The Dark Masion

Plainfield, Wisconsin

Plainfield was first settled by a pioneer from New York State, William N. Kelly, in October of 1848. He was the first in the town to erect his house in Section 24. In 1849, Elijah C. Waterman, a native from Vermont, came to the site of Plainfield. He laid out the village site, made a claim, then offered free lots to settlers if they would build and reside upon them. The first general store was opened in 1855 by W. Beach. In the early years Plainfield was known as Norwich. The name Plainfield was decided on by Mr. Waterman when the post office was established, in honor of his earlier home in Plainfield, Vermont. By 1869, there were eleven business places which included three general stores, two blacksmith shops, one tailor shop, and a grist mill. Wisconsin Central, first railroad to enter the county on December 29, 1875. By 1885 the number of businesses had increased to about sixty. The village, which was platted in 1855, was incorporated in 1882. The community auditorium was erected in 1935, known today as the Bowling Alley. In October of 1902, the finest school building in the county was dedicated in Plainfield, total cost was an estimated at $11,000.00, G. E. Dafoe, principal, had served for thirteen years. The fire department's first fire station was built in 1901, a red brick building. In 1957 where the story begins, it was home to about seven hundred people, a quite hard working place, on the winds swept flat lands of central Wisconsin.

October 30, 1957

   It was a cold chilly day in Plainfield as the small towns people hustled to get there errands and chores finished just the day before Halloween and just before the church bell rang to let the town folk know it was five o'clock and they only had a hour to get home before the curfew. Anyone who was caught outside by the Sheriff or his Deputies was arrested and put in jail. This curfew was set in place because women were going missing and over the last five years the graves of older women were being desiccated. There was whisper going around town of “The Butcher of Plainfield” who was said to have stolen from nine graves, when one officers found a crow bar left behind in replace of the body….