Berlin Tannery Investigation

Originally built in 1853 and became the 1903 Bassett Sheepskin Tannery in 1892. Later name changes included the Sears Hitchcock Tannery in 1903 before becoming the Berlin Tannery in 1903. A huge fire gutted the building around 1923 but was eventually rebuilt. It eventually closed down in 1987 due to much of its work being farmed overseas. It has remained empty mostly used for storage and offices for other buildings.

Located at: 235 S. Wisconsin St., Berlin, WI 54923

Telephone: 920-385-9633

Website: www.theberlintannery.com

Hauntings: Reports of shadow figures, disembodied voices and loud bangs are experienced throughout the building.

There is a room at the bottom of a ramp on the 2^nd floor that proprietors claim is probably the most active room in the building. Some of past experiences include: growls, Rempods going off just outside of the room as well as K-II meters which was once knocked out of the hand of a past investigator, cold spots and some psychics claim that there may even be a portal inside of the room.

The ramp just outside of the room has been a location where shadow play is often seen including a ghost nicknamed Hunchy.

Also on the 2^nd floor is a hallway where a humming noise is heard, touching and, in one former investigation, what was described as a mild possession. A chair swings and rotates by itself in an office which was once occupied by the original owner, Jimmy Dahl.

In a room filled with sofas and couches, items have been tossed about and a couple of females had been scratched in the past.

In the basement, a walking sound has been heard on the catwalk, voices, and groans. And just outside of that room is where one of the proprietors heard a little girl screaming.

There is also a room just a slight distance from the previous that proprietors say something may reside there that is “somewhat nasty.”

Proprietors have encountered a number of spirits in the building including: Eddie, Stretchy, Hunchy, Cid and Steve.

The GRS investigated The Berlin Tannery on July 18, 2015 and the team included: Stan Suho, Katie Para, Jim Piscopo, Chuck Williams and Dale Kaczmarek.

Equipment setup: The Command Center was set up on the main floor with several monitors set up to watch various locations throughout the building including the large open room on the same floor and near the CC, the ramp on the 2^nd floor and a microphone was employed to record possible paranormal sounds or voices.

At the bottom of the ramp, the shadow detector was placed as there has been much shadow play in that area of the building.

Experiments performed: EVP, Ovilus X and Ghostbox sessions were performed in the room with the couches on the 2^nd floor, most active room at the bottom of the ramp, basement room that is claimed for possible negativity and the basement room with the catwalk. Rem Epod was deployed outside the most active room and all sessions were videotaped with IR camcorders and full spectrum camcorders.

Personal experiences:

Kathie Para: It is a large two story building with a full basement. There are so many rooms it is easy to get lost. To do a thorough investigation we would have to make at least one return visit to cover the large area.

We had some type of activity in each area of the building that we investigated but in my opinion, the most active area was the basement.

In the basement we heard distant voices several times, shuffling as if someone were walking nearby and various other noises. At one point a Melmeter registered a reading of 110.5 and quickly returned to zero. This could not be debunked. We also had equipment malfunctions in the basement, a camera shut off and a REM pod kept going off. The REM pod was found to have a weak battery upon returning to our base but I have to wonder, was the battery weak beforehand or was the battery drained by something paranormal. Unfortunately there is no way of knowing. During the time the REM pod was going off I had an extremely cold area on my leg which evidence of a thermometer supported several times.

Another hot spot we found was by the “Saws” room on the second floor. The REM pod went off for a short time, the Melmeter readings were notable, we heard bang, squeak and shuffling and some relevant Ovilus responses.

In this same general area on the second floor we had our shadow detectors go off a few different times. Shadows were seen in various parts of the building throughout the night.

I have no doubt the activity we experienced was paranormal. I would love to go back to the Tannery!

Jim Piscopo: We arrived at the tannery around 7:00 pm and unloaded all of our equipment. We got a very informative walk through of the building. I set up my camcorder in the room in back of the main office. We did several EVPs throughout the building. Through the course of the night I heard some very strange noises, we also had some interesting responses to questions we asked.

I really didn't have any unusual feelings or experiences in the tannery.

Stan Suho: Well another great big timber frame building, very old and very haunted. We arrived late afternoon with a small group of regulars. After the walkthrough we began our setup. Using three cameras we just covered most of the hot spots. I setup in a long corridor in the basement where paranormal activity was going on. As usual with these old wooden structures, any sounds would echo through the entire building. With my microphone in the basement, I picked up just about every sound made, both man made and paranormal. The EVP team took off for places unknown, while at the Command Post, the monitors DVRs and laptops made digital records for posterity. Jim's camera was on the second floor, while Dale had two static cameras running. The evening proceeded as usual with investigators moving around the various hot spots. Because of the long trip home, we broke down a bit early.

