Roaming spirits

Published 02:02 p.m., October 16, 2009

In Elbow Lake there’s a haunted house where some families refuse to live. In Fergus Falls, at the Regional Treatment Center (RTC), there are stories of employees seeing apparitions (ghosts) and hearing the phantom sounds of chairs moving along the floor.

In recent years at the Fergus Falls Middle School, some people believed that the auditorium was haunted by the spirit of a young girl.

“Several of the teachers saw a strange light inside the building,” said Chad Lewis, co-author of the book, Minnesota Road Guide to Haunted Locations. “No one knows who this girl is or was.”

Lewis said the county museum has reported strange sounds whose source cannot be found.

“Objects seem to appear in places that they were not previously in,” he said. “Perhaps the spirit is attached to an object from the museum, which would be fairly common.”

In other nearby communities, spirits are believed to be roaming restaurants, former creameries, and other establishments.

Lewis, who will speak Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Elbow Lake Public Library, said stories about ghosts and haunted places are common in all areas of Minnesota.

“At the RTC in Fergus Falls, I’ve heard many stories of former employees seeing apparitions,” said Lewis. “I ask people to bring their stories to me during presentations like the one coming to Elbow Lake.”

In 1999, Lewis received a Bachelors of Art Degree in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Stout. As a graduate student, he completed his Master’s Thesis on Students’ Belief in the Paranormal. In 2002, Lewis received a Masters in Science degree in Psychology, also from U of W at Stout.

Lewis and Terry Fisk, his co-author, have come across accounts of people sleeping in a haunted bed and breakfast, hearing ghostly wails in a theater, going roller-skating with ghosts, swimming with mischievous spirits, having a drink in a haunted pub, seeing gravestones move on their own, hiking a haunted trail and hearing spirits playing music.

Lewis and Fisk have hunted ghosts in nine states. They’ve written ghostly guide books for Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois. They’re close to completing books for Wisconsin and Michigan.

“For our research, we look for places with long histories of hauntings with multiple eye-witnesses who we can interview,” said Fisk. "In a lot of cases, people didn't know each other and thought they were the only ones who had these experiences. Yet, they saw almost the same things.”

A walk through a darkened woods brought them to the foot of an old lighthouse. It was empty and padlocked. Suddenly, they were startled by the sound of a door slamming violently against a wall inside the structure. But they were skeptical.

"We thought maybe the wind blew a door (closed)," Fisk said. "But within two minutes, we heard ‘bam.’ We knew there was no wind. It was perfectly calm. And there was no way somebody was in there because it was padlocked."

With all his ghost hunting, Fisk wonders if one of those ghosts may have followed him home. How else could he explain the strange things that started happening in the home he and his wife had occupied for eight years?

It was 2008 when he and his wife both saw the orange mist in their living room. They glimpsed it just in the corners of their eyes, but when they turned, it was gone.

Every year, close to Halloween, libraries invite the authors to delve into the paranormal to give talks. Such is the case this coming Thursday in Elbow Lake. Rocking chairs that rock alone, lingering spirits and an ordinary piano playing with no player will be among the topics of discussion.

Pipestone residents invited Lewis to the Calumet Inn that has more than its share of ghostly lore. There are stories of a man in a tweed suit that can be seen in the mirror behind the front desk of the Calumet. But when the desk clerk turns, there is no one there.

The authors don’t want people in and near Otter Tail County to take their word for it.

“We want people to go away from this presentation with an adventure of their own,” said Lewis.

Author Chad Lewis to speak in Elbow Lake

Chad Lewis, co-author of the “Minnesota Road Guide to Haunted Locations,” will speak at the public library in Elbow Lake on Thursday, Oct. 22, at 7 p.m. at Thorson Memorial Library. Admission is free.

“With Halloween fast approaching, I’ll include lots of information for you,” said Lewis. “I plan to talk about the strange side of Minnesota, including the most haunted locations and spirits that continue to roam the area.”

Lewis will come to Elbow Lake with ghostly photos, case history, eyewitness accounts and ghost lore. This unique presentation encourages you to visit places for your own ghost story.

The presentation will take the audience on a ghostly journey to some of the most haunted places in Minnesota. It covers the entire state from Wandering Ghosts in the North Woods to the Haunted B&B in Wabasha.

“From phantom creatures prowling the woods to graveyard apparitions located in your own backyard, no place in Minnesota is without its own haunting,” says Lewis.

Find out where you can see possessed statues come to life, pick up a phantom hitchhiker, encounter a ghost train, enjoy a play in a haunted theatre, and have your car pushed by spirits.

Lewis is a paranormal researcher and author for Unexplained Research L.L.C He holds a Master's of Science degree in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Stout.

The author, along with fellow author Terry Fisk, have a unique book.

Lewis trekked across the world in search of the paranormal. From tracking vampires in Transylvania and chasing the Chupacabras in Puerto Rico, to searching for the elusive monster in Loch Ness, and pursuing ghosts in Ireland's castles, he brings over 14 years of research experience to his presentations — including the one Thursday evening in Elbow Lake.

He’s been featured on the Discovery Channel’s “A Haunting,” ABC’s “World’s Scariest Places,” and has hundreds of interviews to his credit.

Lewis is the author of the Hidden Headlines series and also the co-author of the Road Guide to Haunted Locations book series.

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