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Washington County Paranormal

The new Washington County Paranormal website has officially launched! West Bend writer J. Nathan Couch is assembling stories of the bizarre and unexplained from the Washington County, WI area for an upcoming book. He will be using the website to explore haunted areas and strange legends from Wisconsin, as well as to research and collect stories for the book.

Have you seen ghosts, UFOs, odd creatures, or other unusual phenomena in Washington County? Drop by and share your experiences!

The new site is here: Washington County Paranormal

You can also follow Washington County Paranormal here: Facebook | Twitter

Milwaukee Warped Tour 2011

I dragged my sister along yesterday to experience the craziness of Warped Tour in Milwaukee and help represent Wisconsin Sickness by passing out stickers.

While stopped in a traffic jam at the exit ramp, we got rear-ended by a couple of cool girls (Shanda and Shania) from Rhinelander also on their way to Warped. Naturally, while radiator fluid sprayed onto the highway and traffic swerved to avoid chunks of car, I gave them some stickers! Hopefully it helped them feel better about totaling their aunt's car.

Big Chocolate was hanging out alone at his merch tent, so I stopped by to give him a sticker. Much to my disappointment, he was out of Commissioner stuff. But it was too late to take back the sticker.

It appears that I gave a guy from Motionless In White and his girlfriend a sticker, as well, but I didn't know who they were. Just saw him in some pics people posted.

I also got the opportunity to meet the amazing Carving a Giant, which was awesome.

On our way out the gate, I got swindled into buying a copy of the Bhagavad Gita by a conman cleverly disguised as a traveling monk cleverly disguised as a normal guy cleverly giving away stolen books and asking for donations to support the cause. Dammit.

All in all, it was a great day full of sunburn and cool people and great music.

If you got a sticker, post a picture, drop a note to say hi, whatever! Email crazy shit to info@wisconsinsickness.com

Follow the Sickness on your antisocial platform of choice: Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr | Youtube

Also make sure you check out the brand new Sick Wisconsin Cannibelles movement headed up by our very own Nikki Farce! Become a Cannibelle (like Wisconsin's form of Suicide Girls, Godsgirls, etc.) and get a free photoshoot! Cannibelles on Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr

Leave a comment below or hit up Facebook to let us know how your Warped Tour was!

Milwaukee Math Rock Archive

While digging around for some info on the some of the long-defunct hardcore emo math rock bands born in Milwaukee basements, I discovered a treasure trove of downloads from a highly influential but mostly forgotten era in the Milwaukee music scene on this blog.

I can't guarantee you won't get swamped with ads and popups when you click these links, as I didn't upload the files and am not responsible for the sites hosting them.

This was also posted to the Wisconsin Sickness Tumblr blog.

A Four Way Stop featuring Hero of a Hundred Fights, Insidious, Managra and Tintoretto.

Download here

Managra - Modern Day Remembrance (no album art) - Download here

Tintoretto - The Sound of Someone You Love Who is Leaving...and it Really Doesn't Matter

Download here

Hero of a Hundred Fights

Download here

The Goodboy Suit - Within Walls Without Windows

Download here

Murder in the Red Barn

Download here

Murder in the Red Barn - Get in Before the Rain

Download here

Hero of a Hundred Fights - Remote, the Cold

Download here

If any of these bands have recordings they would like to contribute to the permanent Wisconsin Sickness archive contact me.

Andy Griffith For Sheriff

Another classic from the Wisconsin news archives:

Andy Griffith Running For Grant County Sheriff

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. -- A familiar name will be on the Nov. 7 ballot for sheriff in Grant County: Andy Griffith

No, not that Andy Griffith, but a Platteville man has legally changed his name to the man who famously portrayed TV's fictional sheriff of Mayberry and he said that he hopes the move will get him elected, WISC-TV reported.

Griffith is now the legal name of the former William Fenrick, a co-owner of Downtown Discs, a Platteville music store. He filed the paperwork in May to change his name and run as an independent for sheriff. (For trivia buffs, the character that the actor Andy Griffith played on the '60s TV show "The Andy Griffith Show" was actually called "Andy Taylor.")

"I'm doing this so people will pay attention to this race," Griffith said. "And I think if they do pay attention, then they will vote for me."

Griffith said that he wants to give voters a choice. Sheriff Keith Govier, the Republican incumbent, has been in office for 10 years while Doug Vesperman, the Democratic opponent, has worked in the sheriff's department for 16 years.

"What I wanted to do was bring attention to this sheriff's race and the only way that I could think of to do it -- actually, the best way that I could think of doing it -- was changing my name to Andy Griffith," he said.

