The Fulton Public Library, built in 1905.
FULTON, NY – The night before Halloween, as everyone prepared for the upcoming fright, the Fulton Public Library and the Pratt House Museum showcased their ghostly buildings to the public.
Paired with Soul Searchers, the two historic buildings in Fulton allowed public tours by reservation to observe their legendary ghostly nature.
Built in 1905 over the foundation of an apartment complex that housed canal workers, the Fulton Public Library is home to local legend of a young girl that sits on the balcony and stares out at the river.
Built in 1861, the Pratt House is said to still house some of the former Pratt family members that never seemed to leave their home behind.
Soul Searchers founder, Shawn DiBello assures that there has been evidence to support these legends since they began investigating the buildings.
Running out of Auburn, NY, Soul Searchers Paranormal Research generally does work in private homes to “help people and help spirits move on where they’re from,” said DiBello.
However, DiBello was pleased with the opportunity to help the Fulton Public Library and the Pratt House Museum and found there was enough significant evidence at both buildings to provide to the public.
“Libraries are becoming obsolete, we’d do anything we can to help these guys,” said DiBello.
So, for the first time at the Fulton Public Library and for the second time at the Pratt House, a paranormal team led public tours through the buildings to capture evidence of the spirits that are known to be homed there.
Using ghost hunting tools such as a K-2 meter, laser grid pens, parabolic dish, and even something as simple as a flashlight, groups of the public went through both buildings in search of evidence of the paranormal.
“We’ve seen the figure of the little girl from the balcony, we’ve caught her voice as well as voices in the children’s room. There’s a lot of shadow play here and things like the elevator running by itself while we were here and bangs like kicks on the fire door,” DiBello said in regards to the library.
As for the Pratt House, DiBello reports piano keys being played although there is no longer a piano at the residence, more shadow play, and audio of voices ranging from children to adults.
“The thing is, we won’t do a place we don’t think is haunted,” noted DiBello, validating his firm belief that he felt the team’s investigations gave significant evidence of paranormal activity.
The Soul Searcher team has done paranormal work all across New York State in places such as insane asylums, jails, hospitals and notable places such as Buffalo Naval Park and Fort Ontario.
The experienced team of volunteer ghost hunters goes through a lengthy process of investigating any place that is thought to home a paranormal being.
There is a pre-interview arranged to acquaint DiBello and his team to the concerned party, then after hours of recording and investigating into the questionably haunted place, the team returns for hours of playback and intense observation.
“How ever many hours we spend in a place, we spend the same amount of time reviewing the material. We do not fast forward anything, we watch and hear it all in real time,” said DiBello.
Multiplied by the number of cameras and recorders used per site, there’s a lot of hours put into a haunt investigation, however, DiBello and his team do not charge for their services.
“Any group that wants money for this, you should run from. This just means they’re in it for the wrong reasons,” said DiBello.
While the public event did collect money, all of the proceeds went to the Fulton Public Library and the Pratt House Museum.
Also available after the haunt were refreshments for the guests as well as a raffle for Syracuse Crunch that was donated by the team’s general manager.
The public groups saw some evidence of activity in the form of spirit motion detection lights and call and response play by flashlights. The groups were also able to listen and watch evidence already captured by the team during their investigation on audio or video recordings.
DiBello as well as the Pratt House women agreed that if any spirits are living in these buildings, they are nothing but friendly.
“We’ve never had any negative interactions,” said Sue Lane of the Pratt House.
And DiBello noted the team has yet to have a negative interaction with a paranormal finding since their foundation in 2009.
For more information on Soul Searchers, visit their website or Facebook page.
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