It's the season for spooks and the Mattapoisett Library has one, at least according to paranormal investigators S.P.I.R.I.T.S. of New England.

Members of the group conducted an investigation with librarian Elizabeth Sherry several weeks ago and revealed some of their findings on Tuesday night.

The group, whose name stands for Supernatural Paranormal Investigations Research Initiative Truth Society, conducts investigations in homes, buildings, and even ships in New England, using infrared cameras, recording devices and applications to detect supernatural activity.

The group has recently conducted investigations at several libraries of late, some with no activity and others, such as the Mattapoisett Library.

“I did find stuff here,” said S.P.I.R.I.T.S. investigator Jack Kenna. “I do think the evidence shows there is some kind of spirit.”

Although he said the team has not been able to evaluate the hours of recordings taken during the nighttime investigation, he did have some EVPs to share. EVPs, electronic voice phenomenon, are recorded intelligible speech. Sometimes it can be heard in real time and other times it can only be heard through high frequency recorders, explained Kenna.

A group gathered at the library on Tuesday night got to hear some of the voices and discern for themselves if they were otherworldly voices.

Kenna said when the investigators set out their equipment they explain the purpose to any spirits who may be there so as to get a better response.

“They could be from the 1800s,” he said. “We explain how things work to them. They don’t know otherwise.”

The spirit or spirits at the Mattapoisett Library must have gotten the message. Kenna played one audio clip from the attic where he asked, “Is there anybody here?” When the recording was slowed down, it sounded a lot like “a friend” to Kenna and members of the audience.

Kenna also played a garbled clip and let the audience guess what it might be. Several people thought it sounded like someone saying “something level.”

Whatever it was, Kenna said it was a voice.

“You can hear tone to it,” he said.

Part of the evaluation process is letting the whole S.P.I.R.I.T.S. team listen to the evidence.

“We’re a bunch of skeptics,” said co-founder Ellen MacNeil.

Both she and Kenna stressed that the team doesn’t go looking for ghosts, but goes the extra mile to remove any possible question before pronouncing that there is paranormal activity.

When voices are detected or words read on the “spirit box”, it doesn’t mean the team understands what is being communicated.

“With a spirit you never know exactly what they mean until you start getting into the history,” said Kenna.

At the Mattapoisett Library, he asked if the spirit had a name and heard what sounded like the name Calvin or Alan. Kenna said he would need to do more digging into the history of the library and the area to see if he could come up with a theory. He also invited the audience to do some research of their own.

Beyond voices, S.P.I.R.I.T.S. also looks at video and has seen what appear to be moving shadows, orbs of light and objects moving without anyone touching them. Some members say they feel chills when a spirit is in the room and one person sometimes gets a headache, while MacNeil doesn’t have any side effects.

All in all, Kenna said most spirits are harmless, though he says a prayer before leaving an investigation to clear himself of any hangers on. And there will always be questions that remain, no matter how much evidence the team gathers.

“We don’t know why they do what they do,” he said. “I think they’re just afraid to go.”