Stay the night, ghost-hunt at the Putnam

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By Kay Luna | Thursday, August 28, 2008 7:29 PM CDT | () comments

The Putnam (FILE PHOTO) Buy this Photo

Ghost hunters stayed overnight there, searching for paranormal activity.

Now you can, too.

Up to 100 people — preferably adults — will be allowed to roam through the darkened exhibit halls and spend the night in sleeping bags inside the Putnam Museum from 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 5, until 6 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 6.

This is “unknown territory” for the Davenport museum, which is using the event as a unique way to unveil its new “Science of Ghost Hunting” exhibit, education director Donna Murray said Thursday.

“We’ve had an overnight for Girl Scouts before, but this is very different,” she added.

The idea is to allow visitors to spend the night and “do their own research” on whether they think the museum might be haunted, just like a group of paranormal researchers with the Iowa Paranormal Advanced Research Team, or IPART, recently did at the Putnam, she said.

That group does not believe the museum is haunted, but it did hear some interesting things on audio recordings made as part of their overnight research work at the facility Aug. 15.

Some of the ghost hunters’ findings will be discussed during the Putnam event, Kent Amerine of IPART said.

From the 7:30 start until about 10 p.m. that night, participants can talk to IPART members — some of whom participated in the Putnam’s paranormal research — about ghost hunting.

“What we do and why we do it,” Amerine explained.

Visitors also will be able to learn about the ghost-hunting equipment used by IPART, seeing it up-close and hearing about how it is used. Amerine said he hopes to set up some of the team’s cameras in exhibit rooms and project images live on a screen, showing how researchers watch places by camera while they observe in person elsewhere.

Meanwhile, groups will be given tours of the new ghost-hunting exhibit, led by IPART-member tour guides. They will talk about their own ghost-hunting adventures, he said.

Later in the night and early morning hours, the museum staff will offer “flashlight hikes,” giving tours of the darkened museum, Murray said.

There also will be an open mike session at which people can “share a scare,” telling others about some of their own experiences, she said.

Then, at midnight, a silent tour of the exhibits will be offered “for those who really want to go down and sit where the mummy is” or visit other areas in quiet, she added.

The lecture hall will be designated as a campout spot, but people can stay all night in other open areas of the museum if they like, she said.

Those who last until 6 a.m. will receive a certificate, but the event is limited to 100 people for security reasons.

Christina Kastell, the curator of the new exhibit, said she wanted to create a place for people to explore the “pop culture phenomenon” of ghost hunting. She said it has become more popular in recent years, as underscored by several hit television shows that focus on the issue.

“We’re hoping it will bring in a different group of people than we’ve had before,” she said of the exhibit, and the overnight event’s debut. “I think it’s going to be a very exciting evening.”

Kay Luna can be contacted at (563) 383-2323 or kluna@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.