Haunted Homewood: Library hosting ghost tours before Halloween

DVDs flying off shelves, electrical cords dancing in the air, laughter when no one is around — these might sound like horror movie tropes, but in fact, they are phenomena that can be found at Homewood Public Library.

The library is inviting the community to a nighttime investigation of its paranormal activity. Authors and paranormal investigators Kim Johnston and Shane Busby of S.C.A.R.E. — Spirit Communications and Research — will be at the library Oct. 28 and 29, along with their specialized equipment. 

Guests will learn more about the library’s ghosts as well as paranormal investigation.

Several library employees have reported experiencing paranormal activity, which they said escalated during renovations at the library in the late ’90s. One day during construction, the foreman approached library director Deborah Fout about his equipment not working properly.

“The very first day, he [the foreman] came into my office and said, ‘What did y’all do, build this on an Indian burial ground?’” Fout said.

His comments took her aback, she said, when he said his instruments were “going crazy.”

Workers also saw tools roll across a flat floor, beams float above the ground and other odd stories, Fout said.

The library has hosted ghost tours before, and adult services librarian Leslie West said on one of those tours, she was possibly being followed by a spirit. She was on her phone, checking Facebook, and one of the guides approached her following the ghost tour.

“[They said], ‘We have a picture … there was somebody behind you the whole time,’” West said. 

The tours are from 7 to 10 p.m. each night,and are for individuals ages 12 and up. The cost is $35 per person. Guests are encouraged to bring voice recorders, cameras and flashlights. For more information, go to homewoodpubliclibrary.org or scareofal.org.