History

In 1910 a local society solicited a foundation for a $10,000 grant for a public building. In the fall of that same year the city purchased (2) lots in the downtown area. The local society raised additional money to furnish the building. The funds raised along with the grant allowed the current building located in southern Wisconsin to be built. The building was completed in 1912. It replaced the city’s 1877 location. That building was not located on the same site. The current building opened on November 1, 1912 and has been in use since.

Although remodeled in 1990, the building still exhibits the same fine qualities it originally had. It is located in the heart of the downtown area.

The staff currently feels that a former longtime employee is still present in the building along with possible other unknown entities. They would like for us to see if we are able to capture any evidence of paranormal activity in order to validate their experiences.

Paranormal Activity Reported

Full apparition of a former employee seen in the basement level who seems to be writing on the wall where a chalk board once was located. It appeared as though she was teaching a class.

Full apparition of a young boy (maybe 4 or 5 years old) seen running through the basement level area. The boy was described as wearing a navy colored shirt with brown knee pants and had brown curly hair that came to below his ear. The style looked indicative of the 1930’ or 40’s. This spirit was seen May 2021.

The sounds of footsteps and sometimes chairs and tables being dragged across a wooden floor from the main level. This has been heard by staff while in the basement level. However the building is fully carpeted and has been for years.

Items fall or are sometimes pulled from shelves of their own accord.

The sounds of items being pulled out and pushed back into the shelves is often heard.

The smell of cigarette and cigar smoke throughout the building at times. Especially cigar smoke near the fireplace on the main level. Smoking has not been allowed in the building for many decades.

The sound of a man coughing and/or vigorously clearing his throat is heard near the fireplace area on the main level.

Toys in the basement level children’s area become activated without the aid of human intervention.

While a staff member was alone in the main level of the building, she could hear a conversation between a male and female on the lower level. This happened twice in the same evening. The conversation was unintelligible.

Lights turn on and off unexplainably in both bathrooms regularly.

Electrical equipment malfunctions on a regular basis with no explanation as to its cause.

Lots of unexplainable noises and sounds heard with no explainable source.

At times the feelings of being watched.

The smell of old fashioned floral woman’s perfume with no explanation as to the source.

A piece of framed artwork has been coming apart and falling off the wall in the employee break room area without explanation. When they asked it to stop, it no longer happened.

People have heard the sound of a long skirt swooshing as if someone in crinoline is walking by.

One employee found a particular item on the floor in front of her office one morning. The item was something she had been interested in but not yet looked for.

Investigation

Blaschka, Cruz and Christiansen arrived at the property on September 18, 2021 at approximately 4:00PM. We met our contact and she gave us a walk-through of the building while explaining the activity she and others have experienced. After the tour of the structure our team split up to place our equipment for the evening.  I decided with this case to have our contact investigate with us. She was required to stay at the site while we conducted our investigation.

We decided to use (8) DVR Zero Lux cameras during this investigation. The following cameras were placed accordingly and are listed below.

Camera #1 – Basement level storage area.

Camera #2 – Basement level children’s area.

Camera #3 – Basement level near desk.

Camera #4 – Main Level near fireplace.

Camera #5 – Main level center of building.

Camera #6 – Main level facing offices.

Camera #7 – Main level right, center building.

Camera #8 – Main level corner of the building, past offices where items have been seen flying off the shelves.

Base line readings were obtained in the building. Temperature readings and energy levels were all within a normal range with no anomalous unexplainable spikes in the magnet field. The only variation in EMF fields occurred in the lower level Common Room. We determined this field to be caused by the building WIFI system. It’s important to note that this high field could also be an energy source for spirits to feed from allowing them to manifest. Interesting enough the female seen writing and the boy seen running were both seen in that exact area.

We conducted several EVP sessions on the first floor and in the basement level of the building. All of those sessions included our contact participating with us. During those sessions we unfortunately did not capture any EVP evidence. However, prior to conducting our first session in the lower level Common Room we did hear a disembodied voice of a female or boy that sounded like a long sigh. We also used our SLS camera while conducting an EVP session near the fireplace area. During that session we captured an image standing near the shelving. The image stayed visible on our device for up to five minutes until Blaschka attempted to touch the figure. Once contact was made it dissipated. Another figure was captured for a brief 10 seconds in the lower level common area. That figure was very small like a child and was seen on top of a table.

