Wausau Paranormal Research Documentation · Annual Downtown Wausau Heritage Tourism
The Wausau Paranormal Research Society (WPRS) operates as a locally organized group focused on documented investigation of reportedly haunted locations in Marathon County and surrounding central Wisconsin. Founder Shawn Blaschka has been the organization's primary public voice. The group maintains a website at wprs.net listing investigated locations and the evidence collected at each.
The annual October ghost tours grew from the WPRS's investigative work and represent a format common to regional paranormal organizations: a ticketed public walking tour that draws on investigation records while incorporating theatrical elements to engage a broader audience. The WPRS tour format, as described by WSAW news coverage from October 2025, uses live character reenactors to portray historical figures connected to each stop, providing narrative context in addition to the presentation of paranormal evidence.
The tour departs from the Wausau Elks Lodge and moves through a circuit of downtown stops including the Yawkey House, the Grand Theater, and Shepherd & Schaller Sporting Goods. The 90-minute format is consistent with regional ghost tour conventions. The WPRS has run the tour for multiple consecutive Octobers, establishing it as an annual event in Wausau's fall programming calendar.
The organization's investigative documentation, available on wprs.net, covers a broader range of locations than the tour circuit and serves as the organization's primary public record of its research methods and findings.
Sources
- https://www.wsaw.com/2025/10/17/wausau-ghost-tours-return-exploring-downtowns-paranormal-activity/
- https://www.wprs.net/hauntings
Documented haunted stops on tour circuitParanormal evidence presentations
The Wausau Paranormal Research Society's tour draws from a documented investigation record spanning multiple downtown Wausau buildings. Each stop represents a location where WPRS investigators collected reports of anomalous activity and conducted formal investigations.
The Yawkey House and the Grand Theater are the highest-profile stops; both buildings have nineteenth-century histories and have generated consistent reports across multiple visits. Shepherd & Schaller Sporting Goods, at 324 Scott St, anchors the tour's commercial district segment with owner Robb Shepherd's documented accounts of Eddie, the J.C. Penney-era presence, and the Prohibition-era activity.
The tour's reenactor format distinguishes it from investigation-only events. Performers portray figures connected to each location's historical record, giving the tour a narrative continuity that makes it accessible to visitors without prior knowledge of Wausau's paranormal geography. The WPRS investigation evidence presentations occur alongside the reenactments rather than replacing them.
The WPRS maintains its full investigative record — including locations not on the tour circuit — at wprs.net/hauntings, making the tour the public-facing layer of a more extensive documentation effort.
