I stood in front of the kids, six teens sitting around the table. Once a month, I teach paranormal investigation to kids. It's nothing I ever envisioned as a career.
"I'd like to welcome you guys to the first meeting of the school year," I said. "Tonight, we're going to learn how to do the research on a haunted house."
For my job at the library, I run a group called Teen Paranormal. I teach teenagers how to investigate. I had three old ones and three new ones: Alex, Aubree, Olivia. Austin, Kayla, and Krystianna.
"When LHPS gets a call, it's the first thing I do," I said. "Go to the courthouse and pull the deeds. That way, I learn who lived there, who died there, who is most likely to be haunting the place. Start with the assessment record---It's this thing here." I held up the copy I'd made.
The kids all looked through their packets and found their copies. I saw Austin have a little trouble, and Krystianna help him. I said,"On this form, you'll have the age of the building---But don't depend on that; I've seen them be off by as much as twenty-five years---And the current owners. You'll also find the most recent deed book and page, and that's what you're looking for. Take that down to the Register and Recorder's office."
Olivia asked,"Are we going to go downstairs and look at the research file?"
"We are; that's tonight."
She grinned. "Good. I like that."
Aubree looked across the table at the new girls. "We're nerds," she said.
Krystianna grinned. "Oh good. Us too."
"Nothing wrong with that," I said.
"You notice how we all have something going on?" Aubree asked. "ADD, ADHD...."
"Autism...."
"Tourette's...."
"Anxiety...."
I held up one hand. "Clinical depression over here."
Olivia glanced at me. "How come the nerds and rejects seem to do better after high school than the others?"
"I can answer that, actually," I said. "Based on my own experience." I'd been standing to give the lesson; I sat down in my chair. "The cool kids, the jocks and cheerleaders, they have everything easy. Everything's given to them. It seems nice, but they're not developing the skills they need for life. They're gonna be sitting in a bar forty years from now, still talking about how they won the big game. Meanwhile, you guys are learning all the best coping skills to make you successful later on. It's what I did."
I saw Krystianna look sympathetic. First meeting, and already I could tell she was the sensitive one.
"I was always writing stories, talking about ghosts and monsters in school," I said. "I had teachers tell me I needed to do more math. One of my journalism teachers told me I'd never become a writer; she said I didn't have what it takes. Every couple of years I clip out one of my columns and send it to her. It's actually about time again."
The kids laughed. I said,"I was told to knock it off with the ghost stories, and now look what I do for a living. My columns are very popular. I actually wrote in one a while ago that I'll give my old teachers a tour for free. That way, I won't have to do any math."
I stood up and looked at all the kids. "This year, you guys are my kids. This is your new home. You guys are Dumbledore's Army. And I'm gonna make you into the best paranormal investigators in the county."
You'd think, as a paranormal investigator, that I'd encounter scary things. Which I do, all the time, but not ghosts and monsters. It's the general public that scares me, or at least about fifteen percent of it. I'd been hoping I'd seen the last of the weird guy in the white robe, but he slunk into the library while I was on the desk, looking around.
"Is it safe to come in here?" he asked.
"Of course, sir," I said. "The public library is safe for everyone."
He looked me over---My shirt with the ghost on it, and then my black eye. "It doesn't look like you were very safe," he said.
"Oh, I did this at home."
He slunk off into the stacks. Zach said,"That's one hell of a shiner you got there. How did you manage that?"
"Wish I had a good story to go with this, but I slipped in the shower," I said. "My head hit the wall, and then because I wasn't finished yet, hit the bathtub rim on the way down."
Zach winced. "Ouch."
I grinned. "Oh, yeah, it hurt like hell."
I looked at my e-mail. "Hey, Zach," I said,"Can you watch the desk for a minute? A relative of the guy who donated our Native American artifacts says he's coming to see them, and I have to go and fetch them from the attic to put on display."
"Sure," said Zach. "Go ahead."
The Ross Library's attic was built as part of the old mansion in 1887. Getting to it is always somewhat of a process. I took the elevator up to the second floor, then walked down a long, dark hallway and into the old section. Turning left, I walked up the stairs, and I was there.
Most of the library's old spaces reminded me of something out of Hogwarts. I walked into the room with the artifacts in it, and then I noticed the old book on the shelf.
It was old, battered, published in 1856. I paged through, looking at the chapters---It was a local history book, but one written when Clinton County only had a few years of history.
When I went downstairs with the artifacts, I took the book, too.
"So long, little guy. See you after school."
Paul paused on the sidewalk just barely long enough to give me a hug, and then darted into the school. I watched him go, then I turned and walked back down the street, carrying the travel mug Tracey had given me for Christmas a few years back, drinking my coffee.
