5 Haunted Libraries to Visit This Spooky Season

Libraries are supposed to be the quietest places in town. No talking, no running, no loud noises. So when a book flies off a shelf or a bell rings on its own, you notice.

Maybe the spookiness of libraries shouldn’t be a surprise. By 1920, the US already had more than 3,500 public libraries, and many of those buildings have been welcoming visitors ever since. After a century of that, can you blame a few readers for never checking out? Here are five libraries where the staff say the spirits are still around.

1. Sweetwater County Library, Green River, WY

The staff at the Sweetwater County Library have learned to live with their ghosts. Librarian Tiffany Kennah says books get tossed off the shelves, and a bell rings with no one near it. The library stands on what used to be Green River’s cemetery, and remains kept turning up as late as the 1990s.

Retired librarian Micki Gilmore once felt a presence behind her at her desk and politely asked it to come back later. She says it eventually stepped away, and that she has never felt afraid. Elizabeth Moriarty, the library’s first librarian, is one of the spirits mentioned most often.

Visitors can read a book of logged encounters at the library or join a guided Ghost Walk run by the Sweetwater County Library Foundation’s Ghost Walk Crew. The tours use paranormal gear like a REM pod, and the proceeds buy books for library programs.

2. Andrew Bayne Memorial Library, Bellevue, PA

This Victorian mansion-turned-library, now the Andrew Bayne Memorial Library, belonged to Amanda Bayne Balph, who left it to the borough in 1912 with a few conditions, including that the elm trees on the property never be removed. Dutch elm disease took them anyway, and the last one came down in 1998. Staff say her ghost got more active around then.

Amanda is described as friendly and mischievous. She likes to turn on lights and hide keys, and she has a habit of messing with the computers. Neighbors report seeing a woman at her old bedroom window.

Candlelit after-hours tours have sold out in past Octobers, so check the library’s events page to see if they’re returning this year.

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3. Brooklyn Public Library, Central Library, Brooklyn, NY

Legend has it that a young girl named Agatha Ann Cunningham still roams Brooklyn Public Library’s Central Library. Staff and patrons say they hear her soft laughter drifting up from the basement stacks, and the library has long treated her as its resident ghost.

She has plenty of company in October. Branches host Halloween movie screenings, spooky science experiments, and face painting. Grab-and-go kits send families home with foam ghosts and other crafts, and teens can make scary bath bombs.

4. Linn-Henley Research Library, Birmingham, AL

Visitors to the Linn-Henley Research Library report strange sounds and doors that open on their own. Some catch a whiff of cigarette smoke, which is blamed on Fant Thornley, a former director of the Birmingham Public Library.

You can do your own investigating, because the Birmingham Public Library lends out ghost hunting kits at its Central Library and Avondale Regional Branch. Each kit includes an EMF reader, an EVP recorder, a spirit box, and dowsing rods, plus a guidebook with safety tips. They’re free with your library card.

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5. Willard Public Library, Evansville, IN

The Grey Lady has been seen by staff at the Willard Public Library, a patron in the elevator, a local weathercaster, and even police who responded to an alarm and spotted two ghosts in an upstairs window. Her calling cards include the smell of perfume, sudden cold, moved furniture, and water turning on and off. Her last reported sighting was in 2010 in the basement hallway.

Hundreds of people hunt for her every October on the library’s annual ghost tours, and the first one in the late 1990s drew about eight hundred guests. If you can’t make the trip, you can watch the library’s Ghost Cams from home. The library is upfront that you’ll probably see nothing but its resident hamster, Willie.

Keep the Lights On

Ghost stories need a building to live in, and that building needs funding. Libraries cannot campaign for their own ballot measures, so EveryLibrary helps local supporters make the case to voters. We hope these buildings stay open for another century of readers, and for whoever is already in the stacks.

Visit www.everylibrary.org to learn more about our work on behalf of libraries. 

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