The Wausau area today is a moderately sized city located in north central Wisconsin. Each year more modern structures are added as it grows in size. But at one time, Wausau was a much smaller place filled with some elegant homes built by the lumber, steel and railroad baron’s that helped develop the city into what it is today. Even now many of these homes still exist, restored to their former glory. However, some of these structures still possess remnants of their previous owner’s that wish to stay on in the afterlife. Maybe because of unfinished business, personal attachments or simply because they do not realize they have died. Whatever the case, this is a true story about one of Wausau’s former mansions that was located on the corner of Fifth and Franklin Street (currently the First Presbyterian Church parking lot). Built in 1890 for Daniel L. Plumer it symbolized one of Wausau’s finest examples of architecture in our area. After the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Plumer, the mansion was used in its later years as the channel 7-television studio. My father, Edward Blaschka worked in the mansion during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s and experienced the following ghostly activity during that time. Several other workers there also reported experiences over the years as well. Sadly, in 1972 the building was razed.

It was summer 1967 and Mr. Blaschka who was maintenance at the channel 7-television studio was reporting to work for the day. Blaschka arrived at 5:00 am as usual and was busy completing his daily tasks of mopping and waxing floors. While he was spreading wax on the first floor of the mansion he noticed a woman in a light blue dress with lacey sleeves materialize through a wall on one side of the room. The dress she was wearing appeared to be from the Victorian age. The woman did not appear to notice Blaschka as she glided about six inches above the floor, moved past him, staring straight-ahead and missing Blaschka by mere feet. The apparition continued on through the room and disappeared right through a wall on the opposite end of the room. Minutes later a co-worker from the studio walked into the room and asked Blaschka who the lady was that had came into the room ahead of him. Blaschka was speechless. The lady he had seen appeared to be very solid in form, but he knew he had seen a ghost.

A few weeks later Blaschka was moving some cleaning equipment to his work site. A large piece of equipment fell on him causing injury. The following day Blaschka checked into a local hospital for care. While he was being wheeled down a main hallway something had caught his attention. Blaschka saw a life-sized portrait of the woman he had seen weeks earlier. The woman was Mrs. Plumer one of the original owners of the building he worked at. However, the part that unnerved him was the fact that she was dead and had been for many years.

Four months had passed and Blaschka had arrived at work early one morning. He pulled his car into the empty parking lot and exited his vehicle. Once he was out of the car he noticed a light on in the third floor tower room. What especially caught his eye was a man standing in the window with his hands in his pockets. The man was wearing an old fashioned black suit, staring down at him. Blaschka thought it odd that someone was in the building so early. Usually he was the first one to work in the morning. Blaschka opened the door and proceeded up the only flight of stairs that lead to the third floor office area. Once there, he opened the door and found the office dark and void of any life. The curtains had been pulled shut and the entire building was empty. Blaschka was unable to explain this due to the fact that if someone had been upstairs they would have had to pass him on the way down the stairs and no one had.

Weeks later, Blaschka was clearing out a section of the mansion. He came across some old pictures of the Plumer family. To his surprise one photo looked strangely familiar. It was a picture of Daniel L. Plumer in an old-fashioned suit, the exact same man he had seen in the third floor tower window weeks earlier.

A year later yet another incident occurred. Blaschka was working on the second floor of the mansion while a secretary was working in her office on the third floor. Suddenly, Blaschka heard the secretary screaming and saw her run down the steps. She told Blaschka that she had seen a young boy dressed in old time clothing hanging from a rope that ran down from the ceiling upstairs near her office. Blaschka along with the secretary, who was very hesitant to return back upstairs, went to check it out. Upon inspection nothing was found. After that she would only work on the third floor while Blaschka was cleaning nearby. Subsequently, the secretary quit her job soon after. Blaschka never saw anything again for the rest of the time he worked there. But to this day he knows that he had seen Mr. and Mrs. Plumer. So a message to anyone that finds themselves alone in any of the old mansions around the city, look behind you because you may not be alone.

·Any reproduction or use of this story without the sole consent of Shawn Blaschka is prohibited.