Pawtucket, Rhode Island - When Bill Lumb visited the Slater Mill National Landmark last Friday evening, he was looking for something more than a history lesson.

The Attleboro, Massachusetts resident was hoping for the sort of encounter that sends chills down one’s spine, a meeting with a ghost, a spook, a poltergeist, or something else that goes bump in the night.

“We have family up from New Jersey, and they’re really into the ghost stuff, so we brought them here,” he said.

“I’m sure there’s something in these old buildings. After all, look how far they date back.” continued below

Some two dozen people were on hand expecting the same thing. Every Friday and Saturday night until July 3 - and again in the fall - guides at the Slater Mill complex are leading Mills and Mysteries tours that mix history and the paranormal.

The mills have been standing more than 200 years, and during that time they have witnessed intrigues, accidents, deaths, floods, and disasters. Which means, say the guides, there’s a good chance visitors will run into something scary.

“I developed the program as entertainment,” says Carl Johnson, who leads the tours with his brother Keith. “But lo and behold, the first time out we had a paranormal experience.”

Most of those who lined up for Friday’s tour were already true believers. Some carried recording equipment to capture what spook hunters call “electronic voice phenomenon” which are thought to be verbal outbursts by spirits that can only be heard when caught on tape or digital audio files.

At least one brought a gauss meter, an electrician’s tool that measures electro-magnetic fields. Paranormal investigators believe that a high reading could indicate ghosts are nearby.

“I’ve always wanted to explore the paranormal, but at the same time it makes me anxious,” said Renee Baskerville of Providence, Rhode Island. “I think I’m ready to try it.”

“I don’t scare easily,” added Lisa Frank of East Providence. “I want to see if this will do it.”

Not too long ago, most folks would go out of their way to avoid haunted places, but those days are long gone. According to Keith Johnson, over the past decade ghost hunting has exploded as a hobby.

“The Internet has a lot to do with it,” he said. “People can capture their encounters with electronic devices, be they cameras or audio recordings, and upload them for others to share. And there are plenty of sites where people can get in touch with each other.”

The Johnson brothers are a case in point. They work as full-time Slater Mill guides, but off the clock they’re paranormal investigators and demonologists. They’re the organizers of the New England Anomalies Research group. A few years ago they were both members of the Atlantic Paranormal Society, the organization featured on the Sci-Fi Channel reality show Ghost Hunters, but gave that up because of travel demands.

New England, of course, is the perfect hunting ground for those who want a run-in with something ectoplasmic and creepy. As the site of the first English colonies in America, the region is home to many of the country’s oldest structures.

Slater Mill, built in 1793, is a perfect example. It is the first water-powered factory built in this country, and the birthplace of New England’s textile industry. Also on the National Landmark grounds: The Wilkinson Mill, which produced bobbins and other cotton-spinning tools, and the rustic Slyvanus Brown House, the second oldest house in Pawtucket.

Throughout the tour, the rushing Blackstone River provides a constant roar. It was once the power source for many mills, and according to the Johnsons, a place of hauntings as well.

Standing on the shore, Carl Johnson told about the flood of 1955, when Hurricane Diane turned the Blackstone into a raging torrent.

Up river in Woonsocket, the river ripped through a cemetery, unearthing coffins and sending them downstream to Pawtucket and other locales.

“There’s a story about a Cumberland woman who told her husband, ‘If you ever remarry after I die, I’ll be back to haunt you,’” Carl Johnson said. “He did remarry, and sure enough, her coffin washed up on their lawn.”

In 1925 the pleasure boat Mackinac was plying the waters of Narragansett Bay when the boiler blew, claiming 55 lives. Many of the injured and dying were transported to a make-shift hospital near Slater Mill, and Johnson believes their spirits still wander the site today.

“On more than one occasion, an employee here has seen the spectral images of a man, a woman, and a child, all dressed in clothing from the 1920s. And some people have seen a little girl on the riverbank. When they yell for her to be careful, she disappears,” explains guide Carl L. Johnson.

Johnson also reported hauntings at the Sylvanus Brown House, which was moved to the National Landmark site to make way for Interstate 95. He told how the tiny structure was often a cramped dwelling in centuries past. (At one point, four adults and 18 children lived there.) And he noted that in earlier times, most people were born at home, and died their as well.

“Last year, at the end of our last tour of the season, a woman said to me, I don’t want to alarm you, but I saw a little girl looking out the upstairs window. In March of these years, I was taking a group from Long Island through the house, and we clearly heard a young girl giggling.” continued below

Ghost hunters consider the Wilkinson Mill the most-haunted building on the site. The stone walls are three feet thick, to withstand the tremors of the 10-ton waterwheel. Those stones contain traces of quartz and other minerals, which can create electro-magnetic fields, something ghosts apparently love. The water splashed about by the wheel does the same.

Carl Johnson turned on the wheel, filling the air with loud clanking and grinding noises. “Try to be hyper-aware of any change in your sensations,” he told the crowd. “We’re going to try to cross over to the other side. We’re speaking to whoever worked in this mill. Were you ever hurt in this mill? Does it bother you that we’re here?”

No voice was heard, but a minute later some of the visitors experienced unexplained hot spots in the building. “I’m starting to sweat,” one woman said.

In the Slater Mill, Carl Johnson told how one evening museum officials couldn’t get the alarm system to turn on. They called the security company, and were told it wouldn’t activate because the system’s sensors detected a group of people in an upper floor. Of course, no one was there.

“When I’m in here I sometimes get the feeling I’m being watched,” Keith Johnson said. “People commonly report they feel they’ve been touched or pushed. And anomalies have shown up on photographs.”

To back their claims, the Johnsons played a tape made in the mill several weeks ago. After several minutes of creaking sounds, a visitor is heard to say “flash,” the warning used by paranormal investigators when they snap a photo in a darkened room. A deep, husky voice then shouts “NO!”

The visitors listened spellbound. When Keith Johnson turned off the tape, there was a minute of silence - and then a loud pop.

“I heard something!” someone shouted.

“Over there!” a child yelled.

With the tour at a end, some visitors were quick to share their sensations with others.

“In the Stone Mill I had some good hits on this device,” said Christopher Purro of Warwick, Rhode Island flashing his gauss meter. “I got some readings in the red.”

“I started feeling cold and hot spots in the Slater Mill,” added Dina Palazini of Woonsocket, “And when I was standing near the waterwheel, I could feel some force pushing me back and forth.”

For more on the history of the old mills visit the Slater Mill Website.