The Hidden Treasures at Carver’s Treasure Chest Antiques

A woman and her son were at the Treasure Chest Antiques in Carver on day. Each went about their separate ways looking for that must have item. As boy was engrossed in a pile of old comic books, looking through them for one that interested him the most, his mother walked around looking and the various treasures the shop had to offer. The boy found a book he liked and headed towards Dennis who manned the register that day. As the boy past the area where some Sunday glasses were sitting on the bottom shelve suddenly all the glasses tumbled out onto the floor. Shocked the boy stood still looking at a dozen or so Sunday glasses on the floor in amazement. “What did you do?” his mother yelled at him “Nothing,” replied the boy “I was just going to pay for the comic book.” Dennis spoke up “Don’t yell at the boy, ma’am, it’s just our ghosts.” The boy and his mother looked at each other then at the glasses. Not one of the glasses had broken. The customers paid for their items and quickly left the shop, not quite sure if the shopkeeper was joking or not. Was Dennis joking? Indeed not. This was not the only time customers had an encounter with the spirit of the Treasure Chest. Customers had felt their hair gently pulled and also felt coldness pass right through them. Employees at the Treasure Chest have had their experiences also.

Lennie is usually the first to arrive at the shop, he likes to come in early and have a cup of coffee and read the newspaper before he starts his day. Many times during his morning routine he has heard someone walking in the store. Dennis and Rose (the proprietors) have found objects moved from one location to the middle of the floor unbroken; or have found strange objects such as old orange peals piled on the floor. One time Dennis heard a racket by the sink that is located on the other side of the wall from where the register is. He thought it was Annette who runs the flower shop in the back room. When he saw her he asked what had happened that there was so much noise by the sink, she responded that she was not at that sink all day and haven’t been in the back room all day either.

Annette too has had her experiences with the unseen spirits. One night as she was finishing up the flower arrangements for an oncoming wedding she was waiting for her husband to pick her up. She heard footsteps walking up the isle coming from the side shop. “Finally,” she thought, “Your late,” she called out. When she received no answer she went to check who was there. No one was in the shop.

Dennis and Rose bought the building on 109 Third Street in Carver, Minnesota in 1999 and opened The Treasure Chest Antiques in January 2000. From the beginning they knew they were not alone in the building. They heard footsteps and the sound of sweeping. They often wondered who was still working in their historic building.

When I contacted Dennis and Rose about the haunting in their shop they were reluctant at first. But curiosity got the better of them and allowed my group to come in to see what we could find in their shop.

When I first saw Carver’s historic district I was quite impressed. The area is frozen in time. The only thing missing is the dirt or cobble stone streets and gas lights instead of the street lights. The whole area takes you back to the by gone era where life was simpler. I won’t say that life was easer because surly that was not the case. It was a slower pace then today and I think they did have the opportunities that is lacking today.

Carver was a stop for river boats that sailed along the Minnesota River. Here they loaded and unloaded trade goods that kept the area going. It also was a stopping off point for new settlers coming to the west. During this time Carver had it’s hey day. The town grew quickly and was prosperous. But with the coming of the railroads that had ended. The depression of the 20’s had affected many of the business in the city and they had to close. The city was at a stand still. This lack of progress and rebuilding was one of the things that saved the historic locations around the city. Through the efforts of Edith Herman, Anne Neils, and others who bought the historic homes and restored them to their former glory in the 60’s and 70’s.

Carver can be proud of its rich heritage and pioneer stock. I could see why the spirits of the past would want to stay in Carver. This is their home of which they are proud of. The lovely late 1800’s homes are still standing and are being up kept by new owners who also are proud of their treasure. As I sat in the park admiring the buildings, I couldn’t help but wonder how many other homes have their past residence still with them sharing the same home.

The Treasure Chest started its life around 1870 when Henry Stockman opened his boot and shoe making shop. After his wife died in 1873 Stockman lost heart in the business, O J Beogman, also a boot and shoemaker, stepped in and ran the business. Stockman sold his house and business to John Hebeisen who ran a hardware and farm implement store. Upon his death in 1924 John’s sons took over the business.

