ASBURY PARK — Since 2008, in a building on Cookman Avenue, Paranormal Books & Curiosities has offered up information on everything from "apparitions to zombies," according to owner and curator Kathy Kelly.

Also available, she said, are things like tarot cards, or materials relating to ghost-hunting equipment.

On the second floor of the building, which Kelly said many believe to be haunted itself, is the Paranormal Museum, where a couple hundred artifacts may be on display at any time.

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Some items may be considered historically paranormal, with others having been claimed to have exhibited paranormal activity.

Kelly said the inventory viewable to visitors doesn't particularly change as Halloween approaches, saying that when it comes to this genre, if people are interested in it, they'll seek it out every month of the year.

"We want to make sure that everybody has the same opportunity and has the same kind of likelihood of having a paranormal experience, and we want to make sure that they're having a good experience," she said.

Only six people at a time are allowed to tour the Paranormal Museum, and for a private "Inner Sanctum" tour, no one is occupying the bookstore either.

That puts the building, the so-called "Paranormal Tower" itself, in the starring role.

And the opportunity to offer such an intimate walk-through was appreciated even more during earlier stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kelly said.

"You can pretty much know that whatever you're hearing or seeing or experiencing, it's not coming from the upstairs neighbor, or it's not coming from people running around downstairs," she said.

As proof of the Paranormal Museum's year-round appeal, Kelly said tours and events are already booked through January 2022.

Patrick Lavery is New Jersey 101.5's afternoon news anchor. Follow him on Twitter @plavery1015 or email patrick.lavery@townsquaremedia.com.

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