I’m a skeptic. In fact, I’m more than skeptic. I like ghost stories, and it’s fascinating how legend becomes so woven into the fabric of a place that they become inseparable. The mundane grows into something far more interesting that speaks to the deep inner yearnings of the human psyche. But do ghosts really exist?
Two people can witness a picture frame fall off a wall. One person believes they just experienced the paranormal. The other believes a picture frame fell off the wall.
That’s me, I’m the latter.
I didn’t used to be, but all these years in the field have altered my perspective.
Still, when I got a message from my friend and Goatman expert J. Nathan Couch earlier this week inviting me to participate in a paranormal investigation, I wasn’t going to miss it. I’ve watched investigators on TV and scoffed, but I’d never been directly involved in one IRL with real people who weren’t concerned about ratings.
We arrived at the location at 7pm. Nate, Mike Hoke of Road Trips with Yogi, my son and I. Mike carried a case of gear—TriField EMF meters, infrared thermometers, a spirit box, a Phasm full spectrum camera, etc. Nate brought a KII meter and a digital recorder.
The investigation was being held for the winner of a Halloween raffle put on by a non-profit organization in West Bend. The winner also happened to be the mother of one of the staff members, who accompanied us for the night.
The house was built in 1893, she told us, and served numerous purposes over the years, including as the area’s first hospital, a rectory, a private home, and, currently, the headquarters of the organization.
She gave us a tour and told us what they’d learned about the history of the house over the years, including that several deaths are connected to the location that include an adult male and a child named Scotty.
As for the paranormal, someone saw a full apparition pass through a first floor hallway once, moving from one room to another. Staff and visitors alike say they never feel alone in the house. On two separate occasions, a switch in the basement engaging the furnace had been flipped on when no one could have done so.
Not long after we entered the house, a cacophony of metallic banging noises began emanating from some old, exposed pipes. I put my hand on one of them, could feel it shake. The clanging seemed to be in the basement, like someone was vigorously striking the pipes with a monkey wrench.
That, staff informed us, was just the heat kicking on.
Upstairs, the old radiators hissed. A sound that, for a moment, resembled a distant scream.
If I was alone in the house at night, those sounds would certainly be unnerving even if I knew what they were.
Some paranormal researchers believe spirits communicate through sounds in radiators, such as the phenomena encountered in the historic Trempealeau Hotel, where the friendly spirit of a woman rattles doorknobs in the night and whispers to guests through the old cast iron radiators.
But I don’t know how you’d differentiate normal creepy radiator sounds from ghosts.
We split into groups. The staff member, Nate, and my son and Nate went to the basement. I went with Mike and the guest of honor to the second floor.
While Mike set up the spirit box and the Phasma camera, I wandered through the rooms with an infrared thermal imager searching for heat signatures. An inactive lava lamp glowed bright orange on the screen. Windows were a cold, dark blue.
In a living room space, a light was flickering intermittently.
Paranormal activity right off the bat? Not a bad way to start an investigation.
The light was on a dimmer with a loose knob, causing it to flicker when lightly touched or left in a middle position.
In the kitchen space, the spirit box cycled quickly through radio frequencies. Disjointed signals came through—some music, some talking—but nothing that seemed to form a distinct and coherent message.
We sat in the dark in the living room, Mike and our guest engaging whatever else may have been in the room with us with various questions while the camera ran and Mike’s phone recorded the audio in hopes of capturing some EVP.
After a while, Mike encouraged me to ask a question.
Up until that moment, I considered myself a silent observer. A documentarian, maybe. Not really an active participant. I wasn’t ready to start lobbing questions into the aether.
Meanwhile, the other team downstairs got confirmation via spikes on the K2 meter that the spirit they were communicating with could hear the bells from the church nearby, and liked them.
Eventually we switched, Nate’s team going upstairs while Mike, our guest, and I took the basement.
Sitting in the dark, Mike and our guest continued asking questions, hoping to reach the male spirit associated with that space. Mike asked the spirit to knock in response to his questions. At several points during the session we did actually hear something like weak, distant knocking sounds coming from one corner. But considering the racket made by the heating system, who knows what other old pipes could be making those sounds.
Our guest admitted to us that she does tend to connect with and feel energies, and had in fact felt things in the house before. But that night was quiet. She said it felt empty.
Later, we all reconvened on the first floor in a space that had previously been the parlor of the home. The impression of the fireplace was still faintly visible on one wall.
Here, our chaperone sat on the couch in one corner and invited Scotty to join her.
I passed an EMF meter over the couch.
The numbers rose steadily as the meter went over the empty cushion toward the corner. Curious. Until we discovered the staff office was on the other side of the wall, and a PC with a large USB Wi-Fi antenna was in that same corner.
The ladies chatted for quite a while with the spirits as the K2 on the table between them lit up intermittently, often seeming as though in direct response to their questions.
They were talking to something, but didn’t believe it was Scotty.
There was a spike when I mentioned the home of West Bend’s first doctor was nearby, who may have actually worked in this building when it served as a hospital.
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We wrapped up and Mike went home with a few hours worth of audio and video files to analyze. We’ll see if anything turns up.
On the way out, Nate and Mike joked not to blame them if any “attachments” followed us home. I assured them that if there were any demons in our house, it would probably be because of the objects already there. Bones. Vintage Ouija boards. Pieces of Aleister Crowley’s house. Surely one of those would be haunted.
The experience was pretty much what I expected it to be, which is to say that I enjoyed it, and not much really happened because it wasn’t a television production. It was great exploring the space, hearing the stories, and seeing how well Mike and Nate handled the investigation. I’m grateful for the opportunity to tag along.
My skeptic needle hasn’t moved yet, but I would jump at the chance to do join in another investigation and try it again.
I love this! I’m a freelance paranormal investigator and researcher and I’m always game to have skeptics or non-believers join in on tours or investigations because I like hearing / seeing their point of view and their observations of what “could be” considered paranormal activity.