Minnesota’s Beyond the Veil had visited The Treasure Chest twice. My first visit was after the business closed for the day. Accompanying me was Kathy A., Heidi, Todd and Traci.

When you enter the building you step onto the original floor planks made when the building was built. It shows the wear and tear of over 100 years of busy customer traffic.

I toured the building and decided where to set up the cameras I had. Kathy and Heidi were trying to decide where to set up her camera and place their tape recorder. As they stood opposite from the counter, both ladies suddenly felt a cold walk through them.

As we pass through the arch way you enter a flower shop that is run by Annette. Just beyond her shop to the left is a landing with a step down where more antiques are displayed. This landing is very cold. It’s about a 3 foot round section that is ice cold. Rose cautioned us to be careful by that area. She said she is always tripping on something. In this back room, Lennie and Dennis set aside a space so they can work on their furniture refurbishing. Lennie also refurbishes radios and musical interments.

The long isle leads to another entrance. Here by the entrance I was facing into the building and I was telling Todd that I had wanted to set up my hunting camera by this door. I had stopped in mid sentience for just behind Todd a large black cloud formed by the side storage door. Todd did not see it as he was looking at me and it happened to fast for me to react and take a photo. I placed the camera to cover both the storage door and the isle leading to the back.

After we set up our equipment and placed recorders throughout the building we left the building. We entered the building in separate teams. Each team walked through the building asked questions to see if they could get any evps and took photos of the area. Todd had measured the cold spot on the landing and found that it was about 5 degrees colder then the rest of the building. We could not find an explanation for the cold spot. There is a window near by but near the window the temperature was normal. Also, his as well as Traci’s camera would not work in that area.

It was in this side room that I had herd strange knocking sounds. I had opened the storage area and took some photos. When I closed the door and started walking away, by the wall that separated the two shops I heard movement, as though something was being moved around. I took my flashlight and I examined the location. My first instinct was that walking on the floor had made something move, but the floor was concrete so that was not possible. I checked to see if there was any indication of an animal in the building. Once again there were no signs of that. Traci also heard movement sounds by the sink area.

As we took turns the bulk of us sat across the street in Gazebo Park. We had a small picnic there Rose, Dennis, Annette, and others treated us with a tasty diner. As I sat eating, I saw someone look out the window. It was quick and I thought it might have been one of the members of the team who were walking around the shop. When they came back I asked them who was by the door, and they said no one was. A short time had passed and another small group entered into the shop. As I was preparing my camera for the next walk through I looked up at the shop and I saw a man with a black jacket walk by the window inside the shop. I asked anyone if they saw that and everyone said no. I knew none of my members had a black jacket on. I quickly turned to see who was with us and one person that had on a black jacket was sitting on the bench, so I knew he wasn’t the one in the shop. I asked the team if they heard or seen anything in the shop when they were there and they had said no.

Upon examining the tapes we did pick up some evps and one interesting photo.

After a few weeks, I returned to the Treasure Chest Antiques but this time it was in the morning when the owners feel that the activity is greatest. Linda and Kim came along with me for this investigation.

If you don’t know by now, Linda is our team’s medium. When she first entered into the building she walked around to see what she could pick up. She had to sort out the residual impressions she was getting from the objects and the true spirits in the location. Residual is not a haunting or a ghost, these are just impressions a person gets from an object. Such as an old wire rug beater; you would get an impression of a maid beating the rugs out side with it.
I had to change my batteries in my recorder when I got there. As I was doing this Linda started her walk around. I had glanced up and apologized to Rose for not having it done before I got there. As I did so, I saw a shadow of what looked like a person walking to my right by the back wall reflected toward the ceiling. I turned to see where Linda was and she was to my left by the window. I asked her if a car went by and she said no. I told Rose what I saw and she went to the Flower Shop area to see if it could be reproduced. Which it wasn’t. I could not figure where a light source would have come from to make such an image on the far side of the wall. Let alone so high up.

