Followers of the paranormal will be the first members of the public to view the inside of a building on the Norwichtown Green that was originally an 18th century silversmith shop. Members of the Arrowhead and Crossing the Veil Paranormal Teams will be conducting a hands-on investigation of the historic Joseph Carpenter Silversmith Shop on East Town Street May 21 and 22. Three 90-minute sessions will be held each evening, with all proceeds going to the Society of the Founders of Norwich, which owns the building.

The paranormal teams have led similar investigations of the Leffingwell House Museum on Town Street, which the society also owns.

The challenge of doing an investigation in a historic building that hasn’t seen public activity is intriguing, according to Chad Saunders, team director for Arrowhead.

“Whatever’s there may not know how to react to people, so it’s going to be quite exciting,” he said.

Saunders says participants at each session will be trained to use monitoring equipment supplied by the paranormal teams to conduct their own investigations of the five-room house, including the attic, and dirt floor basement. Thermal cameras, voice recorders, a hand-held flare camera, temperature gauges, and Rem-Pods, which measure electrical discharges, will be among the devices used.

A four-camera digital video recording system will be set up to record any unusual occurrences. Arrowhead officials will be on hand to help.

Both Saunders and Lead Investigator Dave Phillips have conducted their own investigations in the former silversmith shop, and have gotten some “hits” near the shop’s former kiln and in the attic, where an electromagnetic field detector discovered some activity.

Says Phillips: “In a building like this, which doesn’t have much electricity going through it, we shouldn’t be getting hits. But there are indications there is something there.”

The paranormal team has led several investigations in the Leffingwell Museum over the past few years, and has found a lot of activity there. “We have confirmed four spirits,” said Phillips. “One of them is Hannah Tracy Huntington, who was the last child to grow up in the colonial-era building, and died there.”

Another has been identified as Hannah’s nanny, who Phillips says was identified through a voice recording. Meanwhile, there’s someone in the basement who doesn’t want to leave there, and then there’s an old man residing upstairs who doesn’t like women. Phillips says a couple of years ago, while testing out some equipment, some girls were there, taunting the spirit, and an electromagnetic-measuring device on a dresser suddenly blew off, and crashed to the floor.

“I had a video camera rolling, but the incident happened off-camera,” he added.

The paranormal group will hold another investigation of the Leffingwell Museum around Halloween.

The investigations of the former silversmith shop will also feature tarot card readings and medium conferences with the Crossing the Veil Paranormal team of Snow Bruno and her daughter Taylor.

The circa 1772 silversmith shop has never been opened to the public for tours, or any other similar event. The Society bought the small red building in 1956, and has been renting it out as office space for an architect and lawyer until last year, according to society board member and treasurer Cam Farlow.

The group has been working with the Norwich Historical Society to convert the building into a small museum to honor Joseph Carpenter and the other tradesmen who worked and lived on the Green. In the process, Farlow says the original forge used by Carpenter was discovered in a closeted area, and work has been done to expose it for public viewing. Farlow says the forge is now connected to a chimney, but it was originally vented out the side of the building. It’s known as a medieval forge, similar to what was used around the Middle Ages.

A couple of silversmiths contacted by Farlow confirm the forge was used to melt and work on silver, which was Carpenter’s trade.

Farlow says the silversmith shop is one of the few remaining wood-framed tradesmen’s shops in New England.

“They weren’t built very well back then,” he said. “They were literally thrown together, built down and dirty, using mostly leftover lumber. It was just a shop and living space for Carpenter. The thinking was the shop could easily move if it had to, or if it burned down, it wouldn’t be a major loss.”

The society has done some recent renovations, including the installation of an upgraded bathroom, a new roof, and some work on the foundation. A bulkhead to access the basement has also been installed. More work on the building’s foundation, as well as some painting, will be done once another round of grants comes through. Farlow says artifacts found buried in the back of the building have been restored, and are on display inside.

“When you walk into the carpenter’s shop, you literally are walking into a building that looks pretty much the way it did in 1772,” he said. “A couple of walls were added through the years, as well as, of course, plumbing and electricity.”

The museum will be open every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. through the summer, starting on Connecticut Open House Day June 12. There will be no admission charge, but donations will be welcome.

But the paranormal tours come first. They will be 90- minute sessions each night at 6, 8 and 10 p.m. Tickets are $30 per adult, $25 for ages 12-17. No one under 12 will be admitted.

E-mail redlakenation24@gmail.com to make reservations. Specify your name, the number in your group, and preferred time. Reservations for tarot card readings, at $30 and $25 each, can be made at Taytakeover@gmail.com.

Kevin Gorden lives in Norwich.