Unveiling the Mysterious Circumstances Surrounding the Wisconsin Fatal Journey
In the small town of Black River Falls, Wisconsin, during the late 19th century, a weekly newspaper named The Badger State Banner reported on the town's mundane and morose goings-on. Edited by Frank Cooper and his son George, the newspaper often delved into personal matters like suicide and mental illness, turning them into public conversations.
Among the newspaper's archives, a treasure trove was discovered in 1968 by Michael Lesy, the author of the book "Wisconsin Death Trip," published in 1973. Lesy chose fewer than 200 photographs for his book, which chronicles events in Black River Falls from 1890 to 1900, including epidemics, insanities, suicides, burnings, bank closings, and early deaths.
The photographs, taken by Charles Van Schaick, a turn-of-the-century portrait photographer, include postmortem portraits of children. These were acts of love for grieving parents as family snapshots had not yet been invented.
The book's theme is "death and rebirth," and it is divided into five distinct parts. The voices in the book are those of the father-and-son newspaper editors, a medical-records keeper for the state mental asylum, a town historian, a town gossip, and unspecified characters.
The photographs and the distinctive tone of the Badger State Banner paint a grim picture of the time. The immigrants in Black River Falls endured long, bleak winters in an isolated landscape. Financial difficulties in the town caused banks to close and businesses to shut down, leading to unemployment. Disease ravaged the community during this time period.
Despite the bleakness, "Wisconsin Death Trip" has inspired various art forms. It has been made into a dance, cited as inspiration by several novelists, including Stephen King, and has spawned numerous musical works, including opera, bluegrass, and songs from a British post-punk band.
In 1999, a movie adaptation of the book was made by British director James Marsh, titled "Wisconsin Death Trip." The movie, a mostly black-and-white docudrama, combines re-enactments of the book's newspaper accounts with dry narration. Lesy first imagined the book as a movie in 1968 but lacked financing.
The movie has been featured on Netflix and is available for viewing on YouTube. "Wisconsin Death Trip" has also been used in the Bob Dylan biopic "I'm Not There."
Lesy believes that the only purpose of art is to create more art and that "Wisconsin Death Trip" has had a life of its own, being "radioactive" and inspiring numerous creations. The Wisconsin Historical Society salvaged 8,000 of Van Schaick's negatives, providing a wealth of historical and artistic material for future generations to explore.
