Rogers Theatre, Wausau, WI

SYNOPSIS

      The Rogers Theatre is located in downtown Wausau, Wisconsin at 310 N. 4th Street near the Wausau Center Mall. Currently the Rogers is vacant and up for sale. The building was first used as apartments with small businesses on the first floor. Around 1926 the Helke Furniture Company which was then located across the street from the Rogers, decided to open up a funeral business at this site. It operated as such until 1939. In 1945 it was converted again to a movie theatre and opened as the Hollywood Theatre. Over the years the name changed to the Wausau Theatre and then to the current Rogers Theatre. During October, Susan Ramsett of Channel 7 Television contacted the WPRS. The WPRS was invited to investigate the Rogers Theatre to try and find any evidence of paranormal activity. Former employees of the theatre have reported to the WPRS that they have had several encounters with paranormal phenomena. 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 will be aired on 10/30/03 and 10/31/03.

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 theatre was the Rogers. Roll videotaped the walk through of the site so as to have a record of our investigation.

• Several reports of the feeling of strong presence in the building, especially in the basement theatre area.
• One former employee claims that he seen a man walking in front of the downstairs theatre movie screen while working in the projection room. No one else was in the building at the time.
• The staff refers to the spirit as “Bob”.
• A former employee reported seeing a bluish-gray face stare back at him as he was loading a film in the projection booth downstairs. Again a search of the theatre revealed that he was the only one present during the sighting.
• One evening while removing theatre seats from the downstairs auditorium, two former employees of the Rogers reported that they witnessed the theatre 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.
• Several times during matinee’s the film projectors main shut of switches would turn off one after the other. Electricians could find no cause for this anomaly.
• Lights are turned on and off by unseen visitors.
• Reports of rapping noises that cannot be explained.
• One employee reported that he was pushed out the front door by unseen hands as he left for the evening.
  
  
  

INVESTIGATION RESULTS

      The investigation of the Rogers Theatre 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 Night shot camera was used to film all areas of the site. Upon review of this film no anomalies could be noted. Also various personal observations were 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. However, it must also 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.

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