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The Haunting at Riverside Park

 

My family moved to a house located 2 blocks from Riverside Park in Wausau, WI in 1989... The summer before I was to enter the second grade. Being that the park was close, the neighborhood kids and I spent most of our summer vacation there - playing tag, fishing, and bike riding. There is a bridge that connects the main park to another section called Ferns Island, obviously the name because that area is surrounded by water. The water, of course, is jet black... either polluted or evil. The kids refused to go to that section of the park because it's the most haunted.

The story went that hundreds of years ago, a witch inhabited the park area... There was a boy who was fishing in the area and fell in river then drowned. The townspeople blamed the witch and burnt her tiny hut. A bloody battle rose between the witch and the townspeople. Bodies of those townspeople were thrown in the river... Finally when the battle ended, the townspeople buried the dead and left that area... The witch disappeared but its spirit still roamed the park. (I never investigated the story to confirm it's originality.)

My cousins had an experience at Riverside once. One night the cousins were hanging out with friends in the parking lot, standing outside their cars and talking. The only source of light was the vehicle headlights. All the park lights were dead. Gang members once infested the park and the city just gave up on cleaning it up. The group heard slurping sounds and splashing water. They looked toward the river and saw a dark figure hunched over near the riverbank as if peeling and eating something. The figure turned around and a pair of red eyes looked stared back at them. As the figure walked closer, the group jumped into their cars and drove off, never looking back. They told this story to my father. The next morning my father went to investigate. He came back with a report that there were open crayfish shells and a decaying fish on the riverbank but nothing more.

The next story comes from my older brother - CK. CK worked the second shift and he got off work at midnight. Having such a work schedule, for weeks he hasn't seen his buddies. So during one of his breaks, he called his friends and set up a time to hang out that night after work. They choose Riverside to meet up since it was close to where the friends lived and his workplace.

After CK got off work, he drove pass IGA, a supermarket, where he saw his buddies in the parking lot loading beer to the back trunk of their car. CK waved to them, the guys waved back. CK went to Riverside to wait for the guys. He parked close to the riverbank, rolled down the driver's side window about an inch then pulled down his seat and laid down looking at the night sky in his car. All of a sudden he sees a woman with flowing blonde hair running past his car. She then came up to his window and tapped on it. CK got up and asked her what she wanted. At first CK thought the woman was a victim of rape because her clothes were ripped and her hair was distressed.

The woman was in hysterical mode and crying, she slid her fingers through the driver's window opening and told CK, "Everyone's dying, you have to help me! An old witch is down there, she's killing everyone, she killed my family, it's so bloody down there." She wiggled her fingers toward CK.

Thinking she's just another nut, CK quickly closed his window... The woman jumped back. CK then backed out of the parking lot. Just as he was doing so, his buddies drove in the parking lot and the woman walked in-between the vehicles just as they were passing each other. CK got out of his car and ran toward his friends. The woman was nowhere to be found. "Did you see her? Tell me you saw her!" CK shouted at his friends. "Who?" they asked... "That woman, she ran right in between our cars just as you guys were coming in," CK said. "We didn't see anyone..." was the guys' response.

Then CK said, "Man, what took you guys so long? You guys were just at IGA, it only takes 2 minutes to get here." The guys looked at each other and said, "What are you talking about? We were NEVER at IGA, we came from the East side. We had to go pick up some stuff at my house." CK and the guys looked at each other and left home. They never, ever met up at Riverside again.

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The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, KkodakK, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

WIckedWitch2000 (1 stories) (71 posts)
-1
16 years ago (2008-12-21)
Hang on. No. Wait. A second is a good way. I thought witches were NOT real! That's so bull! 😳 Jokes! Please reply me! I need an answer! Anyways... What would be the figure of that "Demon Kind, Like" person? Was it like really greedy? And just munching away at something? Maybe legs, never know...

MYSTERY UNSOLVED

WIckedWitch2000 Productions TM
vang_er (4 posts)
+1
17 years ago (2008-02-09)
Does that river you speak of run through a camp area near Wausau? We went camping up there bout 3 years agao. The camp site was right next to the sign that says "Welcome to Wausau". The river that ran through there was DARK RED(when the sun is out) Pure black(when the sun is bout to set). Never seen anything like that. We camped bout only few feets from the river. Well, we are hmong as well and an aunty of mine got really really ill after camp, even until today she is sick. She said she felt something was wrong with that river. So just wondering, it's probably the same one yous talkin bout. FREAKY
Shane (13 stories) (1258 posts)
+1
17 years ago (2007-09-16)
It is okay. I sometimes forget that not everyone who uses certain terms may not be using them in a bad way. But you never know. Thank you so much for explaining it.

Peace, Love, and Luck be with you.
KkodakK (4 stories) (8 posts)
+1
17 years ago (2007-09-14)
Oh sorry Shane, I was just saying that our belief system are just different. Some things the Hmongs strongly believe in are spirits, we're not alone. Sometimes our stories may sound whack - I wouldn't waste my time writing it out if it didn't happen, that's all :)
Shane (13 stories) (1258 posts)
+1
17 years ago (2007-09-14)
So Kkodakk what makes us mekas so ruam ruam 😲. No I don't speak Hmong but I do know how to get things translated when I need to. I guess because we are not of your culture and beliefs that is what makes us so? Just curious is all.

Peace, Love, and Luck be with you.
Kirby (5 stories) (57 posts)
+1
17 years ago (2007-09-12)
Interesting... I'm pretty sure they had an episode about Riverside in one of those "A Haunting" episodes. Nice story. 🤔 My best friend moved to the U.S and over to Wisconsin... Maybe she knows something. Good luck!
KkodakK (4 stories) (8 posts)
 
17 years ago (2007-09-12)
EbdonoianJr,

These mekas in here are so ruam ruam.
😆 Makes me laugh :) But thanks for reading!
Ebdonoianjr (1 stories) (4 posts)
+1
17 years ago (2007-09-12)
Lol that's what I thought! Only hmong refer to their religions as shamanism. My mom had many experiences when she lived in Thailand and her parents had to "ua neej" for her too.
KkodakK (4 stories) (8 posts)
 
17 years ago (2007-09-11)
Hi Ebdonoianjr,

Kuv yog Hmoob mas :) My parents had to "ua neej" for my brother because of what he saw at Riverside.
Ebdonoianjr (1 stories) (4 posts)
+1
17 years ago (2007-09-11)
What kind of ritual? What race or nationality are you because my family does stuff like that and we are hmong(We call it shamanism too).
KkodakK (4 stories) (8 posts)
+1
17 years ago (2007-09-11)
I should mention I also have a photo of myself standing on that bridge with a huge orb-like matter covering half of the photo. I will share later.

What does that mean? There's tons of energy there and tons of stories about the place. This story of my brother CK - he told us first hand... My parents had to do the whole ritual thing for him (we're Shamanism) to "protect" his spirit.
Shane (13 stories) (1258 posts)
+1
17 years ago (2007-09-11)
This has too much of an urban legend feel and sound to it. If I am not mistaken I have heard another story from that neck of the woods concerning that park and island. If I come across it again I will let you all know.

Peace, Love, and Luck be with you.

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