OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — In 2006, Omaha’s Nate Raterman had his first paranormal experience with a haunted artifact. His collection began to grow, all of which stayed in storage.
Now, Nate and his wife Kaleigh have thousands of haunted artifacts and run what has been voted the most haunted museum in the world — the Museum of Shadows.
The museum is home to the world’s largest collection of haunted artifacts and resides in downtown Omaha.
“We wanted to open a place where people could come out, see the item for themselves, read the history behind it, what the person experienced with the item, and here we are six years later,” Kaleigh said.
It already has plenty of national recognition.
“We’ve been on Travel Channel a couple different times, Discovery+, A&E, Destination America, and of course we have a series on Amazon Prime,” Nate said. “We’re on season two of Museum of Shadows.”
And the collection just continues to grow. They have thousands of artifacts sent to them and even make trips to pick up some of their own.
“I need to get it out of my home it’s caused chaos, medical issues, divorces, you name it we’ve heard it,” Kaleigh said.
All new artifacts start in the quarantine room where they are vetted for an attachment and go through forensic testing.
“There are some that are so heavy energy-wise that I won’t have anything to do with them because it gets to be very overwhelming for me to where I’m like — you're up, I’m gonna let you take care of that,” Kaleigh said.
Some of the artifacts will find their new home in a glass case inside the museum.
“Some are a little feisty, others are just, you know, they’re not friendly at all,” Nate said. “So it’s good that they stay behind glass, and they can stay in there.”
One of those artifacts is Ayda.
“People come from all over the world just to meet Ayda,” Nate said.
Ayda was voted the creepiest doll in the world — over the infamous Annabelle doll — in a Destination America poll.
It has a dark history. Its previous owner requested it be tied down.
“She will turn her head, move her arms and legs, move forward — she actually leaned forward, hit her face against the glass, and then sat back up,” Nate said.
The basement is where things get even scarier.
“So, everything from this room back has something very dark that’s attached to it,” Nate said.
“You can physically tell the difference in energy when out walk into that area, when you walk into that room,” Kaleigh said. “It feels heavy, or people say it feels like they can’t get a full breath in.”
It also houses Claire.
“Yeah, Claire I don’t have anything to do with,” Kaleigh said.
Before she was in the glass case some visitors had taken pieces of her hair. They began receiving calls from folks around the country.
“I lost my job; my car has been totaled — the list goes on and on,” Nate said.
He says once the hair was returned, and the people apologized to the doll, their lives returned to normal.
This is one of the reasons why they have a rule that you are not allowed to touch any of the artifacts.
Claire especially. They say to even watch what you say around her because of the negative energy she releases.
She has also injured the married couple and is known to speak.
“You will hear what sounds like a newborn baby crying, you’ll hear help me find my mommy, can you let me out, stuff like that,” Nate said. “And this is one of the rooms that you can do a Sit Challenge in if you choose to.”
Nate is talking about the Ten-Minute Sit Challenge. A challenge where you sit in complete darkness alone for ten minutes.
“It’s an adrenaline rush and every person that tries the sit challenge experience different things,” he said.
Of course, I had to give it a try. You can see how the experience went in the video at the top of the article. We even caught a few orbs on camera.
All the artifacts have very fascinating backstories. You can check them out or book a ghost hunt and try the Ten-Minute Sit Challenge for yourself.
It is open Wednesday through Friday, year-round, from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. The museum is located at 1110 Douglas Street.
For more information on the Museum of Shadows or to book a ghost hunt, click here.
