Pieces of the Past

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Pieces of the Past is an antique store housed in an 1850s building that’s the setting for many a local legend. It has housed many businesses, including a law office and a brothel (and at the same time). At the brothel, so the stories say, one of the women was shot to death on a staircase that no longer remains in the building. Her ghost is said to appear where it used to be located. And she’s got company: Other spirits said to be here include a ghost cat, a man who runs up and down the staircases, and something that likes to move objects, throw furniture, change colors of light bulbs, and turn on jukeboxes.

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Geographic Information

Address:
79 East 2nd Street
Winona, MN
United States

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GPS:
44.052798, -91.634972
County:
Winona County, Minnesota
Nearest Towns:
Winona, MN (0.3 mi.)
Goodview, MN (3.1 mi.)
Homer, MN (4.5 mi.)
Minnesota City, MN (6.4 mi.)
Dodge, WI (6.9 mi.)
Fountain City, WI (6.9 mi.)
Stockton, MN (6.9 mi.)
Rollingstone, MN (9.5 mi.)
Trempealeau, WI (10.1 mi.)
Lewiston, MN (12.6 mi.)

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Comments (4)

  1. I was visiting Winona with my boyfriend to see his mother and we stopped in this store. First of all, absolutely LOVED this store. Everything was so beautiful and unique. What really caught my eye was a sign that read “Star light, Star bright. I wish to see a ghost tonight.” I asked the employee, who happened to be the owner, if it was for sale, and she then started to tell me about the spirits that still roamed around the store. After sharing some stories, asking some questions, i went to the back of the store (where many people say they feel someone following them) and started taking a bunch of pictures. I wasn’t feeling anything at first so i said out loud that i gave them permission to touch me or whatever they have to do. After, i felt cold on hte back of me the whole time. I went to a mirror and took some pictures. Two in particular that i took stood out to me… long story short, i was able to capture in 2 different pictures, a skeleton face behind me in a reflection of a mirror. Way cool, way freaky,

  2. First off, absolutely NOT a paranormal believer. I’m a horror NUT, an atheist, and I don’t scare easy. But some very strange things have happened there that I cannot explain and that freaked me out so badly I never wanted back into those areas of the building. It still bothers me to this day.
    I lived above the bar, worked in the bar in the early 90’s.
    2nd worst experience: There was said to be faces and lights appearing in the warehouse windows in the taller building to the rear (2nd,3rd,4th floors). The One night I came home and swore I saw a glow and a face in the third floor window. I raced up the stairs to find the warehouse door chained and locked. I had one of the only two keys, the manager the other. I opened it, went in and found nothing. It was almost empty besides old tables & chairs from the former restaurant. I raced up to the next floor nothing, up to the fourth floor nothing. The fire escape doors were all barred from inside. The only other feature was a non-operational freight elevator that was boarded up (you can still see the tower on top the bldg). I heard what sounded like bangs and noises inside the sealed shaft. I raced back down to double check each floor, still found no one. I locked the door and never went in again without someone.
    Worse experience: the basement. Winona used to be lined with inter-building tunnels and corridors, limestone cellars, freight dollies under the sidewalks. The basement was a virtual catacomb of spooky rooms full of old junk, old heavy root cellar doors, and bricked off tunnel arches. The whole place smelled of mildew and decay, and stale stanky beer from the drains under the bars that drained into pails in the basement next to the keg cooler. The manager’s office was also down there. One night after bar close I was in the building alone counting money and doing bookwork. There was this huge desk that sat with it’s back to one of the dark halls. I’d often get the creeps and shivers and chills being down there. I kept hearing what I thought was a whispering voice, kept shrugging it off, but then suddenly I heard a distinct woman’s voice (been so long I’ve forgotten, maybe “HEY” or “HERE”). It was too clear to be from outside those stone walls or upstairs. But I went upstairs to make sure I was alone, and I was. Back downstairs I heard it again and headed down the dark hallway towards the other rooms. As I headed down the hall towards the light I had a “whoosh” of air past me as if someone ran past or waved a fan. It was ice cold and smelled very distinctly of flowery sweet perfume. Yes, perfume, that was NOTHING like stale beer, and very easy to distinguish. I literally had a panic attack and bolted out of the basement and out of the building. Never went back down there alone or at night again. That scared the shit out of me.
    There was a lot more minor stuff, no cats, no stair runners that I remember, nothing turning on by itself or moving inexplicably.

  3. I used to go to the bar back when. After bars and cleaning we would sit and chat. There would be weird voices, and the sound of pool balls breaking. Thing is the balls were still locked on the tables. I would see things fly across the bar and down from one end of the bar to the other. The upstairs you could hear footsteps all the time along with smell perfume. There was a clunking sound in the elevator shaft too. It’s a pretty freaky building.

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