About
Bill
Our Story
The Empty Casket began in the fall of 2020, when Bill and Tanya traveled to Gettysburg with a simple goal: to explore the paranormal through careful investigation and firsthand experience. What started as a small paranormal research group quickly grew into a deeper pursuit of understanding the unexplained.
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With a background as an electrical engineer, Bill began designing and building custom investigative equipment, allowing Empty Casket to approach the paranormal through data collection, experimentation, and technical innovation. By the summer of 2021, this work expanded into the creation and sale of ghost-hunting equipment, and later that year Empty Casket began to work with Get Haunted, offering public ghost hunts and paranormal education.
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Over time, the focus of Empty Casket evolved. Rather than pursuing paranormal evidence alone, Bill and Tanya became increasingly drawn to the personal, experiential, and spiritual dimensions of the unknown. This shift led, in 2023, to the creation of The Empty Casket Talking Board Museum—a traveling museum who's mission was not only to showcase their collection of boards, but to educate the public on their true history, dispelling fears rooted in Hollywood portrayals and the lingering effects of the Satanic Panic.
Over time, it became clear that talking boards were only one part of a much larger story.
Rooted in the Spiritualist movement of the 19th and early 20th centuries, talking boards exist alongside a rich tradition of mediumship, séance practices, and belief systems that sought to bridge the worlds of the living and the dead. As Bill and Tanya’s research and interests deepened, so too did the scope of the museum.
In the fall of 2025, the museum was reimagined and reborn as The Empty Casket Museum of Mystics and Mediums. Today, the museum is dedicated to preserving and exploring the history of Spiritualism—its people, its practices, and its artifacts. From spirit trumpets and automatic writing to séance traditions and, of course, talking boards. Our exhibits invite visitors to step into a time when the veil felt thin and curiosity about the unseen shaped a cultural movement.
What to Expect from the Museum
Tanya
A visit to The Empty Casket Museum of Mystics and Mediums is a journey into the heart of the Spiritualist era—a time when curiosity, belief, science, and spectacle intertwined.
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Within our galleries, you’ll encounter carefully curated artifacts of mediumship and spirit communication, including talking boards, spirit trumpets, automatic writing tools, séance ephemera, and rare historical objects. Each display is presented with historical context, exploring how these items were used, what people believed, and why they mattered.
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The museum balances atmosphere with education. Candlelit parlors and Victorian-inspired settings set the tone, while interpretive panels and guided narratives offer thoughtful insight into the people and movements that shaped Spiritualism. Visitors are encouraged to reflect, question, and engage—whether you arrive as a skeptic, a believer, or simply curious.
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Expect stories of celebrated mediums and forgotten figures, examinations of genuine belief alongside deliberate illusion, and an honest look at how Spiritualism influenced religion, entertainment, and popular culture. While the environment is immersive, the focus remains on history, cultural understanding, and respectful exploration.
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This is not a haunted house, nor a place designed to frighten. Rather, it is a space to slow down, look closely, and consider humanity’s enduring desire to communicate with the unknown.
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Step inside, take your time, and allow the past to speak.
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The Spirits have been Expecting you!!
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