Do things go bump in the night at your house? Do you see or feel otherworldly presences? Do you think you have a ghost?! If so, your library may be able to help.
Libraries across the country are helping amateur ghost hunters in their communities by lending out ghost-hunting kits, complete with instructions on how to use the equipment.
Sara Fiorenza, teen librarian at Portland (Maine) Public Library (PPL), field tested the ghost-hunting kits available at PPL in her own 1950s-era home—and received surprising results. No significant readings were picked up until she approached the backroom door of an unfinished extension of the house used for storage, which included a few items that belonged to their deceased grandparents and great grandparents.
“This room always gives me bad vibes and I try not to go back there alone or at night,” Fiorenza wrote on PPL’s website. “The reader started to go crazy as I approached the door to the extension. As soon as I opened the door, the reader went quiet. Probably one of the creepier experiences with ghostly encounters.”
PPL’s ghost-hunting kits includes a standard electromagnetic frequency (EMF) reader, an EVP (electronic voice phenomena) recorder, and a spirit box that let users detect, hear, and potentially speak with ghosts. The kit also has an SD card to record what is heard on the ghost box and an EVP wristwatch that allows for the transfer files to a computer to review and dissect evidence.
At Birmingham (Ala.) Public Library (BPL), patrons can check out ghost-hunting kits that contain an EMF reader, spirit box, flashlight, a divination kit with dowsing rods and pendulum to commune with the supernatural, and an instruction book covering the basics of ghost hunting and some often-overlooked safety tips.
BPL notes on its website that ghost hunting isn't just about frights, it's also about exploration and discovery. “Much like reading a good book or researching a new topic, ghost hunting allows the curious to delve into the unknown and spark imaginations,” they write. To help new ghost hunters on their journey, the library has details about various local locations rumored to be haunted. One of the spots featured is BPL’s own Linn-Henley Research Library. Visitors have reported hearing strange sounds, seen doors mysteriously open, and have even caught a whiff of Fant Thornley's favorite cigarettes. Thornley was the director of BPL from 1953-1969, and his ghost is rumored to haunt the library.
Watch a video about the library’s famous hauntings below!
Want to learn more about ghost-hunting kits at libraries? Check out this new story from our friends at American Libraries which looks at kits available at libraries in Oregon and Ohio. You may want to read it with the lights on, though!
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Photo: Dead End haunted house at Halloween Horror Nights 22 by Inside the Magic, via Flickr. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
