The "Cave Lady" of Eau Claire

Mike Paulus |

Not shown: The actual cave a lady lived in.
 
Not the actual cave. This is a different cave.

I didn’t live on Eau Claire’s Eastside Hill until I was all grown up and adult-like, but I like to think that the kids who grew up around the neighborhood (especially near Boyd Park) were privy to creepy urban legends and spooky stories about the “Cave Lady” – a woman said to have lived in a cave along the Eau Claire River. Every neighborhood needs stories like that, true and otherwise.

And as it turns out, in the case of the Eastside Hill’s urban legends, a couple of them appear to be true – as is the case with the Cave Lady, or as many people knew her, Violet Leigh. Her story was researched by Eau Clairian John DeRosier and printed in an Eastside Hill newsletter, later republished on the neighborhood’s website. DeRosier wrote:

Married to Wilbur Phillips with five children, Violet Leigh lived in a cave on the south bank of the Eau Claire River. ...

Violet had talent. She wrote poetry and in 1915 she appeared in a literary and musical program in the Osseo Theater. We don’t know her real name; Violet Leigh was her pen name, and her articles were often published in the Voice of the People, 1910-1917.

... rent money was not available so the family took up residence in the cave, originally built or made by one Robert Hantzch, who had used it to cool beer. The family lived there until February 1918 when a sanity hearing was held and Violet was declared insane.

EastsideHill.com

Turns out, a whole family actually lived in the cave. As with many urban legends, the real story lands more on the sad side than on the creepy side. (This American Life’s House on Loon Lake, anyone?) However, the story linked above describes the cave’s house-like furnishings and some of Violet’s love affairs, including one with a “minister from Altoona.” Crazy times, amiright?

It’s been on hiatus for a little while, but if you’re interested in weird local stories o' the past, check out Chad Lewis’s blog Bizarre History of the Chippewa Valley.