I walked home. I walked past the Elliott House, home of a former mayor; the Wait House, oldest one on the street; the Probst House, home of a former city councilman. I got to my own home, the Yost House, built in 1884 and haunted by Ida Yost.
Fed the dogs. Had breakfast. Went upstairs and wrote an article. went back downstairs and binge-watched The Umbrella Academy.
Looked at my watch. Ten-fifteen.
I walked out to the garage. I'd been cleaning it, for lack of anything better to do. Under normal circumstances I can go for years without bothering to clean the garage, and have. But a couple of hours without the kid, and I'm doing it for lack of anything better to do.
I'd been making some inroads into all the junk, throwing some out and discovering hidden, unknown lands behind some of the cardboard boxes. Some years ago, my wife had purchased a huge desk at a yard sale, shoved it in the garage, and forgotten about it. I studied it for a little while.
I shoved it into the corner, and then began to surround it with boxes.
In a few minutes, I had walls of cardboard built up, blocking most of the view of the desk. I had a small entrance, so I could get to the desk, but you'd have to be practically on top of it to notice it.
I've always built secret spaces for myself. Ever since I was a kid, I'd liked creating little hiding spots, bolt-holes I could spend time it. Sometimes with no idea what I was even going to do with them. As a kid on my father's farm, I'd had a shelter in the woods, a hiding space above the garage, and one in the attic. I hadn't outgrown the desire as an adult, either---I'd had a secret space down at the Piper Museum, and at least two at the library. With some minimal effort, I could construct one in my own garage.
Again, I had no idea what I was going to actually accomplish with a hidden space. But it was something to kill time while my son was in school.
Paul had recently joined the Cub Scouts. I'd been a scout when I was a kid, and I remembered a lot of it. I didn't remember the weekly meetings instilling a strong desire to go off and drink alcohol, but that may be just perspective.
"Dad!" Paul called. "I saw a monster!"
We were hiking through the forests of McElhattan, part of the weekly activity. Paul was walking with his classmate Xander. I asked,"Was it a bipedal land monster, or more the water monster type?"
"Water monster," Paul said.
"And I saw Bigfoot!" Xander added.
"Good," I said. "Get pictures."
At the end of the trail was Zindel Park. The kids were allowed to run wild and explore a bit, and Paul and Xander started darting around. It had been a year since I'd been there, breaking an old curse. I tried to check in every once in a while, and the Cub Scout hike had seemed as good a time as any.
I climbed up on the concrete dam structure while the kids were charging around. Kneeling down with a flashlight, I looked through the metal grate and down into the water. It was too dark for me to see the Giantess statue, which was a relief.
An old friend of mine, Barenda, spotted me as I climbed back over the wall. Barenda, now a parent, had once been a teenager in a group I'd run.
"Looking for something?" she asked.
"Just an old curse."
"Really? Cool. My daughter would like that."
"How old's your daughter now?"
"Fifteen."
"You know, I run a class on this stuff for teens. We're meeting tomorrow night, if she'd like to join."
"Great," said Barenda. "We'll be there."
"Glad you guys could all make it," I said. Barenda was there, next to me at the table, and she'd brought her daughter Koti. Olivia, Krystianna, Austin, and Kayla had also made it. I said,"How's everything going tonight, guys?"
"I have a school project," Kayla said. "I was wondering if I could keep a blog on this group, for my computer class."
I thought about it for two seconds. It would give her something to do, plus it was good that she was taking pride in the group. "I love that. Send me the link; I really want to see that. Now, remember, I have my haunted tours at the end of the month.You guys get in free, because you're my kids. And I have a favor to ask."
"Uh-oh," said Austin.
"No, no, it's cool. I recently found an old book that suggested that the Native Americans believed this whole valley up along the Susquehanna was cursed. Because I have to fulfill an annual curse quota or risk losing my job, I'm gonna ask you guys to help me investigate this on the tour. Anyone who comes along, I'll loan you my equipment, and you do the testing for me while I give the tour. Let's find out how paranormal this city really is."
Krystianna grinned. "I can't wait. I'm coming as long as Kayla can give me a ride."
"Of course I'll be coming," said Kayla.
I smiled. "Great. Now let's learn how to use this stuff, and then get some practice in the attic."
I led the kids into the attic, where nobody ever went. The kids followed me like baby ducklings after the mother. I chose the newspaper storage room, turned on the light, and turned to face the kids.
"Okay, when investigating, the first thing you do is get a baseline," I said. "Kayla, check EMFs. Krystianna, get a look at the temperatures. Look for fluctuations. Go slow and steady with the laser thermometer, like...." I trailed off. I was moving my laser thermometer along the wall, and suddenly I stopped and frowned.
"Do we have a ghost?" Kayla said. "Tell me we have our first ghost."
