Brumder Mansion

HISTORY OF MANIFESTATIONS:
Restoration of a building to its original state, in combination with the influx of antique furniture and items, which once belonged to other folks, often greatly increases paranormal activity. While the first known paranormal experiences in Brumder Mansion were reported publicly by Carol Hirschi, some of the spirits found here have had some connection to this mansion for many years, according to some well-respected mediums who have come to visit Brumder Mansion.
Mediums who have examined the Brumder have told us that the spirits that reside here stay because they want to be here. The in-house, spirit residents have a connection with this 100 year old mansion.
People who love the place they call home, or have an attachment to a property through ownership, may not quite trust the living to take care of the property, and may stick around to supervise, or try to help.
Past employees who were dedicated to their duties, may choose to continue, not letting the fact that they are dead stop them.
It has always been risky business working for or around gangsters.
it has also been told by well-known psychics that some spirits just pass through on their way to somewhere else, attracted by the energy in the mansion, enjoying the aura and artwork. Perhaps some come through to check up on their antiques that now are in Brumder Mansion.
Sometimes, people are so attached to their belongings, that they don't wish to leave them to go to the other side, or come back to visit their special items.
MANIFESTATIONS:
In some investigations when paranormal investigators and psychics/mediums have been able to engage and draw out the spirits, new information about our unseen residents/perhaps some former employees of the Brumder has been brought to light, mostly captured in EVPs and personal experiences, making the reality of living with spirits much more comfortable. The spirits who live here and visit fortunately all have good mid-western manners, and leave our guests alone, though they make their presence known among the staff, owners, with paranormal investigators they can relate to, and sometimes with people who want to make contact with them. Nothing evil or negative inhabits the Brumder, just friendly and benign ones, who love the Brumder as much as we do!
Entities of five-six known intelligent spirits seem to enjoy the restored Brumder Mansion.
Spirit People in Residence:
Older female Entity — (Known as Suzanne/Aunt Pussy). We are not sure who she is, though urban legend says that she was the maiden aunt of the Brumders who lived with them at some point, perhaps part-time. Newer theories think that perhaps she was a governess, head housekeeper and or perhaps a nurse/caretaker of Henrietta during her last years at the Brumder. Whoever she was, perhaps she came only during some seasons of the year, as there is no census record of her living there.
Several mediums have identified this female entity as a woman, 40-60 years old, who likes to be called Suzanne. The witness who saw her twice describe her as wearing clothes and a hair-style that was from an older generation of 1910-Victorian. She was the first entity to make herself known to Carol Hirschi and friends.
She has partially appeared to Carol's boyfriend in the Gold Room by the fireplace, from the waist up in solid form. He later saw this same spirit wearing a black formal gown, gliding down the central staircase.
Mediums/Psychics have seen her come down the stairs, going into the foyer or one of the downstairs rooms. Suzanne likes to know what is going on in the mansion, sometimes acting as an unseen greeter.
Guests and patrons of Carol's Cornerstone Theater in the basement began seeing the entity of a woman, dressed in attire which was popular in the early 20th century, walking around the area there.
While she goes all over the mansion when need be, she likes to reside in The Gold Suite, keeping a motherly eye on the folks who stay in her room. She is a kind soul, with a soft spot for older people, and people with a physical hindrance or ailment.
Sometimes, on occasion, she responds to requests from guests. Recently, she must have had the Halloween spirit, and was playful with a young couple, who were staying in her room. As they were looking for a ghost, they asked her to show them a sign of her presence. She turned off all the lights right away. When one of the guests immediately asked her to turn them back on, the lights immediately popped back on.
Suzanne prefers to communicate through psychics and mediums, when she feels it is an important issue of concern:
She also apparently is on the decor committee, caring very much about renovation projects, letting the living know through a medium what she thinks would be lovely, as she did during the time we were planning to renovate the dark ballroom into a theatre and event center.
In 2009, we were planning to renovate the ballroom in the basement, making it less dark and more inviting for events. We had several meetings in the basement area, discussing various ideas. One weekend, a medium and her husband came to the Brumder for a weekend of quiet and rest. They stayed in the Gold Suite, not knowing that they were the guest of Suzanne. After a great night sleep, Suzanne began talking to the medium about her concerns. The medium came down the staircase, and set up a meeting with our innkeeper at the breakfast table. Through the medium, this spirit Suzanne expressed what she thought we should do; make it pretty and bright, and not cover the wooden floor with tile. She was on a roll and gave the innkeeper complements on her efforts in the library, and went on to describe the rooms in the house next door in detail, describing the home as a happy house, giving decor advice there also.