Upon review of nearly 100 infrared and full spectrum photographs, only one is a questionable image. The image is what appears to be a shadow. It may not be paranormal in nature but it is interesting that it is near an area where movement has been seen.

Review of the DVR footage did not show any signs of what I feel would be paranormal activity.  We realize that several types of orbs are seen very often in the lower level basement area during our investigation. Orbs are not “always” a sign of paranormal activity. They can be caused by several other known factors such as insects, moisture, dust, etc. Bottom line it is very hard to prove without a doubt that an orb is actual spirit energy.

During the evening two motion detectors were placed in the men’s bathroom. We attempted to monitor why the bathroom light was turning on and off randomly. During the night the light did turn on and off several times. We are not certain what caused this but it is possible that the motion sensor for the light is faulty. Our motion detectors never alarmed during the evening.

Conclusion

In closing we did not capture anything conclusive that could be considered paranormal activity. Considering the long history of the site  I feel it is very possible something has been left behind. It’s possible that spirit activity or just residual energy has been imprinted on the site. Further investigating of the building would be needed to try and possibly capture paranormal evidence.

 

2nd Investigation - May 14, 2022

 

On On May 14, 2022, we returned to the property to try and obtain any further evidence of paranormal activity at the site. On our previous visit we experienced and captured some minimal results. Investigator Blaschka, Christiansen, Brown and Kasper arrived at the property at approximately 3:15PM. We met our contact and her co-worker. We discussed any activity that has been experienced since our last visit and then took a walk through of the property to determine camera placement for the evening.

Camera #1 – Basement meeting room facing southeast.

Camera #2 – Basement, behind desk, facing south.

Camera #3 – Basement area, facing south.

Camera #4 – Second level, facing east, north aisle.

Camera #5 – Second level, facing north, hall by emergency exit.

Camera #6 – Second level facing north, by fireplace.

Camera #7 – Second level facing east, south aisle.

Camera #8 – Second level, facing south. 

Once the cameras were placed, we photographed all areas. This was done so that we would be able to compare them at the end of the evening to determine if anything had been moved.

We also took several infrared and normal light photographs of the entire property at the start of the investigation, during and at the end of the night. Upon review of all photos taken, none were found to have captured anything paranormal in nature.

We conducted several EVP sessions in the building. Sessions were conducted in the basement, near the fireplace, in the lower-level conference room, and the south end of the building on the 2^nd level. Some of these sessions included using the Estes Method. Several of the sessions included the use of our SLS mapping device. Review of these sessions was interesting and yielded some results. During our first session in the basement, we heard and captured on audio what sounded like something being pulled out from the shelf and then dropped to the floor. While this was occurring, we also were mapping two figures on our SLS device. We inspected the entire lower level for a source of the sound but found nothing to explain the sound.

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During our second session by the fireplace area, several questions were asked that referred to two prominent men from the past, both having strong ties to the building. Many times, our K2 meter, when used as a communication device, reacted to questions asked. No EVP was captured, and nothing was mapped on our SLS device during the session.

The remaining EVP sessions did not generate any solid results.

We also captured on our DVR camera footage at 9:54PM a very bright orb that moves toward the camera and to the right. It seems to move under its own power, a bit different than regular dust. We captured a few other strange bands of light that radiated upward in the basement area at 11:01PM as well as two orbs in the same area hooked together tumbling toward the camera at 11:26PM. None of these anomalies captured on DVR could be reasonably explained by researchers.

In conclusion, we did obtain some evidence that I feel was paranormal in nature. The sound of an item pulling out from the shelf and falling to the ground occurred while we were there, captured on audio and was witnessed by several people. This activity was reported to us by staff as something that occurs at the site on a regular basis. It is significant that it was captured by our researchers as well. The capture of several unexplained light anomalies and the mapping of entities on our SLS monitoring system also reinforces the claims that the building is haunted. We hope to continue further research of the site in the future if permitted.

 

*Any use or reproduction of this documentation is prohibited without the sole permission of Shawn Blaschka and the WPRS.