Conclusions:
Nothing showed up on my video but it was a long hallway and the IR light did not reach to the far end. The audio was pretty much contaminated because of the aforementioned problems. It was an interesting building and might be worth a follow up investigation.

Chuck Williams: History- Little was known going in. No deaths occurred there. While it was a tannery, they had one bizarre incident of a human hide being sent anonymously to them.

Reports- Disembodied voices, shadow people, EVPs, some sensitive interpretations.

Equipment- I set up my Sony Handycam with ultraviolet lighting in the shop area with the scaffolding. I had another camera rig with me as we investigated- my full spectrum GoPro camera, Full spectrum digital camera, and 2 IR lights. Digital audio on my Zoom recorder, my Melmeter was carried as well.

We employed EVP sessions, Ovilus, and spirit box sessions. Since we were a small group, we stayed together. Stan manned the Control center, and joined us from time to time.

Personal experiences- Kathy was wearing short pants, and felt a cold spot on her leg in the service area. This was backed up by my Melmeter. The ambient temperature was very warm in the Tannery, and the closer the Melmeter was brought to her leg, the temperature dropped 5-8 degrees.

My overall feelings- The place was generally quiet and peaceful. Only one area held audible disembodied voices, hits on equipment, and noises in bulk; the area was set up like a mad scientist lab for a haunted house. Reports of something evil was reported there.

Dale Kaczmarek: William’s REM Epod with shadow detection did go off a couple of the times in the room with the couches however, the device is very sensitive to subtle changes of light and people were occasionally using flashlights and other devices that produce IR light, so some of those hits might be naturally occurring. Some thought they saw shadow play looking back towards the negative room but upon further examination, there were some windows and glass which could have created some of those illusions.

While using my Melmeter in the room where negativity is felt, I received a spike of 110.5 and it quickly faded back to 0.0 indicating a moving EMF field of energy had probably drifted through the room very rapidly. I and others did hear what sounded like a lot of background voices while conducting EVP sessions. While some of those could have been legitimate, there was a sump pump running in the large room just outside of where we were at. This could have accounted for a number of strange sounds resembling voices.

In the room with the catwalk, several loud noises and metal clanks were audibly heard which seemed to emanate from the metal catwalk! Cold spots were experienced by other members and the REM Epod hits captured in this room were caused by a low battery failure. The Ghost Radar was used and the following words were spoken: somehow, short, hall, policeman, Sunday (and it was indeed 12:58am on Sunday when that word was spoken) and changing which I find most interesting due to the cold spots and the words Ed and Eddie coming through the Ovilus X in phonetic mode at the same time.

Evidence collected:

2^nd floor saws room area bang tannery.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the saws room, a loud bang was heard and recorded.

2^nd floor saws room area squeak tannery.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the saws room, a weird squeaking sound was recorded in the background.

All right medication up here tannery.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the room with the couches several words are heard in the background including; “All right, medication and up here.”

Background talking tannery.MPG – Kaczmarek’s static IR camcorder deployed looking down the ramp, captures some background talking in between the researcher’s voices.

Bang tannery.MPG – Kaczmarek’s static IR camcorder deployed looking down the ramp, picks up a loud bang in the background.

Bang bang tannery.MPG – the static IR camcorder of Piscopo records two loud bangs, seconds apart.

Basement catwalk room noise tannery.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the basement near the catwalk, a noise was heard and recorded just before the question, “Can Eddie come down?”

Basement locker room noise tannery.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the basement locker room where perhaps something nasty is located, a noise was recorded in the background as I was attempting to tell the spirits to move the pieces of plastic that were hanging from the ceiling.

Basement room catwalk clank tannery.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the basement where the catwalk is located, a loud metal clank was heard coming from the catwalk.

Be-lin tannery.MPG – while conducting a Ghost Box session, a question was asked, “Can you tell us the city that we’re in?” The Ghost Box responds with, “Be-lin.”

Don’t fall in tannery.MPG – during our initial walkthrough the proprietor was cautioning us about a hole in the floor when, in the background, a disembodied voice is said to say, “Don’t fall in.”

