Are there haunted spots in Ross County? The library is where to start your investigation

I’m not a fan of being scared. I work daily to manage Generalized Anxiety issues, so I have enough fear in my head. This means playing video games where a metal-mouthed bear pops around a doorway screaming or watching slasher flicks just leaves me with a tight chest and a tension headache.

Despite all this, I recently started watching Ghost Adventures with my daughter and it has become oddly comforting. Like, curl up under a fuzzy blanket with hot tea comforting. It makes absolutely NO sense.

For those unfamiliar, Ghost Adventures is a “reality” show with a three-man crew. Zak, Nick, and Aaron (because we’re still in the early seasons) are locked down for a night in some of the most haunted places on earth. Between Zak constantly shushing his cast mates and staring intensely into the camera while the night vision makes his pupils glow, they measure unseen forces with specialized equipment.

Voice recorders capture Electronic Voice Phenomenon, or EVPs, thought to be ghost voices. Electromagnetic Field (or EMF) detectors measure energy spikes that many believe are signs of spirits in our midst.

A staff-led paranormal investigation using this same type of equipment found “evidence” of unknown energy in the Fiction section of the Main Library on South Paint Street. Creepy, but also proof that even ghosts can appreciate a good story. If you’ve ever been in our Main library, it’s easy to imagine old energy roaming across the creaking floors and casting shadows on the ancient portraits. However, Northside’s own Enrichment Assistant Todd Ginther had a particularly terrifying experience at our Richmond Dale Location. A newer building, but one with the spookiest reputation. And not just because of the Halloween-loving clerks who work there.

Ginther was working at the location on a special project when he walked back the center aisle in search of an item. Suddenly, a large atlas lifted off the wide windowsill, still lying flat, and flew at him. Luckily, the giant book landed with a thud in front of his feet and not directly on them.

Ginther turned to the regular clerk in shock. “That stuff happens all the time,” She shrugged, completely unfazed. “When something that defies logic happens to you, it really does make you question everything,” Ginther said. “I’m just happy I had a witness to it.”

I’m happy that I wasn’t that witness.

If you’d like to hear more spooky stories about our library locations, visit Ginther’s Spooky Northside display through the end of the month. He’s collected several bone-chilling staff encounters you must read to believe. He’s also posted some of the most haunted places in Ohio, in case you’re looking for a Halloweekend destination to make your hair stand on end.

Or maybe you’d rather have your own ghost adventure. Simply check out our Ghost Hunting Kit, complete with voice recorder and EMF Detector, free with your library card. Add a copy of Zaks’ Ghost-Hunting for Dummies and see what you catch…if you dare.

As for me? I’ll stay on this side of the screen, with books firmly on shelves, and only my cats making noises in the dark.

Sheena Brown is a reluctant Ghost Adventures fan and part-time clerk at the Main and Northside locations. To date, she has been blissfully unbothered by ghosts in the library and hopes to keep it that way.

This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Are there haunted spots in Ross County? The library is where to start your investigation