Investigations
Milwaukee Area Paranormal Investigations
"Follow me into the shadows..."
Current Investigation
On The Right Track, Beauty Salon & Restaurant
St. Francis, WI
April 12, 2008
1:30 PM
Solar X-Ray Flux: Normal
Geomagnetic Field: Quiet
Lunar Phase: 1st Quarter, 49% full
Temperature Outside: 37 F
Cloudy
90% Humidity
Wind North at 14 MPH
Investigators Present: Krista, Dan, & Sunny
Overview
We were invited to a small business in St. Francis to check out claims of unusual activity. This was our initial visit to gather information about their claims and to take a quick look around the property. We began by interviewing the witnesses, which consisted of the owner, her daughter, a coworker, and a frequent patron of the restaurant. After talking with the witnesses and recording their claims, we were given a thorough tour of the property. During the tour we ran audio, video, and standard film photography. Afterwords, our team once again sat down with the witnesses and summarized our feeling of the property and set up a date to return in order to conduct a full investigation.
The Reported Activity
*Hearing an upstairs door slamming shut when no one is upstairs
*Hearing a woman's voice (words not ascertainable)
*Hearing an office chair roll across the upstairs floor when no one is upstairs
*Items falling off shelves in basement when no one is around
*Coffee pots frequently fall to the floor (also reported by previous shop owner)
*Coffee maker frequently double pours (was checked by maintenance- no problems)
*Volume turned up suddenly on radio, no one touched it
*Both coolers went down day before we showed up, no aparrant reason for malfunction
*Heard someone come in front door and felt something place their hands on her shoulders. Door was locked.
*Dog sometimes looks past owner and barks at something, growling, barring teeth, when on second floor
*In spa, woman’s voice can be heard coming from air vent/ fan near ceiling on the south wall
*Hearing footsteps coming from upstairs/ staircase when no one is there
The History
While we are still tracking down documents from the Milwaukee Historical Society, we do know a little bit of information based on resident accounts and some research. When the house was built, St. Francis did not exist- it was known as the Town of Lake. Untill we can access the Town of Lake property information from the downtown library, we can only estimate when the house was built. Based on the wallpaper company (J. C. Eisenhart W. P. Co), the horsehair plaster & slatwalls, and general construction, our initial guess is that the house was built in the late 1800s/ early 1900s. The building has a long history of being run as a small restaurant/ tavern, with occasional use of sleeping rooms. Local tales (which we are researching) states the house was originally used as a brothel and railroad roadhouse. We do know that it was indeed a tavern in the early to mid 1900s based on the glass beer & soda bottles they recovered from the yard. Other dated artifacts found include a miniature doll, horseshoes, a shoe found in the walls, and a ladies mother of pearl hairpin. We should note that it used to be common practice among the superstitous to hide a shoe (or other article) inside a wall, under the floor, or in a chiney for good luck and to ward off evil spirits.
The Initial Walkthrough
After we finished interviewing the witnesses, we were given a complete tour of the grounds. We began on the main level and did not experience anything out of the ordinary. The restaurant, kitchen, and salon had a warm pleasant feel. In fact we felt very welcome and comfortable, not at all uneasy. However, once we climbed the stairs to the second floor, several members of the group felt as though there was an electrical charge in the air, making their skin tingle and their hair raise on end. None of the instruments registered anything however as soon as we were upstairs, one member witnessed a shadow move from under a door (the room was empty, and was the room where they often hear the door slam shut), and another member witnessed a small ball of light go across their foot in a darkened room. The temperature was also noticeable colder on the second floor, though no drafts were detected, on average about 5-10 degrees colder than the main level. By this point we knew we wanted to come back and do a full investigation. This house was a "breath of fresh air" to us- we can not wait to go back and do a thourough investigation.
St. Francis Seminary Woods Cemetery St. Francis, WI 6/11/06 (TRAINING EXCERCISE FOR NEW MEMBERS)
This was the first of several visits to the cemetery and adjacent vicinity. The main objective of this trip was to obtain base readings, map out the areas that we felt offered the best chance to capture evidence, and to re-familiarize everyone present about proper equipment and investigation protocols. The weather was quite pleasant at 60 degrees. We were sheltered from any breezes by the surrounding woods, skies were mostly sunny, and we experienced a very brief, light rain shower lasting for about 5 minutes. The lunar cycle was in its "full" stage, and there were not any solar flares nor any geomagnetic disturbances. As a general baseline, the EMF detectors scaled 0. No power sources were immediately present in the woods to give any false readings. We continued to scan the cemetery, and at one particular grave, belonging to a Sister M. Marina Loschmidt 1885-1903, we registered an EMF reading of about 4.5 several times. No warm or cold spots were present. Most areas of the cemetery registered readings of 0, with a few spots going up to 2 on the EMF meters. There were no presences on the film or video taken, and surprisingly no false positives were captured on film when we got caught in the rain. After the cemetery we headed several feet west to the stone grotto. The temperature was consistent with the surrounding areas, about 58 degrees in the shade of the trees. Minimal EMFs were present not registering higher than 2 on our meters. We are still analyzing the audio we recorded and will post any positive EVPs we may have captured. One oddity that caught our curiosity was the seemingly young age at which most of the people had died. Most were only in their early 20's, and several in their late teens. The average life span in the US during the early 1900s was 49. On the way out, one member found a tiny jaw bone belonging to an unknown animal. Nothing strange or unusual about that. At this time we are planning our next visit in the very near future, this time a bit later in the evening to see if we can't capture any positive photos or video. Pictures taken from this first visit can be found here.
History of the site:
Saint Francis Seminary, one of the first Roman Catholic seminaries in the United States, was built in 1855 by Bishop Martin Henni just off of Lake Michigan in St. Francis, WI. On the grounds of St. Francis Seminary is a large undeveloped forested area known as the Seminary Woods. Located inside the woods is a small cemetery and stone grotto, open to the public. The land is also shared with the neighboring Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi.
The Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi began in 1849 when a small group of Third Order Franciscans (5 men, 6 women) heard a call for missionaries to the new world. They left Ettenbeuren, Bavaria on March 13, 1849 and soon began caring for the children of St. Amelian's orphanage. The Sisters are the first foundation of Franciscan women to be established in the US.
The grotto was built by Paul Dobberstein while training at the seminary in 1894. During his studies he contracted double pneumonia and promised the Virgin Mary he would build a grotto in her honor, once he recovered.
