Inside Al Capone’s safe haven in the Northwoods

Visitors filled the former Al Capone Hideout near Couderay last weekend, stepping inside the retreat of one of the most notorious notorious gangsters of the 1920s.

Al Capone, also known as “Scarface,” ran organized crime operations in Chicago during Prohibition.

According to a flyer from the event, his associate Fred Fisher purchased the lodge in 1929. It’s believed Capone later used the lodge as a secret getaway.

The property is now owned by the local Ojibwe Tribe, Lac Courte Oreilles, which purchased the lodge in 2009.

The two-story stone lodge features a massive stone fireplace and unique spiral staircases leading to the upstairs, where there are four small bedrooms, a closet and a bathroom. The basement, which had two large mysterious cement tubs, caught the most attention from visitors.

Susan Aasen is the event organizer and a member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Tribe. She says the idea to host the holiday event came together just a few years ago.

“About four or five years ago, my friend Nancy Cooper and I thought, ‘They did a Halloween event up here—why don’t we try Christmas?’ So we shoveled our way in,” Aasen said.

Aasen says much of the original furniture had been lost or removed over the years. She and the tribe worked to clean and repair the lodge and furnish it with pieces visitors see today.

She says that Capone reportedly had a respectful relationship with the Lac Courte Oreilles Tribe. 

“They had the deer meat and fish, and he used the people as guides for fishing,” Aasen said. “He liked to go fishing, and they needed financial support from him too.”

“Holidays at the Hideout” is a free event and continues through January from noon to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

You can find the Hideout at 12101 West County Road CC in Couderay, Wisconsin.