Something Like an Old Flame...
The following is a recount of several events occurring to a current tour guide at Shakers…
Ever since I started working at Shaker’s, the resident spirit of O’Connor has had an uncanny affinity for me. Although O’Connor has been known to like the ladies in general, I have experiences with him on almost a daily basis.
From my first time being at Shaker’s, I was quickly obsessed with the place and was very drawn to working there. I work for [a friend of Bob’s], who set me up with an interview upon hearing that they were hiring. My first day was in April of 2021.
My first noticeable experience with O’Connor happened about week two of me working there. I was in the basement restocking with Bre (manager), and felt something brush my butt. It wasn’t subtle! I quickly stood up and turned around – ready to pick on Bre for groping me – when I noticed she wasn’t anywhere near me. In fact, she was in the cooler.
I told Bob what had happened and he took me back into the basement so we could use the divining rods to try and communicate with whoever had touched me. After a series of questions, it was revealed to be O’Connor copping a feel.
Ever since then he has always been near me when I’m here. He follows me around – even coming upstairs with me when he usually prefers to stay in the basement. It’s like he’s obsessed with me. I always feel him looming, and I often feel him stroking my arm by my elbow. At this point, it almost feels like it’s a comfort thing – whether it be him trying to comfort me or trying to comfort himself. He’s usually on my left side, for some reason. On my tours, when one of my tour-goers or I ask the rods to point to where O’Connor is, he’s always there directly to my left.
Ever since I was young, I’ve noticed that I’m somewhat clairaudient (able to near paranormal voices). Once on a tour, I had a customer who was being kind of an ass, and trying to provoke O’Connor. He kept addressing him directly, egging him on and saying that O’Connor couldn’t make himself known by moving something or making any kind of noise. I soon noticed that some of the register paper on one of the old registers we keep down there was flicking around, despite there being absolutely no draft (or any kind of airflow in that basement, honestly). As I noticed the register paper moving, I heard the sound of a man snickering – like a guttural giggle – in my ear. I believe it was O’Connor laughing in my ear and making fun of this customer, sort of like an inside joke between the two of us.
After I returned to Shaker’s after my brief leave of absence, it took a couple of weeks until I started feeling O’Connor’s presence around me again. The night I felt him come back around, Ron (paranormal investigator from Racine) was in-house. I was giving a tour, and while in the basement I saw a shadow person run behind the washing machine. One of the tour-goers saw it as well. “Did you see that?” she asked. I asked her what she saw and said that I saw it, too. When we got to the very back of the basement, Ron was there using the spirit box. We decided to use it together and made contact with O’Connor.
Through the spirit box, O’Connor told us that he was mad at me for leaving, but happy that I was back. O’Connor then called me a “whore.” To this, I was initially offended. But Ron told me that O’Connor using that word could mean something entirely different from just an insult. After a series of questions, we discovered that O’Connor thought that I resembled a brothel worker that he once knew when this was operating as a speakeasy/brothel, and that this was why he had grown so attached to me. Through the spirit box, O’Connor then said my name, “Ciji.”
On a tour the following day, O’Connor sent me more messages. My tour was in the basement, and from out of nowhere, a beer bottle cap rolled across the concrete floor. One of my tour-goers picked it up, and we noticed that it was from a Miller High Life bottle. What was even stranger than the cap appearing, was the fact that Shaker’s does not carry Miller High Life. Upon returning upstairs, I asked Bob how long it’s been since we sold High Life, and I showed him the bottle cap. After inspection, Bob told me that the bottle cap had to have been from the 1940s or earlier.
I’ve used the rods on my own time to converse with O’Connor and find out more about why he’s always interested in me and sending me signs of his presence. In many ways, feeling him around feels very protective. He’s admitted that he had rolled that bottle cap to me, and he has also told me that I was, in fact, that brothel worker in a past life.
I am dying to do some more digging about this. Though I’ve yet to do my own research, I’d love to speak to someone who can help me find out more, or talk to one of our mediums about my past lives to confirm this to be true. I’m excited to see what other facts will come to the surface as I continue working here.
-Ciji Tour Guide
