In the wee hours of the morning, through the blackness of a warm summer's night, Enoch J. Fargo entered the bedroom of his frail and sickly wife, Addie Hoyt Fargo. While his two grown daughters, his servants, Addie's nurse, and Enoch's young mistress all slept quietly down the hall, Enoch put a gun to Addie's head and blew her brains out.

The family doctor was immediately summoned, bribed, and filed a fake death certificate. Addie was then taken directly to the cemetery for a quick burial that morning. Or was the coffin empty? For it seems that her burial permit is missing. And now Addie's ghost roams the grounds of her former home, the Fargo Mansion, in Lake Mills, Wisconsin.

Well, that's what the legend's promoters say. From what I see, Addie died of diphtheria, and the ghost story was made up decades later to promote the old house, which became a Bed and Breakfast in the 1980s. But the genealogist in me wanted to look a little deeper, and here's what I found:

An obscure book, claiming that Addie was shot, was self-published in 1983 by a person born some 25 years after the supposed murder.

The house was purchased by commercial developers in 1985 and opened in 1987 as a B&B. It was heavily promoted, and was featured in several magazines and newspapers. Though, no mention of Addie's death.

In 2001, a newspaper interview with one of the owners claimed that Addie's ghost was hanging around, celebrating the 100th anniversary of her gruesome death. They also had the ghosts of two bears, who once lived on the property for a short time before being sent to the zoo. And of course, the house is available for weddings and parties.

The previous 2001 story was repeated in a book of ghost stories in 2003.

In 2011, one of Addie's photo albums was discovered, and a new investigation ensued (apparently leading to a future book deal), complete with speaking events, new claims of domestic abuse, and appeals for donations to exhume Addie's body.

Here are some of the claims (new and old) put forth in the legend, along with my own research:

CLAIM #1: The so-called "Smoking Gun" - Addie's burial permit is missing in the cemetery books, and by law, everyone needed a permit before opening a grave (even stillborn babies). So obviously, something shady was going on.

EVIDENCE: Rock Lake Cemetery Burial Permits, Lake Mills, Jefferson, WI:

TRUTH #1: Searching the months of May and June 1901 in the Rock Lake Cemetery, I found that only 2 out of 5 burials had actual permits.