Anna Lardinois tingles the spines of locals and visitors to Milwaukee through her haunted, historical walking tours known as Gothic Milwaukee. She is the creator of the self-guided walking tour collections Walking Milwaukee: Downtown Edition and Walking Milwaukee: Tosa Edition. The former English teacher is an ardent collector of stories, an avid walker, and a sweet treat enthusiast. The author happily resides in a historic home in Milwaukee which, at this time, does not appear to be haunted. 

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Please tell us about your Gothic Milwaukee Tours...
My haunted, historical walking tours explore what I like to call the “spook-tacular” side of Milwaukee. My tours are a mix of the history of the city, and some of our best known haunts, like Milwaukee’s most famously haunted building, The Pfister Hotel. I have created a route that ensures I am able to share with guests my very favorite stories: maritime disasters. The tours are typically about 90 minutes long and include some of the city’s best known buildings. 

What inspired to you create your tours?
I became a ghost tour enthusiast as a solo traveler. When I was teaching, each year I’d take a solo road trip during my spring break. Every night I’d be in a different city and I would experience that city through ghost tours. Initially, I was attracted to the tours because it is a safe way for a solo woman traveler to sightsee in the evening, but before long, I was hooked! I love the stories and history in the tours and I especially love exploring a city on foot. Moving slowly allows me to notice all the architectural details on building and gives me a much better sense of a city and what it has to offer.

When I turned 40, I decided to do one new thing a week, and that is how Gothic Milwaukee was born. I wanted to share my love for ghost tours with my hometown by creating a tour for my city. The tour started as a very fun hobby, but each year it has grown and it is now my full time job. 

What might people be surprised to learn about Milwaukee's history?
Milwaukee is far more than beer and cheese! We have a beautiful lakefront which hosts the world’s largest outdoor music festival and an internationally recognized art museum. Our City Hall was once one of the tallest buildings in the country, and in 1854 our city was the site of an abolitionist uprising which resulted in the overturning of the Fugitive Slave Act. 

How does storytelling translate for a planned walk - how much do you have to depend on the environment to create your walking itinerary? And how much research did you have to do to find the stories?
Creating the haunted walking tours for Gothic Milwaukee was much more difficult than creating the historical tours for Walking Milwaukee. Ghosts don’t always linger in convenient places, or close enough to each other to create an easy route. History tours are a bit easier to create, in part, because areas of the city are often developed at the same time and by the same key players. Regardless of what kind of tour I am creating, it always requires a great deal of research. Fortunately for me, the Milwaukee County Historical Society is housed in one of the city’s most beautiful buildings, which makes it a true joy to conduct research there. Another key tool I use in the creation of my tours is our stunning Milwaukee Public Library. I have spent countless hours searching through microfilm to flesh out a piece of folklore or track down a rumor. Without access to all of this original source material, I would not be able to tell these unique stories about Milwaukee. 

Is there anything else you'd like to share?
I truly love walking and I have experimented with many different ways to offer walking experiences to those interested in exploring Milwaukee on foot. For those who prefer self guided tours, I have created two collections of history and architecture based walking tours, aptly named Walking Milwaukee. I also created a gps-based audio walking tour for visitors to download and enjoy. 

I am so proud of the recognition the tour has received. Milwaukeeans recently voted Gothic Milwaukee “Best Milwaukee Tour” in a locally celebrated poll, USA Today said the tour was a top ten haunted attraction in Wisconsin, and AAA featured Gothic Milwaukee as one of three key ghost tours in the state. I never imagined when I created these tours I would have the opportunity to entertain so many people. This has been such a wonderful experience and I hope you’ll walk with me sometime soon.