Chad Lewis has traveled far and wide in search of the unexplained. He's hunted vampires in Transylvania, foraged the jungles of Costa Rica for El Chupacabra, chased UFOs in New Mexico and investigated strange occurrences throughout Illinois.

He's is well versed in the story of Resurrection Mary, the grizzly discovery at Ramsey Cemetery and the Gates of Hell. Lewis is even aware of a haunted house right here in Coal City, where there would be rappings on the windows, music would play and the lights often flickered.

"How much do you really know about the history of your own house," Lewis asked during an Oct. 1 presentation at the Coal City Public Library.

A paranormal investigator, Lewis has spent the past 14 years researching the unexplained from ghosts and sea serpents to bigfoot and the skunk ape, and in all that time he's never seen a ghost. In fact, he's never seen anything paranormal, but that doesn't mean others haven't.

Take for example the National Park Service employees working at the Lincoln Home in Springfield who on more than one occasion have witnessed the late president's favorite rocking chair moving back and forth.

There's also the story of the Devil Baby that has reportedly been seen gazing out of an upstairs window at the Jane Addams Hull House in Chicago.

Lewis details the story of the Devil Baby and other strange Hull House occurrences in his book, The Illinois Road Guide to Haunted Locations.

The 270-page paperback book, co-authored by Terry Fisk, features 49 stories of haunted places from one end of the state to the other.

"You live in one hell of a strange state," Lewis told the 50-plus people who had gathered in the library's meeting room for his presentation. He later noted that while every state has its share of unexplained stories, Illinois has so many that they couldn't be covered in just one book.

"Every place has its story," said Lewis. One of the best parts of his job is traveling around the world meeting new people and hearing their stories. In the few hours that he spent in Coal City he was told about a screaming mummy at the Field Museum and questioned about his knowledge of strange happenings at one particular state university.

"You can't throw a rock in the Midwest and not hit a university where you can't dig up a ghost story," he said. Outside of a few brief mentions in the foreword of his book, there's not a haunted university story in it. But there are plenty of others.

Take the story of Al Capone who has reportedly been seen standing next to his grave in Hillside's Mount Carmel Cemetery, which is also known for the story of the Italian Bride.

There's the Ravens Grin Inn in Mount Carroll, a former speakeasy that is apparently haunted by a woman in a white dress that floats along the floor from one side to the other eventually disappearing into a vent. The ghostly woman was seen so many times she was given a name, Matilda.

During his visit to Coal City, Lewis also shared the story of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre and how, to this day, people can still hear the sounds of tommy guns firing as they pass the now empty lot at 2122 N. Clark St., in Chicago.

Lewis holds a master's degree in applied psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Stout. As a college student he got his start in paranormal investigations as he looked at why and what causes a persons belief in the paranormal.

In addition to co-authoring the book on Illinois' haunted places, Lewis and Fisk have books that look at the haunted spots in Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota and Iowa. He's also authored four Hidden Headlines books and is the host of The Unexplained television and radio programs.

"I think the presentation went well, people seemed to really like it," said librarian Karla Welch, who oversees the adult department at the library and arranged for Lewis' visit.

Two copies of The Illinois Road Guide to Haunted Locations are available for checkout at the library.