New Crew Visits Haunted Hotel
A television news crew in Ashland Minnesota spending the night at the famous haunted hotel in Chequamegon found more than they bargained for when the rumors of the place being haunted turned out to be true. Journalist Beth Jett and photographer Adam Jagunich spent the night at the hotel and found themselves confronted with more than a need to entertain and inform the public. They found themselves face to face with something many say was from the world beyond our own.
The news crew, of course, had the assistance of a team of ghost hunters going by the team name Minnesota P.R.O.P.H.E.T. (Paranormal Researchers of Poltergeists, Hauntings, Entities, and Tragedies.) The team was led by Brian DeLong, an avid paranormal researcher who stated that P.R.O.P.H.E.T. did not inform the owners of the house whether or not ghosts were real or present, but rather simply gathered evidence and displayed the most interesting and relevant information to the proprietors of a given establishment. P.R.O.P.H.E.T. is not about proof, but rather evidence. And the team itself prides itself on being reasonably skeptical with each new case, taking it out of the context of previous evidence they may have come across.
Of course, as with many ghost hunts, the night began with a setting up of equipment and exploring the area. As the night progressed, however, it was soon clear that the team would not have to wait long before having a chilling encounter with something from beyond. With cameras and motion sensing equipment in rooms 312 and 314, where most paranormal activity was reported, the team waited for less than an hour waiting for something to happen. Suddenly the equipment activated. Something was in the room, and it wasn’t any of the team members. The team members felt at once professionally cautious and elated as they made contact, and decided to take a friendly approach with the entity. As they went to investigate they thanked whatever had triggered the equipment to whir to life, hoping to glean further communication with it. They would not be disappointed.
Nikki Melland, a bartender at Molly Cooper’s, located on the first floor recounted a story of when a liquor bottle showed a hairline fracture out of nowhere and continued cracking without explanation before her startled eyes. Other patrons of the bar have reported similar incidents that indicate that the only spirits in the bar are not merely those poured in a glass.
But the night’s events finally came to a head when Beth Jett asked aloud in the room, “Do you want us to leave?” A second later the light on the recording device suddenly blinked off without discernible cause. The batteries were checked, and it was in perfect working order. “It’s as though it were telling us it’s time, and helping us to pack up,” she would later recall. Though the news team had entered the house with a healthy skepticism, many of those looking into the events that transpired that night have declared it to be evidence that the Hotel Chequamegon is certainly one of Minnesota’s most haunted hot spots.
