Mississippi Valley Paranormal

In August of this year, Ava Ketter, the Director from the Rock Island Library in Rock Island, Illinois, invited us to do an October presentation at the library. In preparation for the presentation, MVP was asked to  conduct an investigation. The investigation took place during closed hours on Sunday, September 13th, 2008.

The team at the investigation were lead investigators Becky, Stephanie, and Chris and members Sarah, Diana, Pat, Jill, and Maria. We arrived at the library around 6:00 p.m.. After a brief tour, Steph conducted an interview with Ava, upstairs, while the rest of the team did a walk-thru and sweep of the area downstairs.

During the interview it was found that one particular employee, while working there, had experienced a few things. She reported being aware that something seemed to pass by her when nobody was ther, and seeing things move, such as a heavy chain, feeling a cold breeze, and experiencing the feeling of being watched. Ava also said that other employees, in the past, had heard some strange noises and experienced the feeling of being watched. Other experiences reported were the elevator going up and down by itself when only one person was in the building,(this even happening when the elevator had been locked), books falling off of the shelves by themselves, and footsteps heard down the aisles. Lights would be turned off, when they had been left on at the end of the night, and vice versa.

One particular librarian is thought to perhaps “haunt” the library. The librarian, had worked there for many years, practically her whole life, and was said to encompass this library as her pride and joy while alive. Another probable “spirit” was mentioned, but the name was requested to be not shared in written form.

The library was built in the early 1900s, and has much of its original structure, as well as the original “book pulley” or “book elevator” from the years it has been in operation. A lot of the activity reported seemed to happen in that particular area, and in the closest aisles of the library, behind the front desk.

The team set out in three groups and went separate ways. After investigating in certain areas, members switched groups or went off two or more at a time, to different locations. Most of the area in the library was covered with EVP sessions and EMF detectors, and the “hot spots” watched closely. The investigation lasted around two and a half hours and was wrapped up with several pictures taken and audio to review.

Here are some personal experiences that various members had during the investigation…

Pat Gullion: Maria and I walked around the main floor of the library. We asked questions and took pictures. There was a particularly dark section at the end on one of the aisles. We started taking pictures and my camera with brand new batteries died. Maria pulled up 2 chairs so we sat and asked questions. To one particular question we heard a metallic thump from the dark corner. It did not sound like the noises we heard when people went up those stairs. Maria asked another question and we heard 2 solid footsteps, without the metal creaking, associated with people walking around. When we left that aisle, my camera decided to work once again.

We traveled around more. Both of us took pictures, I saw nothing to report. Then we were in an aisle upstairs, on the mezzanine, and my camera died again. Sarah was with us and we received distinct red meter readings when we did things. We put books on the floor and asked it to light up the meter when it wanted us to stop, and it did. I mixed books up on the shelf and asked if that was upsetting and we received a response. I went around behind another aisle and asked it to light up if it wanted me to stop messing the books, and it did. This happened maybe 3 or 4 times. There was no activity on the meter around the lights or the bookshelves.

We tried again in the dark corner of the 1st aisle we where in, and we received maybe one or two more replies when messing with the books. Sarah and I then traveled around different spots in the library, by the front desk, etc. and received nothing else. My camera did not work the rest of the investigation until I was at home. I even took it with me on a day trip, Tues. the 16th, with the same batteries. I took a ton of pictures and it never stopped once.

Maria Masi: Things were pretty quiet. Pat and I were working on the second floor down a dark aisle when her camera that had new batteries quit. I took a few pictures but did not capture anything on film. Later that afternoon we again were on the second floor and Sarah had joined us with her EMF reader. We became confrontational and told anything there that we were going to mess with the books and if they wanted us to stop, please make the lights on the meter light up. It did so we stopped. Then I told it I was going to put books on the floor, and if they wanted us to stop please, light up the meter and it did. Becky and Diana came up, so I left.

Becky Reid: Diana and I were on the stairwell on the 2nd floor, where the chain is, next to the book drop elevator. She had placed her EMF on the floor and we just started an EVP session. The EMF started to respond to our questions. One instance, Diana asked it to make it beep again. She then was half way through asking it to stop, and it stopped before she could get all the words out of her mouth. We did not note any fluctuation in temperature.

Diana Smith: Becky and I were sitting in the stairwell that had the chain across it where the old book chute used to be. I had my EMF on, and had actually just done a sweep of the area with the EMF and had no spikes or readings so I set the EMF on the floor, and it started to go off periodically. Becky and I started to ask questions and it looked like it was trying to respond a little bit to some of the questions for a few minutes, and then it went away. I then did another sweep with the EMF, to see if I could get it to go off again, but never could. So I’m not sure what set the EMF off. I had my DVR going, as well, during the time we were asking questions, but I got nothing to turn up on the DVR.

Jill Foster: We (Jill & Steph) heard some interesting sounds upstairs but were not able to pinpoint anything. At the end of the investigation I was with my mom, Pat, and Sara and Pat was messing with the books and when she asked if anyone wanted her to stop, to make the EMF reader go off, which it did. This happened several more times, after asking questions about not moving the books around.

Steph Adams: I heard a few sounds that sounded like footsteps, upstairs, on the metal floor when no one up there, mostly when we first started the investigation. One was loud enough to make me and Chris both look up at the stairwell, where it seemed to come from, and go investigate it. We were unable to pinpoint where it might have come from.

EVIDENCE

After reviewing the audio, nothing significant came up, except for an 

The team did not experience anything significant during the investigation other than EMF responses; that does not mean that previously reported experiences and activity did not occur, just that the team was not able to experience or capture the same things. For now, the case is closed. The presentation at the library will still go as planned. Look at our website calendar for details.