Govier and Vesperman said that they are focused on discussing issues -- getting in touch with area youth, jail overcrowding and domestic violence -- affecting the community. Griffith said that he thinks a big concern is speed traps, WISC-TV reported.

"They never did that in Mayberry! They never did unethical stuff like that in Mayberry," he said. "See, that's the thing about Andy Griffith. He was honest and straightforward and people respected him for that."

Govier said that he disagrees with Griffith's assessment.

"We don't have the manpower or the time to do stuff like that," Govier said. "And it's not a practice of ours to set up speed traps."

Voters playing euchre at Zippy's Brass Rail, a Lancaster tavern, said that they thought some might just vote for Griffith, but others might look at the name change as a cheap gimmick.

"It was a unique thing to have happen," one patron said. "But personally, I wouldn't vote for him because I don't know him."

"He stood for a lot of moral things," another patron said of the TV sheriff. "And what in this country do we have that's moral any more? Stop and think about it."

Vesperman said that he's skeptical the name change will affect the race.

"If I felt that changing my name would help me in the race, I would have changed mine to Kenny Rogers," he said. "But, you haven't heard me sing."

Griffith said that he wanted to run anonymously, but a local newspaper identified him. Now, he's actively campaigning by putting up yard signs and passing out campaign T-shirts, WISC-TV reported.

The 42-year-old Griffith told The Associated Press that he's worked in the past in private security and knows how to set priorities and make the best use of a limited budget and manpower. He said that part of his motivation came when drug officers acting on an anonymous tip launched a drug raid in Dodgeville last May but went to the wrong address, then picked up some young people in the apartment next door for having marijuana. He said that that's an example of bad priorities. - SOURCE

Andy Griffith sues former Wisconsin sheriff's candidate

(Milwaukee-AP) November 10, 2006 - A Wisconsin man who changed his name to Andy Griffith to run for sheriff is being sued by the television actor.

A suit filed in federal court says the former William Harold Fenrick changed his name to get more votes and asks the court to order him to change it back.

Fenrick changed his name to Andrew Jackson Griffith in May. He says he didn't profit from the change. He gave away all of his campaign items bearing the name - and he lost the election.

Fenrick, an independent, got about 1,200 votes. Republican Sheriff Keith Govier was re-elected Tuesday with almost 8,500 votes.

Jim Cole, a lawyer for the actor, says the suit isn't personal. But if Andy Griffith doesn't protect his name under trademark law, he loses his rights.

Andy Griffith portrayed the sheriff of the fictional town of Mayberry, North Carolina. - SOURCE

Seven-Legged Hermaphroditic Deer

Here is a classic, and my personal favorite, from the archives of weird Wisconsin news, providing a true testament to the Wisconsin mentality:

Hermaphroditic deer with seven legs ‘tasty’
Wisconsin hunter bags odd beast with pickup in driveway, eats it

Thursday Dec. 14th, 2006

FOND DU LAC, Wis. - Rick Lisko hunts deer with a bow but got his most unusual one driving his truck down his mile-long driveway. The young buck had nub antlers — and seven legs. Lisko said it also had both male and female reproductive organs. "It was definitely a freak of nature," Lisko said. "I guess it's a real rarity.”

He said he slowed down as the buck and two does ran across the driveway Nov. 22, but the buck ran under the truck and got hit.

When he looked at the animal, he noticed three- to four-inch appendages growing from the rear legs. Later, he found a smaller appendage growing from one of the front legs.

"It's a pretty weird deer," he said, describing the extra legs as resembling "crab pinchers."

"It kind of gives you the creeps when you look at it," he said, but he thought he saw the appendages moving, as if they were functional, before the deer was hit.

Warden Doug Bilgo of the state Department of Natural Resources came to Lisko's property near Mud Lake in the town of Osceola to tag the deer.

"I have never seen anything like that in all the years that I've been working as a game warden and being a hunter myself," Bilgo said. "It wasn't anything grotesque or ugly or anything. It was just unusual that it would have those little appendages growing out like that."

Bilgo took photos and sent information on the animal to DNR wildlife managers.

John Hoffman of Eden Meat Market skinned the deer for Lisko, who wasn't going to waste the venison from the animal.

"And by the way, I did eat it," Lisko said. "It was tasty." - SOURCE

Wienermobile Takes Out Wisconsin Home

An Oscar Meyer Wienermobile crashed into the home and outdoor deck of Nick Krupp in Racine, Wis. on Friday morning, July 17, 2009. According to a witness, the vehicle was parked in the driveway. The driver lurched the vehicle forward instead of backing out of the driveway, hitting Krupp's deck and cracking the foundation of his house.