An especially interesting local story involves the old Maribel Caves Hotel, also known as the Cherney Hotel or “Hotel Hell,” Lewis said. The hotel, built in 1900, attracted the rich and famous, who enjoyed spring water baths at the spa-like retreat. The hotel exchanged hands several times, and stood vacant for years. It was engulfed in flames in the 1980s. Ruins remain.
“Because kids died in fire at the hotel, the legend is if you take a book into the hotel, any book, it will burst into flames,” Lewis said. “There’s also a legend that the well in front of the hotel, later used as a flower garden, is a portal to hell, and that if you get too close it will pull you in.”
People — kids especially — like to dare each other around legends, and getting near the hotel well was a popular one, he said.
“I talked to witnesses who said people experienced an intense heat when they got close to the well,” Lewis said.
He expects he will learn of other local legends and folklore during Tuesday’s presentation.
“I encourage people to follow up on those stories,” he said. “It helps them learn about the history of their communities, as they look into old houses or businesses.”
Lewis didn’t plan on paranormal research as his life’s work. His interest sparked 23 years ago, when, as a high school senior in northwestern Wisconsin, people began reporting UFO sightings.
“I interviewed people who were seeing UFOs,” he said. “And in college, I did my master’s thesis on the paranormal. I initially was interested in what makes some people believe in the paranormal and not others as ghosts, haunted.” He describes paranormal as ghosts, haunted buildings, crop circles, UFOs, out-of-body experiences, or other things that aren’t considered “normal” or can’t be proved by science.
“I believe these things are happening even if we don’t know what they are,” Lewis said. “I don’t think the people are crazy or making it up. If you say a man slaughtered his whole family in a barn and now the barn is haunted, I can at least try to verify if the story of the slaughter is true. Sometimes an old legend or folklore turns out to be completely false.”
His research eventually became a full-time gig, and about 20 years ago, his interest turned from why people believe to what they believe.
His research has taken him around the world. Lewis said he visits every site he includes in his books, although he hasn’t personally had a paranormal experience.
Each region has its own general folklore, he said. Out West, stories involve cowboys. In Illinois, it’s gangsters. And in Wisconsin, it may be pioneers or Native American ghosts.
“No matter where you go, there will be differences,” Lewis said. “The big thing is, in the U.S. we have fun with it. Other countries take it much more seriously. People in the U.S. will make a tourist trip to the place of a famous legend, and people from other countries might ask ‘Why would you want to go to that bad place?’ They see the legends as cautionary tales, and sometimes worry that even mentioning the name of a bad spirit might put you on its radar and bring bad things.”
Even in the Midwest, a $50,000 reward remains for anyone who captures the sea creature “Peppy” in Lake Pepin, on the Mississippi River between Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Centuries-old folklore remains popular as communities begin to look the same, with a Starbucks or McDonald’s on every corner, Lewis said.
“People are craving unique oddity or strangeness,” he said. “There are many portals to hell out there, but each one is very unique and has its own stories and legends. People are fascinated by that.”
If you go
Author Chad Lewis will present “Tales of Ghosts, Monsters and UFOs” at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Manitowoc Public Library, 707 Quay St. The event is free and open to the public. Call 920-686-3000 for details.