When Linda was ready she started to reveal her findings. She said that she felt a man named John and a woman named Catherine were the two main spirits in the location. “They used to work here.” she said. As she walked around some more, she said there was another spirit who wants to be left alone.

He’s puzzled and doesn’t know how he got here. He was working and then all of a sudden he was here. He hides in the back storage room. As Linda opened the storage room she was trying to pick what ever she could. I explained to her that last time we were here this back storage room was so cold and it was like a blast of cold air hitting you in the face. Linda suddenly had a feeling of a cobweb fall on her face. Knowing that feeling I told her no it wasn’t a cobweb. Rechecking where she was standing I knew that the possibility of a cobweb falling on her was remote. What Linda had felt was a spirit touching her. Rose had mentioned that she too has also felt the feeling of a cobweb or hair on her face from time to time in different locations in the store.

It’s interesting that on the recorder she had at the time recorder the incident. You also can hear a man shout twice at her to get out. Once in the beginning when she first opened the door and again when opened the door a little more.

Linda said she also had an impression that there was a young boy there. She said his name was Thomas and he likes to play in the store and it was he who had shoved the glasses out of the shelve because he didn’t want the boy to buy the comic book because he enjoyed reading them. She felt that the boy was also connected to the two adult spirits. He may be a relative like a son or he could have been there so long that he feels like he is a member of the family.

From the evps I got I can verify that there is indeed a child in the shop.

Linda felt she had to go outside to the side. There is one more spirit. As she walked the side yard she picked up on a loyal employee who is watching the building and is taking care of it. She said his name was Bernard. She said he still walks the grounds still working and keeping an eye on the building. Some years ago some kids tried to break into the building and for some reason they were frighten off. Linda said it was Barnard who had tugged on one of the kids pants and frighten them away.

Also it would seem that the spirits also guide customers to that must have item. He guided Linda to something, by saying this one

I had to giggle at one of the evps that I heard. It would seem that the shop had invisible customers in it. I picked up an evp saying I cannot afford that.

Twice I got the name Phoebe, now I am wondering if it’s not Phoebe but Hebe. Could John Hebeisen have had a nick name of Hebe?

I returned to the shop once again to show Rose what I had gotten at the Treasure Chest. We sat and she listened to the evps and thought they were every interesting. I really had no photos to show her save one that I thought was interesting.

I took the photo from the front of the shop facing the Flower Shop area. Here Annette has her cooler where she keeps her lovely flowers fresh. I have a few photos of that area and in each photo you can see the curtains on the door and windows, except one. Something is in the way. I showed her the photo and zoomed in on the area that I wanted her to look at. I told her that it looks like to me as though it’s an image of a man with a black jacket on. -----note..remember I had stated that I saw what looked like a man with a black jacked on by the windows----

Rose looked at the photo and said “He reminds me of someone I knew….” And she retrieved a picture of a man. She went on to tell me that he was a person with a problem and every so often he would stop by the shop just to chat with them. She would fondly reminisce about this man. He had died a sad death a few months ago. (Because the death is so resent I will not print his name out of respect for family and friends) We compared the photo with mine. His hair was the same as well as his built. The most striking feature was his mouth. The image, though not clear, had the same expression on his face.

Rose’s voice became very soft and kind “I really hope he’s resting in peace and not wondering around the town lost.” She said gently. I think perhaps this man wanted to find out just what was going on in the shop after hours

Rose has a good heart and a wonderful soul. She sees the good in all people. Dennis is more skeptical about the ghosts but he also is a good natured person and enjoys being with people.
I can see why the spirits in The Treasure Chest Antiques Shop would want to stay and help these people. They even have Bernard in the back watching over the shop. Both Rose and Dennis enjoy the spirits and do not want them to leave.

So if you are interested in an antique, try The Treasure Chest Antiques Shop. You just might be helped by one of the spirits within the shop guiding you to that “just what you are looking for” item.