Witch [Callan] Road Investigation

Before I go into the account of our investigation, I'm going to give a little back story to the lore surrounding Witch Road.
Okay, on to the 'lore'.

Click here to read Chad Lewis' site about Witch Road and the history about the hauntings as well as their investigation into the road.

Our Investigation:

We had a heck of a time finding this road, which is in the country around Ripon area in Wisconsin. Part of the reason it was so hard to locate was because there was a detour where we needed to turn, yet oddly enough zero roadwork was to be found anywhere. Hmmm. Add to that the fact the road was not marked. Hmm again. (Clint and I believe this was to deter people, such as ourselves from going there.. I've seen this before with other haunted areas in the past.)

When we finally arrived there, it was around twilight and the sun was setting. One thing we noted right off was the trees. They were the most bizarre and un-natural trees we have seen! The trees were all normal until you hit that curve in the road.. then they were all dead and twisted into odd shapes. It was like stepping into an alternate reality. Many trees appear to have human-like features (faces, legs, arms, etc.) The trees further up the road were normal. It was only this stretch near and around the 'witch's house' that were like that.

We were only able to view the house and the surrounding area from the road as it is reported in the book to be private property. Naturally we did not want to trespass. We were, however able to get a pretty good look at the area and the house from the road.

We located the witch's house with little difficulty. There was one home on the entire road aside from the witch's dilapidated home. Otherwise, there was no one in sight. Clint, however said he heard voices, which might have come from that home, we were just unable to locate anyone around to attribute them to. (thick woodsy trees all around)

We got out and looked around a bit... surveying the area. One of the first things we did is try to pick out the tree that was said to look like the witch. We found one, but are unsure if it's 'the' one. Clint walked around with a rose quartz in his hand and his notebook ready to note anything that might happen there. I soon started to snap some photos of random areas.

Then things got weird. Really weird.

I was taking a photo of the watery area there across from the home, and Clint was a few feet to my left, Gideon a couple feet ahead of me. Suddenly I hear Gideon call out 'hello, hello.' Now, Gideon never says hello unless he thinks there's someone there.. be it in person online or on the phone. He's also very shy around kids.. keeping this in mind, I turn and look and there's no one there.. he's looking straight ahead of him, which would have been in the trees/woods to the right of the witch's house. After a few moments I turned and snapped some photos in that general area where he was looking. (I often watch Gideon's actions in haunted areas as I think he sometimes sees or feels things we can't or just don't -- this time was no exception.) Also keeping in mind that the house that someone lived in was behind and to the left of where Gideon was calling out. I then go to snap some photos of what we had picked out as being the tree that looked like the witch. I snapped maybe two photos of this when I saw some shadow from the corner of my eye. Naturally, I jumped. There was no one around but the three of us, yet I still looked and did a double take. Nothing there at all, except our white car in the distance. After a few moments to regain my composure, I snapped a photo in that direction. I don't really know what I saw, but my mind rationalized it as being a dark colored car. Odder yet, about two-three minutes later, after I told Clint what had happened a dark colored car drove by us... from the opposite direction that I had seen the shadow from. I ran after Gideon who was a couple feet ahead (I had been watching that he wasn't getting into trouble) to make sure he didn't go in front of the car. That was the only sign of life we saw there the whole time we were there.

Whilst I told Clint of the shadow and Gideon calling to the trees, my legs were absolutely shaking uncontrollably. I was rattled. Extremely. Now, I didn't sleep at all the previous night, not so much as one minute. I, however did not hallucinate any other time that day.. so I'm pretty sure what I saw with that shadow was real.. or something. During this time we were freezing cold. My hair on my arms was standing on end and I had Goosebumps. (Granted I was a bit chilly in car, but not that cold). Gideon was a couple feet to the right of us and we found he was warm.. yet he was in shorts and we were in jeans. I took more photos and asked Clint what he wanted to do with the last photo. Was there any special place he wanted me to take it? Clint was standing near the house when he told me he was feeling nauseous. He said it was only that one spot. He said when walked away it went away. He said when he came back to that spot the nausea returned. He requested I take a photo standing in that same spot. He showed me the spot to stand and I snapped a photo there. That photo wound up being number 666 on my memory card, and the top half is blurred and the rest is otherwise normal. (My memory card can hold 86 photos at a time, but keeps a climbing number of ALL photos ever taken on it in assigning photo 'names' Each photo is named: IMG00____. ____ being where the number is the next number in the sequence.

