The Library Vault

A shadow not cast
By a visitor who passed
Haunts the long dark hall

-Brandie, Assistant Director

How well do you know your ghost-hunting equipment? Try matching the tools to their use:

1. Binary Response Device
2. Spirit Box
3. EMF Reader
4. EVP Reader

A. A device that captures ghostly voices or sounds

B. A device that detects sources of electromagnetic radiation

C. A device the uses AM radio signals to create random sounds that a ghost can control to form words.

D. A box fitted with red and green lights, with green meaning “yes” and red meaning “no”.

I’ll admit I had never heard of most of these devices until my encounter with the Eastern Connecticut Paranormal Society.

This story begins in October of 2022, when we offered the very popular Secrets of Russell Library Tour. This was an after-hours tour of the library giving guests a brief history of the building and conducting them through public and non-public areas in the dark. It was spooky and fun and we had a ball.

We also told some ghosts stories along the way, stories of some odd things that some staff had experienced while working at the library. Some of our tour guests asked if the stories were real. We explained that the events we described had happened but, honestly, we didn’t know if what we had experienced was caused by, well, actual ghosts.

Enter the Eastern Connecticut Paranormal Society (ECPS).

We had seen that another Connecticut library has recently invited this group to investigate some of unusual happenings at their library and we thought, Hey! Let’s contact them. After a preliminary interview process to see if we had anything that might be worth investigating, the group agreed to come and take a look.

The ECPS group arrived on a dark but not a stormy night. (A little nod to Sir Edward George Bulwer-Lytton.) They had some impressive equipment with them and very kindly explained to me what each device was. They also explained the difference between a building that was “spirited” and one that was “haunted”.

“Basically,” one member said, “A spirited building is phenomenon that is interesting or puzzling but not really scary. A haunted building…” He paused. “Well, if a building is truly haunted, you will want to clean out your desk and look for a new job.”

I hadn’t been scared by anything that had happened in our building, so I felt pretty confident about letting them investigate.

Their job was to find explanations for some of the unusual things that were happening. Old buildings have creaky floors, drafty windows, and sometimes even animals in the attics and basements. And Russell Library is old! The original portion was once a church, built in the 1830s. Add to that the Hubbard Room (1930s), a bank (1960s) and an addition connecting all the aforementioned structures (1980s), and you have the makings for some strange noises.

So the ECPS arrived after dark and spent several hours making audio and video recordings, exploring our rambling building, and paying particular attention to some of the strange things we had seen. (Why is that picture in the Reading Room always tilting? Is there a presence in the downstairs office? Who keeps opening the drawers of the CD cabinets?)

At one point during the night I received a text from the group. I was waiting in a separate building, trying to stay our of their way, when the message came through. They wanted to know if there was any possibility that someone, a live someone, could be in the building. They were wondering because they kept hearing toilets flushing and in their experience they had never encountered a spirit who used the bathroom.

Turns out, they were right. It was not a ghost, merely a sump pump working hard to keep water out of the library basement.

And when the night was over, what did they find? As I write this, we are awaiting their final report. However, I will say that they indicated that there may be something interesting at the library, but there was no need for me to clean out my desk and look for a new job. Dying to know what they found? We are planning to have the group come back this Fall to speak about what they discovered. Until then, you can check out ECPS’s blog about their recent paranormal investigations throughout Connecticut.

Here are the answers to the quiz.

1. Binary Response Device. A box fitted with red and green lights, with green meaning “yes” and red meaning “no”.
2. Spirit Box. A device the uses AM radio signals to create random sounds that a ghost can control to form words.
3. EMF Reader. A device that detects sources of electromagnetic radiation.
4. EVP Reader. A device that captures ghostly voices or sounds.