9/11/2015 5:10:00 AM
Ghost investigators check history Bureau County house
Jennifer Spratt
Bureau-Putnam Bureau Chief
PRINCETON — Who you gonna call? GhostBusters — or maybe The Extreme Vision Paranormal group, a paranormal research group centered in Northern Illinois for the past six years.
That’s what Ray Wherzyn, who owns a home in rural Selby Township outside of Princeton, did when, he says, he met the ghost living in his home.
“I was watching the hockey game, it was like midnight, and I was sitting in the front room,” Wherzyn said of his first ghostly experience. “All of a sudden a spirit came up and floated right through the floor. I said ‘What’s your name?’ and she said ‘My name is Bridgette Dubois.’”
Wherzyn said he left the room and when he returned other spirits had entered.
His house, the historic Hassler Tavern, was built in the early 1800s by Henry Hassler, and could have been originally used as either a home or a tavern, according to the building plans listed on the Library of Congress website.
Wherzyn, who is from Orland Park, said he believes his home was once used as a stage coach stop in the 1800s and a speak-easy during the 1920s, and plans to have parties and dances for his friends as soon as he finishes his renovations.
After talking to some friends about his experience, Wherzyn was put in touch with EVP.
Extreme Vision Paranormal, comprised of local paranormal enthusiasts including Gary Butler and JC Philips, conduct free investigations for people all over the country.
“If they have an issue, and want to know more, they call us and we come out and investigate and see what we can find,” Philips said.
The night of the Hassler Tavern investigation, the EVP group set up a DVR system and infrared cameras throughout the house and property. EVP investigators said they don’t always find evidence at an investigation, but when they do, they try to find a more earthbound reason.
“Most of the time, it’s not until we go back and review that we really find stuff,” Philips said. “We’re very skeptical, so most of the time, we’ll bring something out and do everything we can to try and disprove it.”
While they try to disprove everything, some things just can’t be explained.
“It’s hard to deny, you know what I mean,” Butler said. “Some of the stuff you get, you can’t explain it.”
The EVP team has no idea going in to a place whether there will be activity.
“We’ve been to places where we think there is going to be nothing, and it’s been crazy,” Philips said. “Then we’ve been to places that are supposed to be totally active, I’ve been to Waverly Hills Insane Asylum in Tennessee, five times. Four times we went there, it was crazy, the last time we were there, there was nothing.”
So did the EVP team find anything at Hassler Tavern?
“It usually takes 2-3 weeks for us to review everything,” Butler said. “We set up six cameras and we were there for five hours, so that’s 30 hours of video to watch.”
While EVP will review their findings with Wherzyn before making anything public, Butler did say he thought there was some activity.
“I think we had some activity,” Butler said. “It’s hard to say until we get everything reviewed.”
Resource:
Spratt, Jennifer. (2015). “Ghost Investigators Check History Bureau County House.” News Tribune. LaSalle, Illinois. Web. <http://newstrib.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=27&ArticleID=46427>
Mystical Night Research 