There are shapeshifters who lurk near Shawnee, Okla., and they’ve been seen for over a century.            

There is also a ghostly woman in the town who wears a white dress and is often found running in terror through a field. Moments after she’s spotted, she suddenly vanishes.     

While these images might sound like something one would view in an episode of a popular Netflix series, they are but a few of the real-life paranormal events that have happened and are still happening in Shawnee, according to a book co-authored by OCCC English Professor Jeff Provine.

The 144-page “Haunted Shawnee, Oklahoma,” just released in time for Halloween, is a mixture of Oklahoma history, folklore and spooky stories, as well as accounts of actual paranormal investigations in a town only 38 miles from OCCC.

Provine, who wrote the book in tandem with a paranormal investigator Tanya McCoy, has been diving into the folklore and hauntings known to many in the town.

“People haven’t really hit this part of this country collecting ghost stories so much. We’re just the folks to getting it,” he said.

The book is his latest installment in the Haunted Oklahoma series, following the “Haunted Norman, Oklahoma” and “Haunted Guthrie, Oklahoma” guides.

In years without COVID restrictions, he also leads ghost tours in Norman and downtown Oklahoma City.

McCoy, who’s written collections “Haunted El Reno” and “Haunted Canadian County,” is founder of Oklahoma Paranormal Association and a board member of the Mustang Oklahoma Historical Society. 

The duo will discuss the newly-released book and their experiences Oct. 26 at a Del City Metropolitan Library event via Zoom. The interactive session is 7-8 p.m.

Sign up for the event at https://www.metrolibrary.org/events/paranormal-fest-haunted-shawnee-haunted-oklahoma-series