Wheeling Park might be a staple to most of our childhood fun, but as years progress, the dark and potential paranormal truth is potentially revealed through eyewitness accounts throughout our community. 

‘He said, she said’ is a common occurrence for any rumor, but what are the extents needed to undergo, for that same rumor to morph into the truth? When speaking to few eyewitnesses, in regards to any personal paranormal accounts that took place at, around, or near The Wheeling Park White Palace, all stories shared one detrimental factor– word of mouth. 

Wheeling Park Staff member, Ethan Beiswenger, states prior to any paranormal experiences that, “…[coworkers] were telling me how the Park is haunted since it was next to a graveyard, and that there was a fire in 1925… I believe in ghosts but never experienced anything, so I believed them.” 

On top of those second hand stories from his coworkers, passed down stories even circulated back to Beiswenger, such as: 

“Henry, our ranger, has once saw someone say ‘Hello?’ down in the rink when closing it and a few seconds later saw a ball roll across the floor.”

“Our head maintenance man, who has been working at the park for a few years has saw many things, one of them being shadows dancing upstairs in the ballroom which he could see through the windows in the parking lot.”

“Seth [Sargent] was also telling me about how there’s one hallway in the balloon that always gives him chills when he walks down it.”

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Seth Sargent, a coworker to Beiswenger and a Senior at Wheeling Park High School stated that, even though he believed all of the stories shared with him, “… I rarely had any weird feelings or odd suspicions.” 

While both Sargent and Beiswenger state that nothing had physically occurred or appeared to them, this all changed for Ethan specifically, the morning after hearing his coworkers share their own ghastly experiences. 

After traveling down a long eerie hallway in the back rooms of the white palace, you would find yourself in a normally well lit, worker filled liquor room. Cleaning up after events that occur in the ballroom is a normal occurrence for Ethan and many other workers at Wheeling Park. Again, each workers experiences are relatively the same thing every day– a crowded and well lit storage/ liquor room that was rarely unattended, but Beiswenger states that this morning, “…usually the lights are on but the person who turns them on did not work that day and I saw [It] in the hallway.” 

After hearing stories about this “creepy hallway near the ballroom,” Ethan, like any other teenager, decided to pull out his phone to snap a picture of the seemingly innocent, yet creepy hallway before him. It was only after taking the picture, that a shadow like apparition stood before him.

Decide for yourself. Is it the power of suggestion or the power of the paranormal?