Looking for ghost at the Fresno County Central Library

This last Friday night I had the privilege to have the chance to do a ghost hunt at the Fresno County Central Library in downtown Fresno. This was one of the events that the library was putting on for the Halloween season and the investigation was lead by several members of Central California Paranormal Investigators. There were about fifty people that showed up to the library at 7:00 and after a brief overview of what to do on an investigation, the group was broken up into three smaller groups of about 17 per group. I decided to go with the group that had my friend Jen leading it as she’s sensitive to things and have always had good luck when I’ve investigated with her.

We started on the first floor and decided to go to the children’s section as Jen had felt something there. An EVP session was started as she wanted to show the group how one was done. I shot a few photos at this time as well as did some video of the rest of the first floor. At this time we ran across one of the night custodians, Jackie, who said she works alone. She has felt a presence there several times and said she even saw books flying off shelf (ala Ghostbusters).

After that I decided to wander off on my own and went near the front entrance when I felt a strange presence. As I’ve said in the past I’m not sensitive in the least, but was feeling pressure on my chest. And in the past when I would feel that, it usually meant something was near. I went and grabbed Jen and she said she felt the same thing. We did a bit of EVP there, but to my knowledge nothing was heard.

We next went to the second floor. Here we were told that one of the employees had recently passed away after working at the library for several decades. His former co-workers felt he was still around, though to be honest I don’t know how valid this was. I was told this from one of our group guides who had heard it from someone else. Still, while taking some photos I heard something being moved or knocked over in the distance. Upon investigating the noise, I felt the same heavy presence I had felt on the first floor. Now I’m not saying this could be the same thing, but still interesting.

I was able to wander off again and shot some more video. Unfortunately I was “scolded” for going off on my own. So I had to join the group again. Which is fine since we were headed to the basement and I had heard there was a bomb shelter down there in case Fresno was nuked (who knew it was a target?).

I was excited to be heading to the basement. The idea of a Cold War era bomb shelter was just too good to pass up. Plus this is where some of the archives are kept.

I’ll be honest, when we got down there I was a bit disappointed. It was well lit (mostly) and didn’t seem as spooky as I had hoped. Still I shot a bit of video, though I had to stay near the group as I didn’t feel like getting reprimanded again.

After that we headed towards where the bomb shelter was at. Now here’s where it got creepy. Long hallway barely lit and the air was very heavy. Here one of the devices that measures the electromagnetic field starting going off. Some thought it was a ghost, but I personally believe it was due to being near so much electrical equipment.

After that all three groups met back to discuss what they had seen, if anything. Most agreed that the large number of people made it hard to investigate fully, but all had fun. And that was what this investigation was really about, just having fun and showing people who never had been looking for ghosts what it’s like.

Is the Chowchilla library haunted?

Is this library haunted by a man who died in a fire here years ago?

Several years ago, in a rural town in northern Madera County called Chowchilla, the local bowling alley caught fire and the entire structure was gutted. After investigating the cause of the fire, it was determined that the start of the fire was in the kitchen and soon spread to the rest of the building. Unfortunately the cook was caught in the fire and was unable to make it out and perished in the flames.

Soon after that, the building was remodeled and became the new home of the Chowchilla branch of the Madera County Library system. Where the kitchen was is now the check out center and there have been reports of people feeling the heat of a fire. A few witnesses have even reported seeing a man standing in the area wearing an apron and carrying a spatula. One wonders if this is some sort of replay of what happened here, the event so traumatic that it left some sort of "psychic" imprint on the location that people see from time to time. Or perhaps the cook is still here, ready to work even though the kitchen that took his life is now long gone.