Most Haunted Places in America: Sheeley House Tavern
Every tavern in the world is known for its spirits: cognac and aged whiskey at the swankier places, cheap vodka and rotgut whiskey at the dives. The Sheeley House tavern in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin is known for all those things plus some spirits from beyond the grave.
The building was erected in 1884 as a saloon/boarding house, and has been in operation as a hotel, bar or restaurant ever since. One constant through the years is that paranormal activity tends to manifest during the times when the property has undergone renovations.
For example, one of the more recent construction projects involved painting over a second story mural because it didn’t match with the new décor. Within a few days, the roses that were a part of the mural started bleeding through the new paint, no matter how many new coats were applied. In addition, when fresh coats of stain were applied to the staircase leading to the second floor, large footprints would appear in the stain even though no person had walked there.
Phantom movement on the stairs at night is just one of the things to which employees of the Sheeley House have grown accustomed. Objects are known to go missing or move from one part of the restaurant to another, including a set of spoons, which were thrown through the air by phantom hands at a passing server.
Whatever mischievous spirit haunts the place has also been known to lock ladies in the restroom, and once even locked an employee in the walk-in freezer located in the attic of the house. He walked in to grab a bottle of wine when the heavy door moved on its own, closed and locked itself, all seconds before the lights were shut off from the outside of the cooler. He eventually escaped by jimmying the door with an ice pick.
Although to this point no concrete evidence has been unearthed to prove the identity of the spirit, many people think that the culprit is the former owner of the boardinghouse (and its namesake) Anna Sheeley. Sheeley was a recluse who took great pride in her business until she died in the 1970s. It does stand to reason that she might not be all that happy with strangers remodeling her pride and joy after her death.
Either way, the community has embraced the Sheeley House, ghosts and all. It is often the starting point for local ghost tours and the meeting place for local paranormal groups.
Related posts:
- Paranormal Activity at Hell House/St. Mary’s College
- Paranormal Activity at the Landon House
- The Paranormal Activity at Von Minden Hotel
- Paranormal Activity at Holy Cross Sanatorium
- Paranormal Activity at the Old Copper Railroad
1 comment so far ↓
I was recently insulating the sheeley house and had a paranormal experience. I was working in the attic and one of the other workers came up in the attic and asked me if i had seen any ghosts. I replied that i didnt believe in spooks and joked that the ghost was going to mess with me. after he left a few minutes went by, we use 2 way radios to communicate between truck and attic. The radios went all static and the insulation machine wouldn’t turn on by remote it had to be done manually. when i was finished in the attic i got down and was pulling the hose to the other attic when i heard a womens voice say one word which i could not make out. I immediately called my helper on the radio. He came up i went into the room where i heard the voice come from i found a 4″x4″ heavy glass tippped over and the decortive rocks in it poured onto the ground. i went down to the bar and told the bartender what i found they came up to see. i was talking to my helper after this and he said that the juke box came on and played songs all by itself today and that he air sealed a attic and raked the insulation back in place went downstairs and when he returned he found that all the insulation had been sweeped back away from the top plated again. I will never go back into the sheeley house again.
Leave a Comment