane a descendant of the founder.
And I'll tell you about the presence of one infamous man.
Andy Krahn has heard all of the stories.
"If you stop outside on the road and you watch to the windows, you'll see a shadow bounce from window to window, and you never really catch that shadow," said Krahn.
The cave's hotel doesn't have one ghost or one haunt, but many stories of horrors that lay among the stones.
"Witches opened a portal to hell through an old fountain," Manitowoc County Historical Society Executive Director, Amy Myer read.
Meyer says the hotel was built by Father Francis Steinbecker and his staff of stonemasons. After its hay day, the hotel was sold and replaced by a tavern in the 1920s
"During prohibition, there's a lot of things that change," Myer said. "Especially at a tavern and a hotel out in the country."
Steinbecker's descendant Sherry Dewayne is fascinated by the haunting history of the building.
"There's a reason people are drawn here," she said.
According to Sherry, family stories say one man and his crew frequented the spa turned prohibition bar.
"One of my great aunts, I guess it would be," Dewane said. "Had gone out with one of Al Capone's men."
Sherry hasn't been inside, but from stories of Scarface himself to a portal opened by witches, she knows one thing for sure...
"I think there should be ghosts here," she said.
The hotel has seen three fires in a giant windstorm in 2013 that reduced the castle like structure to ruins. History and supernatural galore, the Maribel Caves Hotel is now known by one name...
"Hotel Hell", said Krahn.
A truly creepy, historical and beautiful place. The Maribel Caves Hotel sits on private property, and the owner asks for respect and distance.