Suzanne has communicated through mind thoughts on many occasions.
Suzanne strongly dislikes dogs, as Carol Hirschi found out. When Carol spent the night in the Gold Suite with her dogs on the bed, she felt a strong unseen presence and heard a voice in her head, telling her to get the dogs out of the room in no uncertain terms.
Another staff member who worked for the Brumder for a year, nearly missed getting up in time to make breakfast for our guests. The next morning, this staff member dreamed of an old-fashioned alarm clock going off, and she awoke when she heard a disembodied voice calling her name.
Suzanne doesn't like paranormal investigators that rudely invade her space, though she recently has been much more receptive, and has even softly talked for the first time, on an EVP recording caught by investigator Rich Newman of Elsinore Productions, during the summer of 2010.
Middle-aged Female Entity
Thought to be a 30-40 year-old female, who may have lived here during the early 1940s, according to a psychic. She likes the third floor bedrooms. A quiet, sensitive, happy/sad soul, who mostly enjoys sitting by the windows, looking out at the street below.
In March of 2010, one of our staff saw a misty /smoky presence above one of the beds that lasted for a minute or so, before disappearing.
She has been captured on EVPs recorded on the third floor, in answer to questions, though she spoke so softly its hard to understand.
Male Entity — a supervising presence, who is currently pleased with the new owners. We think he is a former owner or manager of Brumder Mansion, and keeps an eye on what is happening here.
A friendly presence, who can be playful, enjoys the parlor, is a resident of George's Suite, and the ballroom theatre, keeping an eye on the living.
Recently, he has been more willing to communicate with investigators and paranormal classes, giving evidence that he is an intelligent spirit, knocking on wood in response to questions, tapping on chairs, and even was captured on an EVP when Vortex Paranormal was investigating the room.
A staff member felt a cool breeze brush past her face and hair, and then billowed the curtain, as it breezed through the room. There was no logical explanation.
NEWLY IDENTIFIED ENTITIES:
The Good Doctor Entity — Described by a witness who briefly saw him as being a man around 60 years old with a beard, wearing a duster, who goes all over the mansion, but likes the George Suite and the third floor. There is always a fun-loving jokester in every crowd, and this spirit fits the bill.
Though not deemed to be a negative spirit, this strong spirit can be a practical joker and a teaser of both the living and the other spirits in the mansion.
We think he was the one who pulled the vacuum cleaner and hair dryer plugs out of the walls, nudged staff and others that he knows well, and made playful noises in the rooms to get the attention of the living.
He can be curious, and was heard looking around a guest's bag of medicines in the George Suite bathroom. Recently we think it was this entity who peeked inside our long-time friend's guitar case and examined his pretend sword while our friend slept in a bed on the third floor.
He has begun to play with investigators, when they ask for a sign of his presence.
It was probably this spirit who pushed the vent out of the Marion Suite wall during the filming of the Channel 6 Halloween spot with Tony and Jeffrey Seelman and Amy Lamb.
Maintenance Man Entity — Said by a psychic to be of Scottish descent:
According to a psychic/medium who was on a paranormal investigation, this entity worked at the Brumder during the Sam Pick years. He was in charge of general maintenance of the Brumder, the coal furnace in the catacombs, and took care of the ballroom as well, perhaps helping with the high rolling gambler operation; set-up/take-down, perhaps was the bartender and perhaps was involved with other shadowy business, that comes along with working for gangster types. He also possibly suffered the consequences for working for violent men, though there is no hard evidence to back up a medium's report that he met foul play.
From 2005-2009, he was the shadowy figure seen by a few investigation groups, in the Catacombs and hallway next to the Brumder laundry room.
Sadie was our craftsman/contractor's deaf springer spaniel. One day, when I was in the laundry room, and our craftsman was working in the ballroom during renovations during the summer of 2009, Sadie fixated her eyes on the wall by the catacomb door, and started to bark at what was probably an unseen presence.
Since the new 1920s style bar was installed in the ballroom theater in January of 2010. this entity has become less shy and bolder, a happier entity.
Sometimes his presence is strongly felt in the far right corner of the bar, behind the counter.
His disembodied voice was heard in January by 3 witnesses, yelling something from the staircase around the corner that comes down from the kitchen.
During an event, the bartender heard a friendly, disembodied male voice say, "Hello!"
During our paranormal event held the summer of 2010, a roomful of witnesses heard a disembodied voice coming from the bar area. Though we couldn't understand him, the medium/psychic, Scotty Rorek, who works with Northern Alliance said that the spirit of the maintenance man was asking if he could help in any way.
