PULASKI (NBC 26) — The Pulaski Historical Society says their museum was once a funeral home. At least two members say they have experienced some haunted happenings.
- Get an inside look at the second floor of Pulaski's historical museum, which once was used as a funeral home.
- The historical society president and one volunteer say they've experienced some inexplicable happenings while working alone in the museum.
- The museum is open by appointment only.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story with additional details for the web.)
Pulaski's Historical Society Museum has an eerie past.
"There are some spirits in this building," Historical Society President Larry Puzen said. "They're not mean ones."
The museum's building, located downtown, is more than 100 years old and Historical Society members say a man by the name of Julius Prokopovitz used the second floor as a funeral home, where bodies would be carried up the six-foot-wide steps and embalmed.
"We dug up some trash bottles and there was a little bottle here," Puzen said. "It said formaldehyde from Milwaukee, Wisconsin."
"He used to store the hearse, which was a horse-drawn carriage basically, in the back of the building," volunteer Rock Mannigel said. "Glass windows that were used during inclement weather for a funeral were stored upstairs and they're still there."
Puzen and Mannigel said parts of that history still linger.
"I had gotten here early in the morning [one day in 2012] and I was working in here and I hear the door close," Puzen said. "So I said 'I'm in here.'"
But there was no answer.
"Now that door is on the inside of the building and there is an exterior door, there's no way the wind would have got in and pushed it. What happened?" Puzen said.
"The furnace was not going, so there was no pressure," Puzen said. "Well, Casper must be visiting here."
And it wasn't the first or last time this friendly ghost made an appearance.
"There was a number of times where I was here alone [and] I could hear noises ... from upstairs," Mannigel said. "There were times when I could have sworn that there was somebody walking ... How can that be? I'm thinking, well, maybe there's some soul that was up there got loose and is still hanging around."
