When you travel from downtown Menomonie to Jeter-Tainter-Callahan Hall and out pass the Red Cedar Trail to Devil's Punchbowl, you never know who or what might be following along the way. Legends tell of ghosts that live amongst us in western Wisconsin. That's right, you don't need to travel too far to talk with the living dead. In fact, there is even a guide, a road map per se, to haunted locations in Wisconsin. University of Wisconsin-Stout applied psychology alumni Chad Lewis coauthored with Terry Fisk "The Wisconsin Road Guide To Haunted Locations," one out of five books the duo has written about haunted sites throughout the state, some right here in Menomonie.

"So we started looking for a book to help us find those haunted places," said Lewis in a 2006 interview with the Dunn County News. "We found out that a lot of the history was made up and that the directions to get there were horrible."

Over the next few years, Lewis and Fisk started collecting stories and investigating haunted locations. They eventually formed Unexplained Research Publishing Company to publish their findings and the ghost stories from over 100 emails received each week. To date the duo has published haunted location books for Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota and Illinois.

A recent paranormal investigation took place in the heart of downtown Menomonie at the Mabel Tainter Center for the Arts. Named after the 19-year-old girl who died unexpectedly in 1886, the Mabel Tainter has been a source of haunted rumors for decades. People talk about seeing strange lights in the windows, hearing chains rattling and seeing a woman in white haunting the 119-year-old building.

"Some folks think it's Mabel herself or even her mother that has been seen on the lower level," said Erik Simonsen, Mabel Tainter executive director. "I have never seen her but I have been a victim of her mischief such as turning lights back on after I leave a room."

On Dec. 6, 2008, the Mabel Tainter permitted 11 paranormal investigators from Sanity Check Paranormal Investigators (SPCI) to stay overnight in the theater.

"I had read about the Mabel Tainter on the Web and talked to locals about various incidents," said Ken Gangi, lead investigator for SCPI. "It appeared that the potential for multiple apparitions existed, so we asked for permission to investigate."

The SPCI crew consisted of six technicians with a variety of devices to detect activity, including video recorders, audio recorders, EMF detectors, thermometers, compasses, digital cameras and two sensitives. "We asked psychic sensitives Judy and Erin to join us because they had in the past located apparitions within a building that our instruments did not detect."

They began the investigation on the lower level, and immediately Judy and Erin left the group and disappeared into a back room under the stage. "The sensitives claimed that they were pulled back to that room by a strong feeling," said Gangi. "Judy and Erin sensed a male presence back in the dressing room under the stage." Ken at that point recommended that they do a brief walk through to get familiar with all the rooms. Once reaching the stage on the main floor, both Erin and Judy again felt the presence of what they felt was a male above the stage on the catwalk. They also reported seeing shadows moving up on the catwalk. The shadows quickly disappeared and the team proceeded back to the lower level to pair up into teams.

"I took Judy and Erin to the hallway in front of the women's bathroom and was explaining what I wanted them to do," said Gangi. "While talking to them, Erin quickly grabbed her shoulder and turned around claiming that she was just tapped on her shoulder." They looked to see if anything was near her or hanging from the ceiling, there was nothing. She then proceeded to walk into the women's bathroom and immediately backed out because of such a "heavy feeling." Another investigator went into the bathroom and he also immediately came out.

Due to both experiencing an eerie feeling, the team was prompted to set up equipment immediately and begin recording EVPs (electronic voice phenomena). EVP recorders are highly sensitive digital recorders that enable the investigator to carry on a discussion while picking up phenomena. What the EVP recorder captured was a female voice eerily whispering, "Get out."

"The most interesting EVP for me was the simultaneous recordings in two separate rooms on the second floor of a scream or high pitched shriek," said Gangi. "The investigators were at least 50 feet away from each other and captured the same sound."

Although SCPI recovered only one phenomena photograph of an orb passing by a member on the staircase outside the lower level woman's bathroom, they feel the Mabel Tainter deserves further inquiry. "We look forward to coming back," said Gangi. "There is enough evidence to indicate that some form of paranormal activity is occurring right now at the Mabel Tainter."


Other western Wisconsin locations reported to be haunted:

UW-Stout Jeter-Tainter-Callahan Residence Hall
Students and staff say eerie voices in empty rooms lock and unlock doors. In the cafeteria, trays or items are misplaced or tipped over for no apparent reason.

Wilson Place Mansion
According to rumor, a death in one of the rooms caused a spirit to stay behind forever trapped in the mansion. When you enter the room, you feel an instant chill to the bone.

Caddie Woodlawn Park
Legend says the old house has cold spots indicting a spirit is present and that you can hear someone walking around on the second floor when no one is there.

Lookout Tower at Mound Hill Park
Reports of ghostly children singing and playing in the woods. Footsteps have been heard coming up the tower staircase but no one is there.

Devil's Punchbowl
Reports of gnome-like figures and strange balls of light seen at night in the punchbowl.