St. Paul’s Wabasha Street Caves: Ghosts and Gangster History

St. Paul, Minnesota has a gangster history that is so intriguing it seems to be embellished or taken from the movies, when in fact it’s the other way around. St. Paul’s Wabasha Street Caves, located on Wabasha Street just across the Mississippi from downtown, is the place to start if you’re interested in learning about some of the most notorious 1930′s Midwest criminals such as John Dillinger, Ma Barker and Babyface Nelson.

The caves are only a few miles from my home and have been on my list of things to do since moving to Minnesota. When the SATW (Society of American Travel Writers) Editor’s Council gathered in the Twin Cities last month, Wabasha Street Caves were on the list of tours offered and I jumped at the chance to see the historic caves for myself.

St. Paul was home to Charles Schulz, creator of the comic strip Peanuts. All around the city you’ll notice statues of the characters. As you enter the caves, notice the Gangster-inspired Snoopy statue greeting guests.

Various tours are available (some are seasonal) and include the St. Paul Gangster Tour, Ghost and Graves Tour and, what we experienced, the Historic Cave Tours. Some highlights included seeing photos of the people who frequented the caves and hearing the story about the night a gangster shooting occurred which resulted in three deaths. By the time the officers arrived the shooting had been covered up and so were the bodies (no one knows where they were buried). The only proof was the mark of a ricochet bullet which still remains on the fireplace.

Tip: If you get cold easily bring along a light jacket since the caves are chilly. In fact, the history of these caves goes beyond gangsters. Because of their cool temperatures the caves been used as a mushroom farm, for aging cheese and grocery and liquor storage.

Tours aren’t the only offerings of the Wabasha Street Caves. The caves are available for year-round event rentals such as weddings – notice the 60-foot bar – and on Thursday nights the caves echo with music from Swing Night.

As for the Wabasha Street Caves hauntings, Ghost hunters have confirmed the presence of spirits, but they’re not the only believers. Guests from past tours, weddings and other events often send in photos of orbs that have appeared in their event pictures. My group saw some of the photos and they were pretty convincing. One photo’s unexplained image resembles a gangster! Below is a photo of me and my SATW friends Spud Hilton and Chris Gray-Faust and the owner of the caves Donna. We were hoping to catch some orbs in our photo but it must have been too early in the morning.

If you’d like to hear more about this era of St. Paul’s history, Paul Maccabee’s John Dillinger Slept Here: A Crook’s Tour of Crime and Corruption in St. Paul, 1920-1936 is supposedly a wonderful read (it’s on my reading list). We met Paul that same day and the stories he told us, from the book, are fascinating – better than a fiction movie!

These caves are seen from Wabasha Street (not the caves from the tour). They used to be open to the public but proved to be too dangerous and are now blocked off.

If you’re in town sometime, add the Wabasha Street Caves or a Gangster Tour to your list of things to do. The things you learn about St. Paul may surprise you!

Thank you, Donna, for sharing your historical property with us.