Paranormal investigators take on Wausau store

/Home/Haunted Locations/Haunted US/Haunted Wisconsin

Paranormal investigators take on Wausau store
October 31, 2009
By DJ Slater
Wausau Daily Herald

There's something strange going on at Shepherd & Schaller Sporting Goods store in downtown Wausau.

Ghostly activities have been taking place at the store for years, enough to convince owner Robb Shepherd to allow the Wausau Paranormal Research Society to investigate his store Tuesday, just days before Halloween.

Investigators Shawn Blaschka, Jim Coscio and Anji Spialek are a calm bunch who take their hobby seriously, with a plethora of expensive equipment to prove it. They allowed a Wausau Daily Herald reporter to tag along on their after-hours ghost hunt at the downtown store long rumored to be haunted.

The investigators knew the ghost stories behind the building, which belonged to J.C.Penney Co. Inc., decades ago. A former maintenance worker, who has been called both "Bill" and "Eddie," is said to still be roaming the store.

Store employees have told the investigators that the ghost has stacked boxes in the corner of the basement, spilled soda on the basement floor and put the can upright again, scared dogs and even thrown plaster in the attic.

"No one likes to come up here," said Shepherd, as he stood in the attic with the investigators.

With the stories in mind, Shepherd retreated to his office, leaving the building to the investigators.

The investigators placed their gear in the center of the store -- a digital camera to capture ghostly images, an electromagnetic field meter to pinpoint where a ghost might be lurking and digital voice recorders to capture any abnormal sounds or ghostly communication.

The electromagnetic field meters beeped as the investigators slowly walked along the long hallway of the basement. Spialek stepped into the suspect corner where the ghost has been known to stack boxes, knocking some to the ground.

"We hear you like to stack boxes," she said. "Can you stack these boxes for us?"

Next, the investigators ascended the stairs to the dark and gloomy attic, also known as "Eddie's/Bill's" room. They appeared calm, until Spialek asked Blaschka if he wanted to venture into the dark and cluttered crawl space of the attic.

By 8:45 p.m., they set up two digital night-vision video cameras, which allowed them to monitor the basement hallway and the second-floor staircase in complete darkness.

The camera images appeared grainy and went dark for seconds at a time. Even swapping one camera with another didn't improve the image. All connector cables were fastened properly.

"Something has to be interfering with the camera," Blaschka said.

As the investigation wrapped up, the team don't find any abnormalities. The boxes Spialek knocked over earlier remained in a cluttered pile, untouched by any haunts.

Based on the night's observations, Blaschka couldn't determine if a spirit roams the store. The stories he has heard against the lack of evidence found during the nearly four-hour hunt left him uncertain.

Still, Blaschka and Spialek did experience one strange incident midway through the recording session. The power cords to the cameras became unplugged.

"They don't just unplug that easily," Blaschka said. "I don't know how they got unplugged."