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Author and paranormal investigator Terry Fisk speaks at the Augusta Public Library.
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Halloween may be over, but patrons at the Augusta Public
Library were able to revisit its eeriness when paranormal investigator and
author Terry Fisk spoke there on November 6. Fisk covered many of his
experiences while researching unexplained phenomena, and he shared numerous
stories about allegedly haunted locations throughout Wisconsin.
Fisk was inspired to begin his unusual career when a picture
his brother took of him in a cemetery revealed a strange white shape hovering
above him. Fisk was puzzled because the camera had never created such an
anomaly before, so he took the image to many different experts in order find an
explanation for it. No one who saw it, not even the most ardent skeptic, was
able to adequately account for the odd white shape.
Although Fisk has never gotten to explanation he sought, he
did come up with something better; in the course of his research, he made the
acquaintance of paranormal investigator Chad Lewis. The two men teamed up to
conduct their research into unexplained phenomena. Over the years, their
collaboration has yielded numerous TV and radio projects as well as a website, www.unexplainedresearch.com.
Although the pair generally brings equipment on their
investigations, Fisk said, “I usually rely more on psychics and mediums than on
cameras; they provide so much more detail.”
He’s worked with several, among them Allison DuBois, who
inspired the TV show Medium. Fisk
cited several examples of eerily accurate information DuBois provided about
sites she had never previously visited and people she had never previously met.
Lewis and Fisk’s investigative work has required them to
travel to numerous allegedly haunted sites, many of which were in obscure
locations that were difficult to find. Fisk recalled that after getting lost so
often, “We thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if there were a road guide to haunted
locations?’ Then we realized that WE could write it.”
That thought led to the Road
Guide to Haunted Locations series, each book of which features an array of
reputedly haunted sites in a different state as well as the results of Lewis
and Fisk’s investigations into them. The Wisconsin
Road Guide to Haunted Locations was among the first they wrote, and Fisk’s
presentation covered many of the sites the pair investigated.
Among those sites was the Green Eyes Bridge in Augusta,
where numerous people claim to have witnessed glowing green eyes. When Lewis
and Fisk investigated these claims, they found glow worms that seemed to
account for the sightings, although Fisk did point out that many witnesses
claimed to have seen the eyes in winter, when the glow worms wouldn’t be
active.
Fisk’s extensive investigations have convinced him that
“there’s something to” claims of supernatural activity. “It’s the one universal
belief,” he explained. “In every culture throughout history, there have been
stories about ghosts.”
It’s not just anthropology that convinces Fisk, though. When
interviewing people about their sightings, he observed, “You could tell they
weren’t making it up; their hands would be shaking, and they would be clearly
terrified. I’ve had some strange things happen myself. Sometimes my wife thinks
I bring my work home with me” because of strange phenomena they’ve experienced
in their house.
In one case, both he and his wife were in their living room
when they witnessed a glowing orange orb and saw a heavy door swing open on its
own.
Lewis and Fisk wrote the Road
Guide series so that people interested in supernatural phenomena would know
where to begin fulfilling their curiosity. However, Fisk recommends not going
to the haunted sites alone. “If something does happen, you want someone else
there so you know you’re not crazy.”
In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet tells his friend, “There are
more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your
philosophy.” Anyone listening to Fisk’s presentation would most likely agree.
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Terry Fisk speaks about his work with medium Allison DuBois, pictured on the screen.
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