Terror in Trempealeau County!

This past Friday Tony and I legend tripped to a couple places we had not been in Trempealeau County, WI.

We stopped in Chimney Rock Township, the Strum Cemetery, and along the way, we stopped at an old schoolhouse.

You can read about the history and lore about these places on these sites:

Wisconsinosity

Trempealeau County Historical Society

Here are some pictures from our adventure~

The old schoolhouse looks as it has been cared for, but is totally empty inside it appears.

The Strum Cemetery harbors strange lights and shadow people.

And finally, the township of Chimney Rock.

Paranormal in 2015!!

Since my next book isn't coming out until spring of 2016, I decided to write a few articles.  I will be having two locations (in one article) that will be featured in the fall edition of a local magazine called, "Chippewa Valley Hidden Treasures"

I also just started writing about certain spooky spots for an online site called, "Mysterious Heartland"

My first article about Caryville, Wisconsin was posted today!  Check it out

My next article about The Soo Line Bridge will be coming out soon as well, plus I'm currently working on a third article!

I will post more updates about all these projects here, so please check back with me!

In the News

In the summer of 2013 I was asked by the lady who runs the magazine, "Chippewa Valley Hidden Treasures", to write a piece on the paranormal for her upcoming fall/Halloween edition.  I jumped at the chance!

I ended up writing about 2 locations: the Soo Line Bridge in Eau Claire; and the Durand Courthouse in Durand.  I had so much fun with it.

Here's the article  (just click each image to enlarge it)~

Please visit our site The Haunting Experiments

Ghouls on Film

I wanted to share a few of our videos.

This was one of the first videos we did called, "The Legend of Caryville"

This video was a part of season 1 of our web series.

This was a book trailer my husband Tony made for me

And finally, this is the season one trailer for our web series

Creepy California!

I have been out to California 7 times and it is by far, my favorite state!

My second trip with friend Melissa back in 2003, had us venturing over to the infamous Alcatraz Island and the Winchester Mystery Mansion.  From Al Capone and the Bird Man, to the late elusive and reclusive heiress Sarah Winchester- this trip was very memorable and a blast!

We decided not to go on the headset tour through Alcatraz, but rather take a self-guided tour.  It was cold and damp even though the weather in the bay was in the upper 70's that day.  San Francisco is gorgeous and free spirited, so to see this solemn and intrusive structure out in the middle of the bay was very foreboding.  We couldn't wait to go. ;-)

We took the ferry out to the island (below)

Me on the ferry- was so bright out that day!

My ticket stub for the ferry and Alcatraz tour

Some pictures inside, including the cell Al Capone stayed in (just click on the photos below for a bigger resolution)

And a couple photos from outside

Melissa and I also ventured over to the Winchester Mansion, which is a beautiful "painted lady" Victorian estate.  The highlights for me were the orange trees in the courtyard, the staircase leading to nowhere (the ceiling), the door that opens up to the second story outside- if you walked out you would fall and break your legs! I also thought the seance room was pretty cool.  Oh!...and the music room with the large organ- was waiting for the Phantom to show up. :-)

Below is my ticket stub for admission into the odd mansion

Tower of Terror

The Elk Mound Tower is located in Elk Mound, Wisconsin.  It is high up on a hill and when standing on the top of the tower, there is gorgeous scenery from every angle.

This location is actually called Mound Hill Park, and it was built in the 1930's.  There was originally a dirt road built in 1926 by local farmers.  In 1934, rural letter carriers of Dunn County planted a tree and placed a plaque memorial for all the deceased letter carriers, including small clumps of dirt from each of their routes.

In 1937 the decision was made to build an observation tower that was to be about 25 feet in height. The stones for it came from the Downsville Stone Quarry, and also a dismantled livery stable nearby.

I have visited this location several times and continue to be awed by the panoramic scenery. However, some of the most breathtaking, picturesque places have dark disturbing tales.

I think the ultimate one is the legend of a fire breathing dragon buried beneath the mound.  Talk about "Lord of the Rings!"  There are stories of a person plunging to their death from the tower and now they haunt the surrounding area.  If you visit, you will hear faint, disembodied screams and maniacal laughter from the woods, and when walking up the steps to the deck, some have felt faint or nauseated, and have even felt as though there were a menacing presence behind them.  When they look behind them, there is no one there.  There was a woman who was walking back down the steps in 2012, and was literally pushed by some unseen force in front of her friends.  Luckily, she caught herself and was not harmed.  There have been several people who have mentioned seeing odd mist or lights, but to this date I myself have never seen any photos of this reported phenomenon.

I was researching a bit into the tower and ended up finding an article that mentions me and my book, "The Haunted Chippewa Valley", because I actually used the tower as the cover photo of my book!!

A link to the article:

Mound Hill Park Castle

The observation deck and the views- you can see the Elk Mound High School in the photo below:

The plaque for the Dunn County Rural Letter Carriers:

A plaque mentioning thanks and the re-opening of the park in 1994:

The foreboding tower, facing it head on:

The inside of the tower- watch behind you to make sure no ghostly figure is trying to push you to your death!

Fright Factory

The Banbury Place is the former Uniroyal Tire Factory near downtown Eau Claire.  For years it had hundreds of individuals coming and going, living out their lives and working hard for the money. Until one day, it was pretty much done.  The tire factory went out and closed it's doors, but not permanently.  I wonder though after the doors shut, if spirits were trapped inside?

This sprawling industrial giant is a bit creepy from afar

But once you get up close and are able to go inside during the day, it is alive with many different businesses who reside within.  There is storage space, and some of the factory was even turned into industrial-type apartments!  It's refreshing in this day and age, to see a place with so much history still utilized and not leveled.

According to the rumor mill, there are a handful of underground tunnels that are now inhabited by homeless vagrants, but that has never been proven to be true.  Also, in building 13 (ironic eh?) there was reportedly an electrician working after hours on an air conditioning unit who was electrocuted. His charred body was not found for a week.  In truth, there WAS a man who was growing marijuana plants and accidentally electrocuted himself.

Now they say ever since the death in building 13, if you stop and listen, you will hear faint screams of pain and terror coming from where the man was electrocuted.  If you listen even closer, you will hear the faint hum of an old air conditioning unit- that is, if you can hear over the screams.  If these tunnels are really present, there are stories that have surfaced about strange figures and shadow people below.  Are they of transients or ghosts?

You decide.