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The Rogers Theater- 310 N. 4th Street-Wausau,
Wisconsin
SYNOPSIS
The
Rogers Theater is located in downtown Wausau, Wisconsin at
310 N. 4th Street near the Wausau Center Mall.
Recently the former Rogers Theater was sold to Daniel
Miller and another partner. The
new owners plan to remodel the historic building and reopen
it as a performing/night club. It is unclear as to what year the building was originally
built; however, it was first used as apartments with a small
business located on the first floor by the name of
Ammenthorp Tire Shop. Although not verified, supposedly a woman was murdered in one
of the upstairs rooms during the 1920’s. Around 1926 the Helke Furniture Company which was then located
across the street from the Rogers building, decided to open
up a funeral business at this site. It
operated as such until 1939.
From 1940 to 1945 it is said that the building was
used as a house of ill repute.
In 1945 it was converted to a movie theater and
opened as the Hollywood Theater. In
1960 the name changed to the New Wausau Theater and then to
the Rogers Theater in 1979.
During October 2003, Susan Ramsett of Channel 7
Television contacted the WPRS. The WPRS was invited to
investigate the Rogers Theater to try and find any evidence
of paranormal activity.
The WPRS went to the Rogers on 10/23/03 to perform a
preliminary investigation. While
on site Channel 7 television was there to document some of
our findings for a two part series that was aired on
10/30/03 and 10/31/03.
Many former employees of the theater have reported to
the WPRS that they have had several encounters with
paranormal phenomena. Those
paranormal encounters are listed below.
On November 4, 2005 we
were again contacted by the current owners of the former
Rogers Theater and asked if we would be interested in
conducting a more comprehensive investigation of the site.
The WPRS accepted and returned to the site on the
evening of December 3, 2005. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY
THAT WAS REPORTED
WPRS
members Blaschka, Roll and Ludwig began the investigation on
October 23, 2003 at approximately 6:15PM. Several
first hand accounts of some of the haunting activity had
already been obtained by us through newspaper articles,
email messages from former employees of the Rogers and other
sources. Most of the activity listed below occurred while
the theater was the Rogers. Roll
videotaped the walk through of the site to have a recording
of our investigation. Some
recent activity has been added to the list since the
original investigation in 2003.
1. The staff
refers to the spirit as “Bob”. 2. One former
employee claims that he seen a man walking in front of the
downstairs theater movie screen while working in the
projection room. No one else was in the building at the
time. 3. Several
reports of the feeling of strong presence in the building,
especially in the basement theater area. 4. A former
employee reported seeing a bluish-gray face stare back at
him as he was loading film into the projection booth
downstairs. Again
a search of the theater revealed that he was the only one
present during the sighting. 5. One evening
while removing theater seats from the downstairs auditorium,
two former employees of the Rogers reported that they
witnessed the theater seats rocking violently with no one
around them. They also reported that all the seats rocked
back and forth behind them as they ran out of the
auditorium. 6. Several
times during matinees all the film projectors main shut off
switches would turn off within seconds of each other. Electricians
could find no cause for this anomaly.
7.
Lights are
turned on and off by unseen visitors. 8. Reports of
rapping noises that cannot be explained. 9.
One
employee reported that on two occasions she was pushed out
the front door by unseen hands as she left for the evening. 10.
Unexplainable
sounds have been heard in the upstairs auditoriums as well
as captured on audio tape. 11.
A roof vent
was mysteriously removed from the roof area and found by the
owner placed on the marques in undamaged condition. 12.
Recently it
has been reported that the sound of someone sitting down in
one of the theater seats has been heard when no one else is
present in the theater. 13.
Several
witnesses have recently reported that they have seen the
marquee lights turn on and off at strange hours of the night
with no one physically around to turn them on and off.
INVESTIGATION
RESULTS ON OCTOBER 23, 2003
The investigation of
the Rogers Theater located at 310 N. 4th Street
in Wausau took place on October 23, 2003 from approximately
6:00PM to 7:30PM. Investigator Blaschka, Roll and Ludwig
were present. During the investigation five rolls of high-speed color film
was shot in all areas of the building including the basement
areas. No
unexplainable anomalies were captured on film. Several
temperature readings were obtained and all seemed to be
within normal range, 57 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit in the
basement area and 59 to 63 degrees Fahrenheit in the
upstairs areas. The entire building was scanned with an EMF meter and no
anomalous readings were obtained. Most
of the EMF readings averaged between 1.5mg to 3.0mg, which
falls into a typical static field range. Some
areas had exceptions to the norm due to large amounts of man
made electrified fields. An
8mm Sony Nightshot camera was used to film all areas of the
site. Upon
review of this film no anomalies could be noted. Also one
personal observation was made through out the investigation.
