Local paranormal investigators help bring peace to area haunts

By Zach Jensen,

Retired Decorah Police Chief Dave Smutzler led a class Monday night on paranormal investigations for Northeast Iowa Community College. (Photo by Zach Jensen)

One winter night about 20 year ago, a Decorah woman called 911 to report someone was pounding on her windows. The police responded and investigated the area but found nothing wrong, according to former Decorah Police Chief Dave Smutzler. A short while later, she called 911 again and reported somebody was pounding on her roof. The police responded again and again found nothing wrong.

Decorah police, not sure of what was happening, decided to set up a sting operation to catch whoever was causing the poor woman so much trouble. But, like all the times before, nobody was caught, and they found no signs of any mischief. 

Trying to escape the phenomenon, the woman moved to a different address, but whatever was causing the ruckus in her previous home followed her and continued causing problems for her. It was at that time Smutzler had the idea of walking through the home with a digital recorder — and on his way back to the station, while listening to the recording, he heard something he’ll never forget.

“Another officer was driving, and I remember holding that recorder in my hand,” Smutzler said. “And, in the recording we could hear us talking, we could hear the woman talking, and then there was an unknown voice on the recording — a whisper that said ‘We’re here.’ The other officer stopped the car, the hair on the back of my neck stood up.”

That was one of several unexplained phenomena which inspired Smutzler and several other officers to start the Police Investigating Ghosts — or PIGs — group, which has been helping people across the tristate area solve problems with whatever goes bump in the night in their lives. 

While Smutzler admitted he’s never seen a full-body apparition or “shadow person,” he remains hopeful that he will someday, and he said he’s had multiple experiences, including the 911 caller, that he simply can’t explain.

“I like hearing peoples’ experiences and trying to figure things out,” he said. “That grew as I went to college. I went to the library — not studies related. I was looking for ghost stories, and I found a book called ‘The Haunted Heartland,’ which had stories from this area. A buddy of mine in college loved the paranormal too, so we went out on weekends and just wanted to see if we could experience something paranormal.”

Smutzler said that, although he didn’t have any paranormal experiences while he was in college, his fascination with the subject persisted into his career as a Decorah police officer, which began in 1991.

“As police officers, we want to help people,” he said. “That’s why we go into this field, and there are some calls you go out on that you can’t help, because there’s something you just can’t understand — you can’t explain.”

It’s that desire to help people that makes Smutzler and his team passionate about investigating paranormal occurrences. Smutzler said he’s been on more than 100 investigations, including some of Iowa’s more famous haunted sites — like the Cresco movie theater, Edinburgh Manor in Scotch Grove and many others.

“People have contacted us from all over — Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin — just people asking for help,” he said. “Ninety-nine percent of the time, the first thing we hear is ‘I think I’m going crazy.’ So, we go out, try to help people and try to find answers and capture evidence for people.”

However, Smutzler also said that real-life paranormal investigating isn’t anything like what people see on TV. He said ghost hunter TV shows are condensed versions of the real investigations, which take numerous hours to complete.

Full article in the October 31 Decorah Leader.

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