KAUKAUNA, Wis. (WFRV) – With Halloween quickly approaching, there’s no better time than the present for a scary story or two.

And if it’s the paranormal you seek, Chad Lewis is your guy.

Lewis has been a paranormal researcher for 30 years and has traveled the world for his work. He said he studied psychology in college and said the science behind why people believe or don’t believe things has always fascinated him.

Although he’s traveled the world looking for all things paranormal, he said he always comes back to Wisconsin and it’s not just because he’s from here.

“I traveled the world scouring these legends, but nothing compares to Wisconsin,” said Lewis.
“There’s nowhere in the entire world that has the legends (that Wisconsin has). Not just the sheer amount, but also the variety.”

Lewis credits Wisconsin’s wide-ranging terrain for the number of paranormal stories in the state. He also said because people are so friendly here they are more comfortable talking about their strange encounters.

On Thursday evening, Lewis was at the Kaukauna Public Library to share some of the strange stories, legends, and paranormal activity in the state of Wisconsin.

“I’m kind of a non-believer but I find it so fascinating that so many people believe in it so much,” said Eric Wulterkens who attended the presentation on Thursday night. “I just want to learn more about it to see if I could be convinced.”

The stories run the gamut from Bigfoot sightings in the Northwoods to a river monster in the Mississippi River to hellhounds that guard Meridean Island in Dunn County, Wisconsin. Although many of the stories center around spooky creatures, others are lighter in nature such as the phantom chickens of Seymour.

Multiple drivers claim that while driving on a rural road over there they hit some chickens with their car. However, when they got out and checked there were no chickens to be found.

Lewis said the goal of his presentations isn’t necessarily to convince people that these stories are true.

“Try to sort fact from fiction, give the best research that I can, and leave it up to the person to venture out and make up their own mind,” said Lewis. “I think I could do this for 100 more years and never run out of stories.”

Lewis told Local Five News that he does about 200 presentations per year and many of them are in Wisconsin. He posts his schedule on his website which can be found here. He said he especially loves giving these presentations during the Halloween season.

“Halloween is that time of the year when the veil between worlds is at its thinnest,” he said.

“There’s a lot of history in the state that most of us haven’t heard of,” said Wulterkens. “It’s a shame these stories exist and we don’t know about them.”