".....Maybe," I admitted. "We have a big jump in temps over here....I went from sixty-five to seventy-four, which is huge, and now I can't replicate it."
"Let me see if there's more of that," said Krystianna.
"Didn't we get temperature drops up here once before?" asked Olivia.
"We did, a year or two back. This is interesting; that's a pretty big drop. Let's do an EVP session and see what we get."
"If we have time, can we play it back afterward?" asked Kayla, who was rapidly emerging as the ringleader for this whole group.
"Sure, I don't see why not. We just need to take time to get one group picture before we're done. Let's get to work."
I reached across the table and turned off the digital recorder.
"So we didn't get much on the audio," I said. "That's okay, sometimes that happens. But now you understand how to do an investigation. You guys did a great job tonight."
"And we're going to do it during the tours," said Krystianna.
I nodded. "That's right. You guys are my eyes and ears during the tours. Hope you all can make it. Next month, we're doing Bigfoot. See you guys soon."
I spent the day leading up to the tour pacing the library and doing math in my head.
"I'm hoping the weather holds out," I said to Mel when I paused briefly by her door. "If I can make four hundred sixteen dollars, I break my record. That's a total of a hundred and four people. Four dollars apiece."
"Good luck," Mel said without looking up from her computer.
I was still pacing that night, outside in the dark as people began to arrive. A carload at a time, people arrived. Kayla, Krystianna, and Aubree all got there together.
I smiled.
"Guys! Thanks for coming. What we're gonna do is take the equipment and investigate during the tour---Kayla, you take charge, Notify me if we get anything, immediately. It's all part of the show, but it may tell us something, too. Here, Kayla, you carry the bag."
The kids all grabbed some of the equipment---Kayla took the EMF detector, and Krystianna took the laser thermometer. Already, they were all learning their favorite tools.
"This is gonna be great," said Aubree cheerfully.
"You nervous?" Krystianna asked me.
"I got a record to break tonight," I said. "I'm scared to death."
I turned on my belt-clip speaker, and stepped up onto one of the picnic benches.
And as I face the crowd, I feel something calm come over me. And the night went from an intimidating goal....To me just doing the thing I do.
"Thanks for coming tonight, and supporting the Ross Library," I said. "My name is Lou, and I'm a member of the Lock Haven Paranormal Seekers. Tonight, I'm going to take you around the city, and tell you about some of the local hauntings. The Native Americans who lived here hundreds of years ago called this area Otzinachson. It was believed that this meant 'Demon's Den,' and that the land was cursed. And we're going to hear about some of that tonight. And I invite you to pay attention, and think of how many of these haunted buildings were made from the stone and clay of this same cursed land."
We walked down the alley, and I stood in between two of the homes. "I chose this spot because we're in between two documentably haunted houses here. My my right is the John Brown House, haunted by undertaker John Everett Brown, who fell from his stairs and cracked his skull in 1938. On the other side is the Reuben Brawn House, owned by a local lumberman and haunted by his daughter Maude, who died of typhoid in 1893. LHPS has investigated that one, and actually had to run our cords out the window because the house is so big and twisty inside."
We walked down the alley. Krystianna caught up to me and said,"Lou, we got a temperature drop back there. Sixty-nine to fifty-four."
"That's pretty big. Was it closer to the Brown House or the Brawn House---" Not everyone is me. "---On the right or the left?"
"The right."
"The John Brown House. Excellent!"
The next stop was Triangle Park, where I told the story of the Giantess, and then on to stories about the Giwoggle and the Jersey Devil. I talked about the curse of the courthouse, and then we moved down Water Street to the Fallon Hotel, where I pulled out my photocopied Lock Haven map.
Krystianna looked at me with some incredulity. "Is that a script?"
"If you call this mess a script." I showed it to her, "When it's a newer tour than usual, I generally write the stops down with a little note, then I highlight the route. Makes it easier to remember."
"Cool."
Mad Anthony Wayne and the murder of James Sesto filled out the tour, and we wrapped up back at the library.
"Just a warning, Lou," said Kayla,"The guy over there is going to try to talk to you about orbs." She rolled her eyes. She'd learned really well.
"Thanks for the heads up," I said.
Kayla handed me my shoulder bag---She'd already collected the equipment. Good girl. I gave the kids a group hug.
"You guys did great tonight. You're my kids. And I didn't break my record....But that's okay. Cause I got to spend time with you guys."
Krystianna grinned. "I'm glad we got adopted."
"I'm proud of you," I said. "Go home, get some sleep. Thanks for coming out tonight."
I pulled out of the alley and parked my bike in the garage. By flashlight, I stepped into my secret hiding spot and counted the money.
Then I took out the group photo we'd taken at the last meeting, and looked it over for a moment. I smiled, and set it on the desk.
Things were looking up.
