The Weird Urban Legend of Haunchyville, Wisconsin

Urban legends say there was once a town in Wisconsin called Haunchyville that was established by a group of rebelling circus performers that turned extremely violent.

Is There a Little Truth Behind Every Urban Legend?

I think every town, city, and state is home to its own set of urban legends, but how did they become a "thing"?

Was a group of people sitting around a campfire coming up with scary ghost stories to tell their friends?

Was there a mysterious person that no one knew anything about so they made stuff up about them that birthed some urban legends?

We may never truly know how most urban legends got started, but it sure is fun to hear and read about them.

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The Urban Legend About Haunchyville, Wisconsin

Today I came across an article from Only In Your State about one of Wisconsin's weirdest urban legends that involves a murderous group of little people from the town of Haunchyville. I spend a lot of time up in Wisconsin and have never heard this particular tale told before, let's see if you have...

Here's how one version of the Haunchyville story goes according to onlyinyourstate.com;

there were once some people of shorter stature who were employed by the circus. They were horribly exploited by their mean boss, and one day they got tired of it.
They managed to kill him by hanging him in the woods and cutting off his arms and legs. The mutilation would set the tone for their future.

Umm...ok...what did that "future" look like?

Legend says this group of rebelling circus people retreated to the woods after murdering their horrible boss and started their own village nearby Muskego, Wisconsin, and they did not take kindly to visitors. The villagers wouldn't kill strangers who stumbled upon their community, but they would amputate your limbs and force you to live as a little person too.

Yikes!

An article from Milwaukee Record has this little nugget to add to the Haunchyville legend;

If these accursed little people don’t run you out themselves, their guardian, a shotgun-wielding albino, surely will.

If you do a deep Google dive on the urban legend of Haunchyville, Wisconsin you will find hundreds of articles filled with different versions of the story. I also found this video on YouTube about a Haunchyville "survivor"...

I'm 100 percent not buying it...what about you?