During the night of 11 October 2009, a group of investigators from the Southern Wisconsin Paranormal Investigation Group (SoWPIG) conducted a paranormal investigation at the Tabernacle Cemetery in the Township of Delafield, Wisconsin. This investigation took place with the permission of the property owners. Some of the paranormal activity that had been rumored to occur there is an apparition of a man being seen in the trees behind the cemetery sign, bright flashes of light near the fence and mysterious headlights by the northwest corner of the cemetery and following cars on the road leading to the cemetery. Our goal for this investigation was to check on the validity of these claims using conventional science and metaphysic science. We will provide the data we received and let the reader make up their own mind as to whether the cemetery is haunted or not.

The cemetery is now inactive, although there is a caretaker who still maintains the cemetery grounds. It was created about 1842 as part of the First Welsh Congregational Church of Delafield. This first church was a log structure that was located on the cemetery property. You can still see some of the foundation stones from this first building. Many of the headstones are unreadable, but what we were able to see was the earliest visible stone was dated June 1849 and the most recent dated 2001. The overall condition of the cemetery is very good, with the exception of some vandalized monuments which happened during the evening of September 2, 2007. The vandals were caught and charged with the damage to the monuments.

As far as the investigation goes, the time was between 8:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. during the night of October 11, 2009. The temperature was averaged about 34 degrees. Visibility was excellent at 10 miles. Wind speed was a maximum of 10 mph from the west. Average humidity was 51% with a dew point of 20 degrees. It was clear with no precipitation or fog. There was a waning, half-moon in the sky. We were using an Elf-Zone, Extremely Low Frequency Electromagnetic field detector from Enzone; an SVP HDDV 2300 digital video camera with a SandDisk 2 GB SD storage card; a Samsung Digimax D53 5.0 Megapixel digital camera using a SanDisk 1GB impact storage card; and a General Electric microcassette recorder model #3-5326A using Radio Shack MC-60 microcassette at normal speed.

Using the Elf-Zone to detect electromagnetic fields, we only noticed one spot where it showed a reading all evening. This was across the street from the cemetery where the power lines ran. The reading by the power lines was “danger”, 8 Milli Gauss or higher. Other than that the meter read “safe” between 0-2.5 Milli Gauss all evening.

Nothing of note was seen on the recordings from the digital video recorder all evening.

The digital camera picked up 5 images of approximately 61 pictures taken that had ‘orbs’ in them. Most of these orbs were located by the trees where the apparition of a man is supposedly seen. One member of the group took a picture with another camera that showed many orbs and a rising mist from the area where the apparition is usually seen.

With the microcassette recorder, the following electronic voice phenomena (EVP) were picked up. The first was when I asked “Is anybody here with us?” The response was “Yes”. The next was after I asked the question, “Are we bothering you?” The answer appears to be “I hate it”. And finally, the last was when I asked the question, “How did you die?” The EVP answer was “Old”. These EVPs were taken in the cemetery behind the Tabernacle Cemetery sign, in the trees where the apparition is reported to have been seen.

The following are personal experiences which members of our team had happen to them through the course of the investigation:

1. At one point, at the tree where the apparition had been seen, my son and I hear a sound similar to someone stepping on, and breaking, a branch or stick. This area was highly visible to both of us and there were no animals and/or persons, other than us, in the area at the time of this occurrence.



2. In the back, southeastern portion of the cemetery, near the tree line, a member of our group experienced 2 taps on his shoulder. There was nobody near him at the time to have poked him on the shoulder.



3. On a tree, in the southeast corner of the cemetery, a member of the group witnessed a blue light on a tree.



4. My camera batteries died in the area where the apparition is usually seen. These were fresh batteries at the time.



5. In the same area as #4, a member of our group would lose power to their video camera whenever then entered those trees. When they would move away from this area, power would return to their video recorder.

During the investigation we noticed an area, where a family had been buried, that interested us. There were several grave markers which showed 4 young children that died at an early age. These appeared to be the graves of siblings. Just next to these graves were the grave markers of their parents. We all gathered around these markers to notice the sadness of the fact these young children all died long before their parents did. One of our members is psychic. They mentioned later that, while we were all there, they felt the father of these children. The psychic mentioned that the father was very upset that we were all there and felt he was trying to protect his children from us.

It is of note that the grave markers of this family are all in the area where the apparition of the man has been witnessed. I asked this member if they thought that the apparition that people usually see was that of the father. They said that they did think it was the father.

Just as we were all getting ready to leave, the same psychic who felt the father’s presence earlier in the investigation said that they felt him again. He wasn’t saying anything, or relaying any messages, he was just making his presence known. At that time pictures were taken in their vicinity, EVPs were attempted and electromagnetic frequency readings were taken however no anomalies were noted.

As for the reputed phenomena, the following is what we witnessed:

1. An apparition has been seen standing next to a tree directly behind the cemetery sign. Nobody in our group saw an apparition of a man, next to the tree, behind the cemetery sign; however, we have had several experiences in that area. This is where the psychic impressions were felt. This is the area where many orb photos, as well as the mist, had been photographed. This is where our camera batteries were drained and where another video camera stopped working.



2. Bright flashes of light have been seen near the fence. This is hard to prove because parts of the fence have reflectors on it. There are also farmhouses in the area that can attribute to the flashes. The road is also in this direction and there was traffic on this road while we were there on a Sunday night.



3. After dark, mysterious headlights are seen in the northwest corner of the cemetery that shine upon people. And, if you drive to the cemetery late at night, a mysterious truck will appear and follow you until you get back to the city. This one is my favorite. The owner of the property keeps close tabs on the cemetery. He often drives his old pickup after vehicles that look like they’re going to the cemetery. He also drives into the northwest corner of the cemetery (there’s a little dirt drive right there) and shines his headlights into the cemetery.

We’re not out to prove whether this cemetery is haunted or not. We were there to provide explanations to possible paranormal phenomena. Some skeptics will never believe any proof that may be available and some believers will never believe any ‘debunked’ explanation. Because we acknowledge this, we only wish to provide what explanations, and experiences we can, and leave the believing, or not believing to the individual.

I think we all enjoyed our investigation at the Tabernacle Cemetery and are extremely grateful to the owners for allowing us to perform our investigation.