FAIRHAVEN — Some believe that the spirit of Millicent Rogers walks through the library hallways, laughing. Others claim to have seen the apparition of a woman in black thumbing through poetry books.

The Pawtucket Paranormal Society of Rhode Island wants to set the record straight.

At the Millicent Library Friday, the society's founder Dawn Torres and her group of four ghostbusters investigated the local rumors about spirits roaming the bookshelves.

"We usually begin by asking, 'If you're here make your presence known.' Usually spirits want to communicate," said Ms. Torres. "They just don't know how."

With cases of equipment in hand, including an electromagnetic field reader, a digital thermometer, digital voice recorders and night-vision cameras, they hoped to capture evidence of spirits in photos and electrical voice phenomena, Ms. Torres said.

The library was dedicated in 1893 by the family of Millicent Gifford Rogers, who died too young of heart failure at age 17. So, before the team began, they gathered in the Rogers Room, at a table surrounded by the family's portraits.

"Everywhere you are in the room, she seems to be looking at you," said Library Director Carolyn Longworth, describing the painting of Miss Millicent's grandmother.

At 3 p.m., the not-for-profit organization began its search around the library hoping to find what they call "hot zones," or spots of spiritual activity.

"This is all about discovery," Ms. Torres said. "We're adventurous."

The building's history, entwined with tragedy, and the Italian renaissance-styled exterior, decorated with gargoyles and grotesques, makes it easy to believe why this "haunted library" is referenced in so many campfire stories.

Perhaps, it's the library's interior of old carvings and griffins, mere decorations, which encourage the mind to wander. But the library's director, Ms. Longworth is skeptical.

"I've been working here over 30 years, and I have never sensed anything," she said. "But maybe I'm just insensitive."

Though Ms. Longworth is leery of a spiritual presence, she admits the library has seen tragedies.

"A while back, one of the janitors here had a heart attack," she said.

By the end of their investigation, Ms. Torres claimed to have found something.

"There's a definite presence, more than likely a male presence," she said.

On the lower half of the building, where the fallen janitor was found, the group found the "hot zones."

"I felt coldness on my left side," said Ms. Torres. "At one point I felt pain when I mentioned him."

Though the group members will need roughly a week to study their findings, they have their inclinations. "We're about 90 percent sure that the presence is the janitor," Ms. Torres reported.

Ms. Torres said that Allan Kallman, the Pawtucket Paranormal Society's chief information investigator, was using the night-vision camera to focus in on a downstairs auditorium, the spot where the janitor was found dead.

The images will be studied later to search for "orbs," spheres of spiritual energy that can show up as light — blue, red or yellow.

The society said it will take about a week to analyze its data to determine whether the library is indeed haunted by a spiritual presence.

"A lot of people try to refute our findings," Mr. Kallman said, "but when you eliminate so many other possibilities, what else are you left with?"

The article above was found on Google and was published originally on SouthCoastToday.com