Ludwig had the
sensation of feeling light headed in one of the upstairs
auditoriums. No
other team members had the same sensations. In conclusion
the WPRS did not find any scientific evidence to support the
reports of paranormal activity at the site.
It should be noted that we only spent a short period
of time in the building. More time, observation, video
monitoring and a more thorough scanning of the building
would be needed to draw a more accurate conclusion of the
site. Further
study of this site may be conducted in the future with the
permission of the Marcus Corporation.
UPDATED 12/03/05
INVESTIGATION RESU
The
second investigation of the Rogers Theater took place on
December 3, 2005 from approximately 6:00PM to 12:00AM.
Investigator Blaschka, Roll, A. Geurink, Coscio, J. Geurink
and Renel were present. During the investigation five rolls
of high-speed color film was shot in all areas of the
building. A few
anomalies were captured but we are unable to verify without
a doubt that they are paranormal in nature.
Blaschka had one photograph that was taken in one of
the upstairs auditoriums that has the image of a large orb.
The orb seems to have mass with a transparent quality
to it. Several members conducted EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena)
during the evening with unusual results.
One session captured a female voice singing the words
“pray for you”. This
voice was not heard by anyone during the recording.
Just after that voice is heard on the tape, three
members of our team witnessed a theater chair rocking on its
own. One member
attempted to take a photograph of the chair and encountered
a total loss of power to her camera.
Later examination of the batteries from the camera
showed that they were completely drained of power.
Subsequently, the batteries that were in the camera
were placed in the camera brand new prior to the
investigation. Several
attempts were made by the entire group to try and replicate
the bouncing chair anomaly with no result.
Also other EVP conducted by WPRS members in the
basement and upstairs theater areas captured other
unexplainable voices. One
session captured the words “Jesus Christ” very clearly. Other EVP‘s captured could not be clearly understood.
Several temperature readings were obtained and all
seemed to be within normal range considering that the
heating was set very low as to conserve energy. Temperatures were 33 to 48 degrees Fahrenheit in the basement
areas and 36 to 42.5 degrees Fahrenheit in the upstairs
areas. The entire building was scanned with an EMF meter in
order to collect a base line reading of the environment. EMF
readings in the basement areas averaged between 0.2mg to
4.5mg. EMF readings on the first floor ranged between 2.3mg and
7.0mg. EMF
readings on the second floor ranged between 0.5mg and 5.0mg.
All of these readings were static in nature and not
paranormal. Some areas had exceptions to the norm due to large amounts of
man made electrified fields that often interfered with the
equipment. It
should be noted that on several occasions in the second
floor theater, hallway and projection booth areas the group
encountered unexplainable spikes in the electromagnetic
field. These
unexplainable spikes could not be replicated in any way and
could possibly be paranormal in nature.
An 8mm Sony Night shot camera, EMF Natural meter, EMF
field meter and a remote temperature device was placed in
the smallest second floor auditorium. The
group focused the camera on the row of seats that the group
witnessed moving of its own accord earlier in the evening.
Upon review of this film no anomalies could be noted.
During the vigil the EMF field meter sporadically reacted to
a changing magnetic field, the source of which could not be
found by our members. Also
one personal observation was made during the investigation.
Member Coscio, while present on the second floor heard what
sounded like a male voice.
Two other members were present when this took place
but did not hear what Coscio heard.
What may be coincidental was the fact that just prior
to Coscio hearing the male voice a group member had asked a
question while conducting EVP.
The group tried to replicate the voice to see if it
was caused by stray noise but could find no explanation.
In conclusion the WPRS did experience some activity
and capture some audible evidence during the evening that
could not be explained reasonably.
Given the outcome of the investigation the WPRS feels
that there is paranormal activity present at the site.
Further study of this site may be conducted in the
future with the permission of the new owners.
*Any use or reproduction of this documentation is prohibited without the sole permission of Shawn Blaschka and the WPRS.
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