Every Saturday through Oct. 26, the Chippewa Valley Paranormal Investigators
host a Haunted Chippewa Tour, which takes you to the creepiest places in
Chippewa Falls. Find more info on pg. 37.

It’s finally October. That means changing leaves, crisp air and drinking hot chocolate on late-night walks through downtown. It also means is Halloween is right around the corner. For some, Halloween is the only time to believe in ghosts and goblins, but for others, the supernatural is a way of life. For Chris Wiener, the co-founder and lead investigator of Chippewa Valley Paranormal Investigators, the supernatural is his job.

What does The Chippewa Valley Paranormal Investigators do?

People call us up and say “Hey, we have a problem with our place,” and we ask them a series of questions just to get a feel for what’s really going on, and then we go and check out their house or business and look for logical reason as to why a place may have the activity going on. Once we eliminated the possible then you only have the impossible left and then you look for the evidence of a haunting to see if there is anything indicated that there may be some type of activities in the house.

What would you say is your greatest discovery so far?

That’s hard to say. I think my greatest discovery, this is going to sound bad, but is no matter what we do, or the evidence we find, that really we are probably never going to know what happens after we die until we die. Yeah, you can get a photo or hit on the EMF (electromagnetic field) meter, but there’s nothing definitive. Because if I take a photo and I send it to someone else, they may have an explanation. A lot of people run around with pictures of orbs and most of the time an orb is just dust or pollen or a bug, something in front of the lens. It’s hard to say definitively what is and what isn’t evidence.

Have you ever had any interesting RECORDINGS or photos?

We haven’t had a whole lot of photos, and there are some EVPs (electronic voice phenomena) that we have caught over the years and there have been some interesting ones. Like my daughter and her friends and myself and the friend’s mother were out at a graveyard one day, and we’re by a kid’s grave and we heard a voice on the voice recorder after listening back and it said that if they were alive that they would play with us. It’s sad and creepy all at the same time.
 

What would you say to people who are critical of your work?

Everybody has their own belief system, and people believe in all sorts of different things. Whatever the case may be, everybody is entitled to them. If they don’t believe in ghosts, that’s them, they haven’t had the experiences that I have had over the years. And I have seen non-believers turn into believers when they have had their own experiences, and sometimes the proof is in the pudding. 

When you are on these investigations, do you ever get scared or worried about what will happen?

There have been investigations where I wouldn’t say I have been scared, but I was concerned, and I personally don’t scare real easily. It takes a lot. I am actually more afraid of the living than of the dead.

There are a lot of paranormal investigation shows on TV now. what do you think of those?

They’re fun to watch. I was on The Haunted twice and I can tell you from experience that a lot of it gets rearranged in the editing room to however they want the story to fit. Those shows are purely out there for ratings, and they have to make them interesting. Ghost hunting can be far from interesting sometimes. It’s not like the TV shows where something happens every time you are in a place.

Do you find that you are busier in the month of October because of the Halloween season?

For sure. ... There are a lot more supernatural shows on TV, so people become more aware of their surroundings. And not only that, but this has always been a traditional time of death.