Rich Newman from Elsinore Productions, before the paranormal event in August, came a day early and did his own one-man investigation. While exploring the catacombs, he heard a chair move, and as he went to see why, a large black mass rushed by him!
In October of 2010, while investigating the ballroom, the door behind the bar area to the catacombs was open. A Vortex Paranormal investigator saw a dark shadow walk past the open door, blocking the light for a second. They jumped to investigate, but found no-one there.
Long-time Brumder paranormal investigator, Joe Couto, an original investigator and now the group leader of Northern Alliance: a group that has visited the Brumder on many occasions, was leading a group of people down the staircase from the foyer, to the stage area, at a recent paranormal event held over Halloween weekend (2010). As the group reached the little flat area before going down the rest of the steps, he and his group saw about 10 feet directly in front of them, a very real-looking full, black shirted apparition going up the stairs to the little stage. Joe thought that it was his team member, Chris, getting a piece of equipment from the stage area. Imagine everyone's surprise when no living person was seen on stage.
After a quick check to see if anyone was playing a trick, Joe finally had his moment of truth, losing his skepticism about the existence of spirits, though he still has a skeptical mind about human behavior and motives, and believes in high standards in investigation practices. Unfortunately, no camera was on at the time, which seems to be the MO of the spirits here; careful to be camera-shy.
Female Entity — Thought to be around 20-28 years old:
She is thought to have been an employee during the Sam Pick era, as a female listed the Brumder Mansion address as her residence during the 20s and 30s. When seen in the ballroom basement by medium Scotty Rorek on a previous investigation, she was wearing a yellow dress, and happily humming, as she walked around the ballroom into the catacombs.
She likes the first and second floors and the ballroom theatre and catacombs. She also has been known to playfully tease the staff and owners on occasion and is beginning to communicate to paranormal investigators in the ballroom.
While sitting on the stage in the ballroom, Vortex Paranormal captured a distressing EVP of a young woman who was whispering to be let out because she couldn't breathe, perhaps offering a hint as to her final demise from disease, an accident or other cause of death.
Just after this EVP was recorded, and after Milwaukee-based Vortex Paranormal had turned off their cameras, and were about to leave the ballroom, the candle sitting on the bar, suddenly slid down the bar top. Perhaps she or one of the other spirits present, wanted to lighten the mood a little.
The two pictures below were taken by Kenosha Paranormal in the Catacombs, the area next to the ballroom. Rarely are the Brumder spirits recorded on film or video. The picture was taken in the pitch dark, close to the sealed up secret entrance to the speakeasy, seen in the second picture. The side view of the translucent head just above the light anomaly clinched it for me. Some may dispute that this is a picture of a spirit, but it looks like to me that this may be the twenty-something year old woman, seen by Scotty Rorek. Her hair is bobbed in the 1920s style, and she looks like she is young, though again we don't know for sure who entity could be.
STILL HAUNTED?
A BIG YES INDEED IS IN ORDER.
Besides the many personal experiences reported by the mansion's owners, staff, guests, investigators, psychics and mediums, many EVPs have been recorded, just about everywhere in the mansion, except the kitchen, laundry room, Blue Room and the library. Most investigations have brought to light some evidence of spirit people via EVPS, and personal experiences. While no EVPs have been recorded as yet from The Blue Room, personal experiences have been reported happening there as well.
2005
SW Paranormal Investigation group were the first ones to capture EVPs, when Carol owned the mansion. They had personal experiences, especially in the ballroom theater. In the catacombs, they recorded a female voice, asking, "HAVE YOU SEEN GRANDMOTHER'S ROSARY? The second EVP was of a male voice, saying, "SEE WHAT HE CAN DO", and then two bams from kicks of an unseen entity, banging on metal, probably the boiler.
2008
We started inviting paranormal groups into Brumder Mansion for paranormal investigations, to see if more could be found out about the known resident spirit, Suzanne, and perhaps others.
Appleton Paranormal came and did an investigation in November of 2008. While hard evidence was fleeting, the group did locate a male entity in the parlor and an older female entity in the Gold Suite, using dousing rods to communicate, though the rods moved slowly. Unfortunately, no hard evidence was gathered to correspond with the responses received through the dousing rods. They did capture on film a really bright orb in the Gold Suite. One investigator did see unexplained shadow movement in the basement, though it didn't get recorded by any of the equipment.
