The first Stevens Point Dark Waters Tour will take place Friday and Saturday, Oct. 26 and 27. The tour, led by the Stevens Point Paranormal Club (SPPC), will start both days at 5 p.m., with buses departing hourly until 10 p.m. from Kristin’s Riverwalk in Stevens Point.
The bus tour will last roughly 45 minutes, highlighting several local legends and haunted spots. After each tour groups will return to Kristin’s Riverwalk for a 30-minute session where the SPPC will demonstrate how their equipment works, show some collected material from local investigations and have a question-and-answer session.
“When we see the (electromagnetic) needle move or hear something on the walkie talkie, we get really excited,” said lead investigator and SPPC founder Freddy Moyano. “It is what gets us going.”
After the tour attendees will have the opportunity to have readings done by Minneapolis medium and Reiki Master Wendy Jackson. Jackson specializes in reading people’s pasts to help them heal from the passing of a loved one. She communicates with both humans and animals. A 15-minute session will cost $10. Sessions up to 30-minutes in length will cost $20.
The SPPC strongly suggests not bringing children younger than 10 on the tour. Covered materials will include the town’s gang, prostitution and prohibition history and will not be suitable for individuals that young.
“I am very excited to share the town’s history with people,” said Valerie Kedrowski, paranormal investigator and historian for the SPPC. “There were hangings, bootlegging murders, crimes involving prostitutes and a shootout by Al Capone outside of the city limits.
“At one point, when the trains would come through Stevens Point, they would call out, ‘Shooting Point’ instead of ‘Stevens Point’ because of the town’s high criminal activity,” she said.
The tour’s starting location, Kristin’s Riverwalk, has a strong history and is notorious for having unusual things happen inside. Employees have heard whistling and whispering all over the restaurant, had table settings move drastically overnight, and gotten pinched. Over the years, many have quit due to the unease these behaviors have caused them.
“In the basement we heard a male in his 40s respond to the question, ‘Did you die here?’” said Moyano. “The answer was ‘yes’.”
During Prohibition the basement had a tunnel used to smuggle alcohol and was used for many poker tournaments – both high-risk behaviors at the time.
Although many unexplainable things have happened there, neither Moyano nor Kedrowski feel any of the spirits they’ve encountered intended any harm.
The SPPC has also done numerous investigations at Club Forest Bar & Grill and Red Mill Supper Club, each time seeing or finding new information. On numerous occasions SPPC members have seen apparitions, heard voices, had items move and had devices respond to asked questions.
The SPPC does not charge to investigate an area. After analyzing the evidence, they allow the property owner to keep all finds. Before doing an investigation, they sign a waiver to protect the premise since they almost always operate at night or in complete darkness.
“We collect data, logging and archiving it by using scientific instruments like K2 meters, night cameras and EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) recorders… not Ouija boards,” said Moyano.
The club was founded in November 2011 by Moyano and currently has five members.
The SPPC will sell Dark Waters Tour T-shirts at the event for $15. Tickets are $12 in advance and can be reserved on the SPPC website. Tickets will be $15 at the door. People are encouraged to arrive 15 minutes early.
The event is sponsored by Kristin’s Riverwalk Food & Spirits, The Red Mill Supper Club and Club Forest Bar & Grill. For more information visit www.stevenspointparanormal.com or the SPPC Facebook page at www.facebook.com/stevenspointparanormal.
