They Opened a Fudge Shop. Something Upstairs Told Investigators to Get Out.

Kathy Welle was working at her candy shop in Freeport, Maine, when she heard what sounded like her husband entering a room upstairs. There were footsteps, followed by the familiar noises of someone putting things down and moving around. She began talking to him as she climbed the stairs, but when she reached the room, nobody was there.

It wasn’t the first time she’d been fooled by sounds coming from an empty part of the building. Kathy and her husband, Jim, had been hearing strange noises since opening their shop, What the Actual Fudge, at 7 Mill Street. They had joked about ghosts before, but things just kept getting worse.

The shop occupied the second floor of the E.B. Mallett building, a brick building built in 1888 for a prominent local industrialist. Above the candy store was an attic where the owners frequently heard shuffling and footsteps.

Things Started Moving Around

The footsteps weren’t the only problem. Kathy described hearing doors opening and closing in places where there weren’t any doors, along with occasional voices that didn’t seem to come from anyone in the building. On two occasions, pieces of parchment paper reportedly began flying off a stack on the counter, one sheet at a time.

There was also an issue with an entrance door that sometimes turned up unlocked in the morning. Everyone insisted it had been secured the previous evening, but the problem kept occurring. Kathy eventually added another deadbolt, while a neighbouring business installed a security gate, and the mysterious unlocking stopped.

She tried using security cameras to keep an eye on the building. When she went back to review it the cameras often displayed errors requiring their memory cards needing to be reformatted. After the same problems with new cards, she switched to a continuous recording service.

Despite everything, Kathy wasn’t frightened of the shop. She enjoyed joking about the unexplained activity with employees and customers, although she still wanted to know what was causing it. One employee, Trinity Kangas, believed the building might be haunted and contacted a local paranormal investigation team.

An Overnight Investigation

On September 18, 2026, members of the Ghost Hunting & Occult Study Team arrived at the building. The Maine-based group, known as G.H.O.S.T., was led by paranormal investigator Mike Greenleaf. Its members offered their services free of charge and planned to spend the night recording activity throughout the property.

The investigation started at 6:30 p.m. and continued until 5:30 the following morning. Investigators spread their cameras, audio recorders, and other equipment across all three floors. They paid special attention to the attic, where the owners had heard so much unexplained movement.

According to Greenleaf, three investigators in the attic experienced an odd sensation, as though something were standing very close to them. Equipment designed to respond to nearby movement or changes in the environment also activated during the night. The team collected several recordings they believed deserved closer examination.

One audio clip recorded a man’s voice sharply saying, “Get out!” Another recording contained what investigators interpreted as a child crying. They also documented banging noises, unusual lights, and sounds that reminded them of a heartbeat.

The team attempted to communicate with whatever it was. During one experiment, an investigator heard responses referencing an old fire. The building’s history provided plenty of material for speculation, although the team couldn’t establish who or what might have produced the responses.

The Owners Listen to the Recordings

On October 19, Greenleaf returned to present the findings to Kathy and Jim. The couple sat with employee Trinity Kangas and listened to the recordings while reviewing footage collected during the overnight investigation. Some of the sounds were similar to things they had been hearing for months.

Greenleaf explained that his group preferred to investigate ordinary causes before considering paranormal explanations. He described checking for issues such as faulty wiring or noises coming from outside a building. In this case, he believed the team had collected enough unexplained activity to conclude that a paranormal presence was likely.

The investigators thought one presence might be associated with the attic and wanted to be left alone. There was also a childlike presence elsewhere in the building. The candy shop continued operating, with its owners content to share the building with whatever might be making the noises. Greenleaf, meanwhile, hopes his team can investigate more haunted businesses around Freeport.

He even talked about creating a ghost passport that would encourage visitors to explore the town’s collection of supernatural stories.