WARSAW — Have you ever heard the sound of footsteps, only to look in the area where the noise came from and find nobody there? Have you watched as items unexplainably move, rolling off of tables and falling to the floor? These are just some of the instances people have experienced while visiting the Old Jail Museum in Warsaw.

These are also experiences that Evelyn Rake, Warsaw Indiana Paranormal Research Studies, hopes occur during the World’s Largest Ghost Hunt. From 9 p.m. Sept. 29 to 2 a.m. Sept. 30, the WIPRS team will work with two special guest investigators and a medium to interact with spirits.

This weekend’s ghost hunt is a live-streamed event only and will be available for viewing on the WIPRS website, the WIPRS Facebook page and the Old Kosciusko County Jail Facebook page. Over 150 historical sites across the world will participate in the ghost hunt.

“The main focus of the World’s Largest Ghost Hunt is to promote historic sites,” said Rake. “And this event really helps bring awareness to the Kosciusko County Historical Society.”

From 10 to 11 p.m. EST Sept. 29, investigators participating in the live-streamed event will ask specific questions of spirits and try to identify who it is they’re communicating with. Starting at 11 p.m., the investigators will use “trigger items” such as cigarettes and playing cards, to see if spirits interact with them.

“We’re hoping we get common responses to our questions all around during the event, just to see if all locations get similar answers,” said Rake.

Rake and her sister, Marianne Prater, began paranormal research about 14 years ago, exploring abandoned prisons, houses and inns. The WIPRS duo even hosts investigations of the Old Kosciusko County Jail every single weekend since May of this year and is currently booked until February 2019. Rake said that with every tour, there’s never been a group who left the jail disappointed.

“People usually hear footsteps,” said Rake. “We’ve also heard someone whistling before.”

Rake elaborated on Annie Chaplin, a spirit with one of the more popular and tragic tales of the Old Jail.

In 1880, Chaplin’s father was the director of the First National Bank in Warsaw. The 20-year-old was believed to be romantically involved with a married man, Guin Smith, from South Bend. Chaplin and Smith were both arrested after she forged her father’s name onto a check. Her father refused to bail her out of jail, while Smith bonded out.

Chaplin remained incarcerated. While going to the outhouse at the jail, Chaplin was fatally shot twice by Smith. Smith committed suicide.

Four suicides and a lynching also occurred at the Old Kosciusko County Jail. But out of all of the spirits, Rake hopes Annie comes to communicate during the Ghost Hunt.

“Hauntings are history that’s ready to be told,” said Rake.

For more information on paranormal tours and investigations at the Old Jail, contact the WIPRS team at [email protected].