Dragging sound1 tannery.MPG – the static IR camcorder of Piscopo picks up a distinct dragging sound nearby.

Dragging sound2 tannery.MPG – the static IR camcorder of Piscopo another, somewhat fainter sound of something being dragged across the floor.

Ed E up packing.tannery.MPG – while conducting an Ovilus X session in the Locker Room, the Ovilus says Ed, E (Eddie?) followed by the word “Up”. A follow-up question was asked, “Where upstairs? The Ovilus X says, “Packing.”

Girl tannery.MPG – during our initial walkthrough, our host was relating an incident about a girl that screamed at the top of her lungs after experiencing something. William laughs, followed by a voice that says, “Girl.”

Growl tannery.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the Locker Room, a growling sound was picked up on Williams’s camera.

Hello tannery.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the Locker Room, a question was asked, “Did you think one of us was George?” A clear-sounding “Hello” is heard by most in the background.

Hi it’s Jim tannery.MPG – while finishing up a session in the basement, a whispery voice in the background is heard saying, “Hi it’s Jim.”

Home tannery.MPG – a static camera in the basement picks up a voice that sounds like, “Home.”

I don’t tannery.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the basement, a question was asked, “Did you live here?” A whispery voice is heard saying, “I don’t.”

I held her head down tannery.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the room with the sofas; a voice is heard in between group members talking which sounds like, “I held her head down.”

Knocking sounds tannery.MPG – the static IR camcorder of Piscopo picks up several knocking sounds.

Loud noise1 tannery.MPG – the static IR camcorder of Piscopo picks up a loud noise in the background.

Loud noise2 tannery.MPG – the static IR camcorder of Piscopo picks up another loud noise in the background.

Loud noise3 tannery.MPG – the static IR camcorder of Piscopo picks a third loud noise in the background.

Move tannery.MPG – while turning off the Ghost Box during a session in the basement, a low, deep male voice is said to say, “Move.”

Noise tannery.MPG – the static IR camcorder of Piscopo picks up a distinct noise in the same room as the camera.

Noise near camera tannery.MPG – the static IR camcorder of Piscopo picks up a noise very near to the camera and perhaps something even touching the camera.

Ohh tannery.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the Locker Room, in the background a voice is heard.

Show me tannery.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the room with the couches, the REM Epod is heard going off and then a clear whispery voice is heard saying, “Show me.”

Sorry tannery.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the basement, a whispery voice is heard in the background saying, “Sorry.”

Strange light.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the most active room, a very strange white glowing object appears from the area of Piscopo’s chest and slowly drifts towards the floor before disappearing.

Table saw sound tannery.MPG – the static IR camcorder of Piscopo hears the distinct sound of a table or circular saw being turned on and running.

Voice1 tannery.MPG – while conducting an Ovilus X session in the Locker Room, a question was asked, “Did you think one of us was George?” A voice is heard in the background.

Voice2 tanenry.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the Locker Room, a question was asked, “It’s cool down here. Why don’t you come down here?” A voice is heard in the background

Voice3 tannery.MPG – the static IR camcorder of Piscopo picks up a very strange-sounding voice in the background.

Voice4 tannery.MPG - Kaczmarek’s static IR camcorder deployed looking down the ramp, picks up a strange voice in the background.

Wolf call tannery.MPG – Kaczmarek’s static IR camcorder deployed looking down the ramp, picks up what sounds like a wolf call whistle in the background.

Yeah tannery.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the most active room, Jim is heard saying, “That thing hit…” It is followed by a voice that says, “Yeah.”

Conclusions: A point of interest, you should probably not investigate this location in the middle of the summer like our group did. It was extremely uncomfortable in the upper portions of the building with the exception of the Command Center area which was air-conditioned and the cool basement where we spent the majority of our time experimenting.

It was a very unique building that produced a number of disembodied voices and intelligent responses and even some experiences that other groups had encountered; i.e. the metal clank and sounds of people walking on the catwalk.

Very little visual evidence was collected from camcorders with the exception of unexplained voices and sounds on the audio track of the videotape. All static cameras did not produce any interesting visual evidence with the exception of the glowing white object that Kaczmarek filmed in the most active room. I’m not 100% convinced however that it is paranormal in nature. There were some orbs that were clearly dust particles stirred up by Piscopo in the room; however this image bears no resemblance to dust orbs. It’s a bit of a mystery.

A follow-up investigation could be warranted with more cameras, equipment and certainly on a cooler month of the year!