Arrival
The group arrived at different times as the night progressed. Noah, Karen and Mel arrived at around 7:30 pm, Michael around 8:15 pm and Mike around 8:30 pm. Per the request of shop owner Vicky Elsing, she requested the group be nasty to her when they arrived to experiment to see if the spirits would react.
NOTE: The group meant none of the things they said to her and did apologize to the spirits of the building the next day.
At 8:40 pm, the group started to prepare for the investigation by taking baseline readings and photos. Karen and Michael went around and documented their sensitive findings while the rest started to help set equipment up.
Around 10 pm, Michael was in the furniture room looking at the bedroom set that was near the front of the room. He started to touch it and kept feeling a female energy telling him to stop. He stated he didn’t listen to her, and a cabinet door that was open next to him swung shut. Upon trying to recreate the door closing, it was noticed the door was on a slight angle and would have needed a lot of force to move. Unfortunately, no video cameras were rolling at the time and there were no other witnesses. This is considered to be a personal experience.
The equipment set up and baseline readings were completed at 10:30 pm. Karen and Michael then went over their impressions with the group as they all sat in the front Main Room. Around 10:44 pm, several group members thought they heard a voice come from the Tool Room, and shortly after at 10:46 pm Karen thought she heard a whisper in the Main Room (see audio evidence).
Investigation
Deciding to start as a large group, all group members spread out throughout the Tool Room and Toy Room at 11 pm – Karen was in the main Tool Aisle, Mel was in the center aisle, Mike was in the Toy Room, Noah was near the doorway to the bathroom/storage area and Michael was in the 1st aisle. Noah and Michael went to the Back Storage Room from 11 to 11:11 pm. The group then sat in silence to observe the building noises and began an electronic voice phenomenon (EVP) session at 11:15 pm.
During this EVP session, the group continued to speak ill of Vicky to the spirits. Everyone noticed the Tool Room began to get darker and there seemed to be a negative feeling attached to it.
At 11:27 pm, Karen and Mel both thought they heard something, but it wasn’t clear as to what it was (see audio evidence). Mel would then switch with Mike and she would go into the Toy Room as Michael felt the “little girl” had come up. While talking to the girl, Mel said her face became really hot but was not sure if it were paranormal in nature. Karen then attempted to go into the Toy Room to be by the “little girl,” but Michael felt her leave as soon as Karen got near.
The group would then end their first EVP session of the night at 11:50 pm.
It was then decided to head to the lower level to conduct an EVP session. At 11:57 pm, all group members were scattered throughout the floor space (Michael near the bedroom set near the Furniture Room doorway with Noah behind him, Karen near the doorway to the back rooms, Mike on the stairs and Mel in the hallway by the Holiday and Book rooms). To see if the group could get a reaction out of the female spirit Michael picked up on earlier in the night, Michael kept touching the bed. No activities occurred at this time.
Michael and Noah then decided to head to the back areas of the lower level and had Mel go with them and sit in the Pizza Room to conduct an EVP session with a male that was sensed before. Karen sat in between the Pizza Room and the Furniture Room areas and Mike stayed in the Furniture Room. Again, no activities occurred and the group concluded at 12:38 a.m.
After taking a break, the group decided to split into two groups. Group 1 consisted of Noah and Michael while Group 2 consisted of Karen, Mel and Mike. Both groups would be set up in their locations by 1:23 am.
Group 1 – Lower Level
During Group 1’s investigation of the Pizza Room, Noah sat on the stairs while Michael sat in a chair. They conducted an EVP session, and with Noah’s DAS RT-EVP recorder (it replays audio 10 seconds after it has been said and can be heard through headphones) he kept hearing a male voice during the EVP session. He radioed to Group 2 several times to see if Mike was talking – which he wasn’t at the time (Group 2 was in the upper level of the building). The man seemed to be responding to questions about “his” death (see audio evidence).
They then moved into the Book Room. No activities occurred at this time.
Group 2 – Upper Level
Group 2 sat in the far back of the upper level near the where the sheriff was reported to either be pushed or jumped out of the window. No activities occurred during this time.
Both groups would meet back on the Main Level around 2:10.
After resetting the equipment, the entire group headed to the Lower Level at 2:43 am. Mel grabbed a children’s book and read to the “little girl” in hopes she would interact – she read “What Am I”. During this time, Michael and Noah were experiencing an EMF spike near the corner by the door that leads into the back rooms.
No other activities occurred and the group decided to try a seance in the Furniture Room at 3:15 am. All group members except for Noah sat in a circle with a single candle lit and tried to ask any spirits in the building to come forth and make their presence known. No activities occurred and the group closed the circle at 3:27 am.
To wrap up the night’s investigation, the group attempted to try using Noah’s DAS RT-EVP recorder as a Frank’s Box. A Frank’s Box is a device that circulates through radio stations at around half-a-second each. It’s proposed that spirits are supposed to use the frequencies to speak.
At 3:35 am, Noah sat in the Furniture Room while Michael, Karen, Mel and Mike went to the Pizza Room. They instructed the spirits to go to Noah and talk through the device he had. A few responses came through (which Noah would radio to the group when he heard them), but they didn’t correlate with any of the questions the group asked.
The group then radioed Noah to come to the Pizza Room and see if the distance was making a difference. No other words appeared to come through and the group concluded the evening at 3:47 am.
All group members then helped set the table up for the public event they would put on – they would get ready for bed soon after. All members were asleep by 5 am.
After the event concluded on Saturday, October 30, the group packed all of their equipment and left the shop around 5:30 p.m.
Evidence
https://paranormalmilwaukee.com/cases/elsings/elsingsindex.html
Conclusion
PIM has investigated Elsing’s Second Hand Shop many times. As such, we have come to know what sort of things to expect at this location. That being said, we tried some new techniques and equipment this time around that yielded some interesting evidence. The audio clips that we captured are very interesting. Although you can’t make out all of the responses, it seems Noah and Michael were able to communicate with the man that inhabits the Pizza Room. It seems this man wanted to discuss the manner in which he died. This evidence was captured with a new piece of equipment, the RT-EVP, which allows for instant playback of an EVP session. PIM also tried a new technique, at the owners’ request, to treat the owner harshly while she was present in the shop. This seemed to change the energy at the location, though no physical evidence was captured to back this up. PIM also had investigators that had never been to Elsing’s before, which may have also yielded a different response. This was also the first time PIM was allowed to investigate alone in the shop which also maybe of note to any different responses we received.
Though no ground-breaking evidence was captured during PIM’s investigation, we have added more evidence to the ever growing stash of paranormal evidence that has come out of Elsing’s Second Hand Shop. PIM would like to thank the owners, Vicky and Phil, for their hospitality and allowing us to investigate their location. PIM looks forward to its next investigation at Elsing’s Second Hand Shop.