Gideon was totally calm while there. Walking around on the road like he was anywhere else. I, however was clearly rattled, and remained that way for most of the night. I don't think I've been that spooked in quite some time. Clint had odd vibes as well.

In the car on the way home I tried to look at that photo I snapped after I saw the shadow. My camera was not cooperating with me. I went to zoom in on the photo and it brought me into my menu where you can lighten and delete photos etc. These are two separate buttons one is the menu and another is to zoom in. I tried a few times, the same thing occurred each time. It's possible the camera was malfunctioning due to low batteries.. or was it?

We have yet to totally scrutinize the photos by inverting them, turning to gray-scale and zooming in on every inch. From a glance I have noted at least three photos have blurred areas. Some are on top, some in a small corner of the photo, and yet another is on one side of the photo. All are otherwise clear and in focus, except for these areas. (This was also noted at another place we visited: Summerwind, where, interestingly enough others who have been there experienced blurry photos, even though they swore they held still. Also interesting is that the author of the website and book I got the information on Witch Road from was quite interested in that blurry photo from Summerwind as it was crystal clear, blurry in the middle in an odd shape, and clear again on the other side.)

Possible (mundane) explanations for some of what happened:

• Shadow was a hallucination of my being sleep deprived. (though I had no issues with that all day long before or after that experience) Though, also worth nothing is that I've gone more than thirty hours without sleep without a hallucination before, and often go without enough sleep, again without seeing things... though there can be a first time for everything.

• Gideon heard, or perhaps even saw something and called out to it

• My Goosebumps and chilled feeling was an offshoot of being a bit chilly in car (no explanation for Clint also being cold in same spot, as he wasn't cold in the car.)

• Camera malfunctioned due to low batteries. (which may or may not have been from regular drain -- I had taken photos earlier that day at the zoo, and had charged the batteries the night before.) The camera has been known to drain batteries fairly fast, which is why I chose rechargeable batteries that are longer use for high usage electronics.

• Blurry photos are due to shaking or shivering while taking photo.

Our Theories on what we experienced:

• Gideon saw something in the woods. There's said to be a little girl that hides in the woods and peeks at you from behind the trees. It's possible he saw her and was calling out to her.

• Clint and I were so cold in that area (which Clint noted as being colder than the surrounding areas there) because we were in a sort of cold spot. Gideon's being a couple feet away, wearing less clothing and his hand being warm to the touch could possibly confirm this.

• We have yet to come up with a theory about Clint's nausea in that one area only, and the shadow I saw.

Other's Theories on what we experienced and photos taken there:

• Gideon saw a ghost in the woods. He saw it and was calling out to it.

• Photos are blurred in areas, rest of photo is clear. Photo # 666 (taken in the place where Clint felt ill) has a domed shape to the blurred area.

• Not a good feeling place at all? I can see anger. Almost as if serpents came from the ground and become froze into trees

• A friend saw tiny wisps of white on one of the photos in the trees as well as odd features in the trunks.

• [on whether or not the blurs could be attributed to my shaking or shivering] no... there's no way you shook and it only blurred the center.

• Gideon saw a ghost and said hello to it. [me: I think he did. I really believe he saw something] He did. Little kids to the age of 6 can see and talk to ghosts.

• Look at [photo] 644 again. Does it appear to you that the tree on the right has eyes, a long nose, and a frown? I've never seen a half circular marking on a tree before. Its almost as if you can see the eye balls themselves... Ya know, another good reason, can be... an ice storm.

We returned to Witch Road in August 2006 for another quick investigation. I only took three photographs this time around, and the road and area around the so-called Witch's House took on a less eerie look in the broad daylight hours of the day.
I did, however note a couple odd things whilst there, which were dually noted by my husband.

• The trees were undoubtedly different this time around. They had changed. I realize, as does my husband that trees do grow new limbs and shed others over time naturally. Keeping this in mind we noted two changes in the trees. One tree near the 'Witch's House' had a new growth inside the hollowed out area. It resembles a hand, and some creature among other things. I'm sure it was just our mind's way of making sense of the abstract growth.

• Another tree which I had also photographed the first trip there was not to be seen at all. This tree was very distinctive with its arm-like branches curling about it. Once again I'm aware the branches could have changed or even fallen off, but the bottom of the tree itself was fairly distinctive as well. (again the whole tree could have even been struck down). I went up and down that road four times and did not locate the tree at all.

Haunted or not? You can decide for yourselves. (Please note: Photos have not been edited at all. They have, however been resized to load faster..)