Kosciusko County Historical Society Director Sally Hogan shows off a compilation of stories exploring the darker side of local history, one of many books available at the Old Jail Museum.

WARSAW — As Halloween looms, things start to get spooky. Haunted houses open, scary movies proliferate on television, jack-o’-lanterns and scarecrows appear in yards.

But for some, this isn’t enough. A growing number of Americans are seeking out what they believe to be the real thing.

Research indicates almost half of Americans believe in ghosts, and, according to a 2013 Pew study, 18 percent believe they’ve had paranormal experiences, contact with beings thought deceased. Among younger Americans, the numbers go up. Many venues are cashing in on their haunted histories by offering ghost hunters the opportunity to set up their arrays of electromagnetic detection devices and infrared cameras for the night.

“It’s amazing. This has become an industry,” exclaimed Evelyn Rake of Warsaw Indiana Paranormal Research Studies. In July 2014, Kosciusko County Historical Society invited WIPRS to investigate the possibility of paranormal activity in the old jail, where, as is often the case in jails, a number of tragedies have transpired over the years: In 1880, the murder-suicide of Annie Chaplin and Guin Smith; in 1958, Porchman Bays hanged himself in his cell and, in 1966, Raymond Jarvis did the same. In 1889, a black teenager named Pete Willis, in jail for allegedly assaulting a young white girl, was dragged from the jail by a mob and lynched.

“We’re attempting to make contact with those individuals,” stated Rake.

Whatever one’s beliefs, there is an undeniable connection between ghost stories and history, and investigations by WIPRS more closely resemble a sort of press conference with the dead.

Instead of answering with words, though, WIPRS believes flashlights turning on and off, foot falls from the room above, and changing readings on devices detecting electromagnetic activity are the ghosts preferred mode of communication. Words are usually only detected later after close analysis and rarely extending beyond one or two. “We spend a lot of time conversing with inanimate objects,” admitted Rake, laughing.

Warsaw’s history suggests many other haunted locales. For instance, WIPRS and other groups, like Greg Steffe’s Darkstar Paranormal, have investigated the home wherein the infamous “necktie murder” took place. In October 1939, Florence Potter was strangled and bludgeoned to death by a tramp, Frank Potts, who was later captured thanks to fingerprint records. “We heard the most awful moan,” reported Marianne Prater, Rake’s sister. A door also slammed shut and shook as though someone were trying to escape, according to Prater.

Rumors of ghosts in the Warsaw Community Public Library have circulated for years, and a tunnel was unearthed there in 1916. In the tunnel were found leg irons and shackles some believe to be associated with the underground railroad. Steffe has heard stories of children’s voices, darting shadows and lights turning on and off. However, unlike the historical society, the library is off-limits to ghost hunters.

The list goes on. Many of the locations can be found in “Kosciusko County Murders,” compiled by historical society director Sally Coplen Hogan, Ronald Sharp and Grace College students.

Meanwhile, interest in WIPRS’ classes at the old jail, held Friday and Saturday nights, has boomed, with all proceeds going to the historical society. Rake concluded, “It’s an interesting choice of hobby we have here.”

Evelyn Rake of WIPRS as seen through her surveillance equipment, including full spectrum, infrared cameras. Beside her is a device that detects disturbances in the electromagnetic field as well as shadows. A lucrative industry has grown around this controversial equipment. Rake spends hours poring over audio and video, searching for the elusive “capture.” On this particular night, flashlights turned off and on by themselves and the distinct smell of something rotten wafted through the room, witnessed by the author who remains skeptical but fascinated.