By Amy Batista, Special Writer
ALLENTOWN — Long before actors Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd ran screaming from the New York Public Library’s reading room in the 1984 movie, “Ghostbusters,” old haunted libraries have been the stuff of paranormal lore.
So it was fitting the borough’s own historic library — the former First Baptist Church and Parsonage built in 1879 — was the place for locals to learn a hands-on lesson in Ghost Hunting 101 on a recent Friday night.
The investigators from New Jersey Researchers of Paranormal Evidence weren’t wearing the unlicensed nuclear accelerator proton packs of their Hollywood counterparts, but their high-tech ghost-hunting equipment still managed to impress the 100 people at the Oct. 26 library fundraiser.
NJROPE founder Frank Lazzaro told the group his paranormal team had captured 20 electronic voice phenomenon, known as EVPs, during its July 4 investigation of the library. He said the team detected the ghostly presence of a man, a woman and a little girl inside the 19th-century library on what was, literally, a dark and stormy summer evening that capped a humid 103-degree day.
”It was a very active night,” Mr. Lazzaro said. “We came in here kind of blind, and we actually found there was activity in here, and I think the library staff was somewhat surprised.”
Nancy Stein, the head librarian, said there had been a few strange occurrences inside the library over the years that have given library staff pause, but not cause for concern. Patrons also have, sometimes, reported feeling a “presence” in the library.
”We’ve had an experience where the water would turn on in the bathroom in the men’s room — the hot water,” Ms. Stein said. “You would always explain it away.”
NJROPE displayed its July 4 ghost-hunt findings at four tables.
Investigator Michael Howell manned the EVP station and played back recordings made during the July 4 ghost hunt. At one point in the tape, the investigators are heard discussing whether cold spots they feel in a room are caused by a draft from the air conditioning or “breaths” from spirits atop their heads.
”Could you do that in here please?” a female investigator asks on the tape.
”Yes, miss,” replies a different female voice, which the NJROPE team identified as one of the library’s spirits.
At another table, participants had the chance to examine another tool of the ghost-hunter’s trade: EMF meters, which measure fluctuations in electromagnetic fields. Appliances, computers and power lines emit steady high readings, but low-level electromagnetic fields that move and cannot be traced to a natural source are believed to be evidence of ghosts.
”We are a physical state,” Mr. Lazzaro said. “We are energy. When we die, we just switch into a spiritual state, but we still exist as energy.”
Mr. Lazzaro said he and his investigators use the EMF meter readings to ask the spirits questions about their former lives.
”If the spirit wants to communicate with you, they can touch this and answer your questions in a yes/no fashion,” Mr. Lazzaro said.
For example, an investigator can determine a spirit is a man if the meter blinks when the investigator asks the spirit if it is male, but doesn’t blink when asked if it is female.
NJ ROPE also displayed photos of the apparitions whose images it captured on its various cases so the library’s amateur ghost hunters could decide whether to believe in the paranormal.
Mr. Lazzaro told his audience spirits can exist anywhere.
”They (spirits) can be attached to anything and everybody,” Mr. Lazzaro said. “They can be attached to property, they can be attached to something in the house, they can be attached to a person, so pretty much wherever there is a reason for them to be there, they can be there.”
Mr. Lazzaro said when he dies, he is going to come back and talk to his wife so he can make sure the world knows the spirit world truly exists.
”I told my wife when I die to make sure she has a voice recorder because I am going to talk to her,” Mr. Lazzaro said. “I’m gonna prove to the world we exist.”
”Have you ever been injured by spirits?” asked an audience member.
”Yes, I have,” Mr. Lazarro said, referring to investigations he’s conducted elsewhere. “I’ve woke up with scratches. I’ve been held down in my bed. I’ve been pulled and dragged about 3 feet.”
Ms. Stein said she’s decided if there are ghosts in the Allentown library, they don’t mean her or any of the patrons any harm.
”After the investigation, I did feel a little apprehensive the first time I came in by myself, but there is such a good feel to this library, and I have been here for 23 years,” Ms. Stein said. “I have never had a negative experience so I think if there is something here, we co-habitat peacefully.”
The identities of the man, woman and child whose spirits purportedly roam the library remain a mystery, Ms. Stein said Monday.
The library building used to be a 19th-century church where countless weddings, funerals and baptisms occurred for more than 100 years so if there are indeed friendly spirits in the library, “they could be just about anybody,” she said.
—Managing Editor Joanne Degnan contributed to this story.