2009
Feb of 2009 — The Infamous Belt Story: My own realization that it was a reality that we had spirits, happened one cold day in February 0f 2009. We stayed in the George Suite for a few weeks during the winter. I hung my belt up in the middle of closet. The next day, I looked and the belt was gone!!! A few days later, it reappeared, hanging right in the middle of the closet. We started again to invite paranormal groups into investigate as something was teasing the staff and myself, and we had to find out what we had here.
March of 2009 — After their first walk-through visit, members of the Northern Alliance Of Paranormal Investigators sat with us in the parlor, tape recording what I was saying about the experiences that we have had at the Brumder.
On their initial report, Cheri of Northern Alliance of Paranormal Investigators, explained, "Julie told us a tale of a missing belt, one she knew she had hung in a closet. She told us how she searched everywhere, questioning her own sanity and memory, only to have the belt mysteriously reappear later — in the exact closet she knew she had placed it in to begin with. As we reviewed the recording, we were startled to hear another voice on the audio. As Julie completed her story, a very matter-of-fact voice said 'it was us'. During that same session, we also caught a strange whistle. While it may have a reasonable explanation, none of the investigators present remember hearing a whistle, and there was no indication that anyone heard it during the interview."
The Northern Alliance Of Paranormal Investigators in fact hit pay dirt during their first investigation, bringing sensitive investigators that our entities warmed up to! They gathered at least 5 EVPs, and had personal experiences as well. Cheri commented in her report, "It is a very warm and welcoming building. A great place to have a brush with the paranormal in a friendly manner. It didn't take long for them to become curious and make themselves known."
http://www.naparanormal.org/brumder.htm — EVPs recorded
May of 2009 — 4 young women from S.W.I.G.S. came and spent the night at the Brumder. The spirits warmed up to them, and these 4 paranormal investigators were able to engage the entities and were able to not only capture some great EVPs, but also had some personal experiences as well, including being called by name.
2010
As more people have been coming to investigate in 2010, activity in EVPs started to increase during the summer and fall. Experienced investigators, psychics/mediums have had results and the paranormal classes held at Brumder Mansion seemed to further stimulate paranormal experiences for most of the people participating. While the spirits have stopped teasing the staff, and still don't bother our B&B guests, they do communicate with people interested in them, in more stronger ways than before. They seem to be happier, finding an audience of folks who want to notice them.
End of January of 2010 — Kenosha Paranormal Group came to investigate at the end of January 2010. Their photographer captured the light anomaly with the translucent face of the young woman, that is shown above. Another bright orb was caught on film in the Gold Suite, but most folks think that most orbs are either dust, bugs, or camera related. However, this room has had a hiThe story of a bright orb that none of the other rooms seem to hAvenue
August of 2010 — Paranormal classes and investigations, led by Joe Couto from Northern Alliance and medium Scotty Rorek, who is also part of their team;(both have shows on Z-talk radio.com), and paranormal investigator/film maker Rich Newman had personal experiences. Scotty became acquainted with most of the spirits listed above.
Male spirit in the George Suite, was playful and responsive to the investigators, tapping on the little table in response to questions.
Rich Newman captured several EVPS, besides the one in the Gold Suite.
Rich Newman recalls in his investigation report, linked below his experiences in the catacombs with the black mass and a white light mist that buzzed him in the ballroom.
Experienced paranormal investigator, Dale Kaczmarek from Ghost Research Society in his preliminary investigation, captured some interesting EVPs in the ballroom, and on the third floor. He and his team plan to come back to Brumder Mansion for a full investigation soon.
October of 2010
Sunday before Halloween — Local Milwaukee group, Vortex Paranormal not only had experiences in the ballroom, and recorded a first ever EVP from a relatively unknown female spirit, but they also heard tapping on a chair in the George Suite, which had a cold spot right in the middle of the chair, where they recorded an intelligent EVP, who answered a question, with a whispered "YES, PROBABLY."
When they were up in the Marion Suite, they asked the unseen presence there to move the flashlight on the table, and it began to roll and spin for a minute.
Halloween Weekend
The joint was really jumpin' for the paranormal seminars/classes and investigations, led by people from Z-Talk radio, all experienced in paranormal investigations. Spirits seemed to get into the fun of Halloween and did their best to communicate with the people who came for the events, and the leaders involved: Joe Couto, Scotty Rorek, Chris; a;; members of Northern Alliance, and Professional Psychics Jeffrey Seelman and Amy Lamb. Seelman and Lamb normally are in the business of getting rid of bad entities and demons, but came to enjoy the spirits and teach the participants, adding much to the events.