You may not suspect that the public library is one of the best places to help you get started with your ghost hunting adventures, but it’s true! Research is the first tool in any ghost hunters toolkit, and Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library is here to guide you through your specter searches.
Imagine you’re in your house, and it’s late at night. You hear a strange sound coming from the kitchen. When you get up to investigate, you discover a cabinet door has been opened. You brush it off, shut it, and go back to binging your favorite show on the couch. Just as you’ve settled in, you notice your beloved pet, Cujo, staring blankly into the doorway of the room you just left. You hear the sound again, and although you’re a little frightened, you muster up the courage to check it out. What you find sends chills down your spine; the cabinet door that you just shut is open again, but you and Cujo are the only ones home. You tell yourself “Don’t freak out,” but you are very much freaking out. You crawl into bed (with the lights on), and try your best to catch some sleep. After waking up from an unpeaceful slumber, you start to ask yourself questions, beginning with, “Who lived in this house before me?” Luckily for you and Cujo, EVPL has ways to help you figure this out.
Reitz Home. Digital Image Copyright 2016 Evansville Courier and Press.
Research Resources
Genealogy is a great place to start. With resources such as Ancestry and Browning Genealogy, you’ll be able to search for birth and death certificates, land records, obituaries, census information, and so much more. Our Local History resources will lead you to places like the EVPL Digital Archive, Find A Grave, and Evansville Cemetery Database, which features the historic Locust Hill and Oak Hill Cemetery.
If you’re someone who prefers to do in-person planning for your ghostly quests, then make an appointment to stop by our Indiana Room, where you can search for helpful materials such as city directories, county histories, and even Indiana folklore books.
Book Recommendations
While you’re here at EVPL Central, be sure to check out some of these titles on the 2nd floor, or visit our “Haunted History” display from October 11 through 24 to find more local haunt ideas for your paranormal pursuits.
- Ghost Hunter: The Groundbreaking Classic of Paranormal Investigation by Hans Holzer
- The Ghost Hunter’s Field Guide: Over 1000 Haunted Places You Can Experience by Rich Newman
- So You Want to Hunt Ghosts?: A Down-To-Earth Guide by Deonna Kelli Sayed
- The Everything Ghost Hunting Book: Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Exploring the Supernatural World by Melissa Martin Ellis
The Library of Things
But wait! You’ll need one last thing! Newly added to our Library of Things collection is an Electromagnetic Field Tester. This tester will help you to detect changes in electrical currents, signaling that apparitions could be near. No toolkit is complete without it!
Happy Haunt-Hunting!
Editor’s note: I encourage you to explore the history of the Reitz Home, and what might be lurking in the shadows of its history.
