Ghost Hunt at Chapman Branch

by Christine, Chapman Branch

​The City Library hosted a Scavenger Haunt in September and October, and it finished with a really fun ghost hunt of the Chapman Library on October 22. We invited members of Wasatch Investigative Society for Paranormal Studies (WISPS) to come to our building, give an introduction into how they investigate hauntings, and to take us on a ghost hunt of the Chapman Branch. Ravyn, Rogue, and Chad from WISPS were amazing. They are also part of Advanced Paranormal Services, a sister organization to WISPS, and their website can be found here. They shared some really interesting information about what they do and by the end of the night had the librarians, Lexi and Christine, believing that the building really could be haunted!

The Ghost Hunt of Chapman was scheduled as a virtual event to take place over Zoom, but we experienced some technical difficulties making it difficult to log in to the event. So we thought we would share some of the results and video of the event at the end of this post. 

Over the years there have been reports from staff of a woman crying, hearing children, seeing bare children’s footprints in dust on shelves in the middle of winter, a woman has been seen in the building, and objects have moved on their own. We were excited to see if Ravyn, Rogue or Chad could help us find out if any of these stories could be true.

After Ravyn’s presentation sharing the basics of paranormal investigating, we went to the main floor of the building where she used an EMF reader to find activity (electromagnetic fields) and dowsing rods to communicate with any spirits who might be nearby. We learned that there are typically three spirits who spend most of their time in the branch and really like it here. The spirits responded to our questions and we learned that one of the spirits who spends their time at Chapman is a woman. Rogue felt that the ghost likes the name Rose, so that is what we called her, though that isn’t the ghost’s real name. After a few questions with Rose we learned that she once worked at the Chapman Library, right around the time it opened in 1918. Rose likes to spend time near the big south facing window at the top of the stairs. 

Ravyn found out that a second ghost is a teenager, about 15 years old, and that he has a lot of energy. He let us know that he is the one who likes to leave footprints and play little pranks here and there. We asked him what name he would like to be called and he responded to the name Ted. The third ghost is a child, of about 10 years old, and he likes the name Billy. (Bill and Ted!) Billy enjoys it when children visit the building and likes to hang out around them. All three ghosts communicated that they enjoy being in this building and its positive energy and visitors.

We had a great time learning more about paranormal investigations and participating in one at the Chapman Branch! If you are ever in the area, come stop by and say hi to Rose, Billy, and Ted! And don’t forget to check out some of the footage from our Chapman ghost hunt below!