“I Did Not See Ghosts, But Beautiful Buildings”: Haunted Libraries Across the US
It seems that every year—maybe even more than that—the r/libraries subreddit lights up with people talking about ghost stories related to libraries. Some people love these threads and enjoy the lore surrounding supposedly haunted libraries. Others cringe, suggesting that libraries shouldn’t perpetuate the myths since it’s not truth.
Do we really know that though? Because even if we have no factual proof of ghosts or hauntings, there’s something to be said about the fun, the magic, and the meaning that people attach to these stories. We could and do make the same arguments about organized religion, after all (not to mention that book lovers, including library workers, love that quote about how dinosaurs didn’t read and that’s why they went extinct when we do not have any actual proof that they did NOT read—yes, I am going there). Ghost stories are part of folklore and legend that have helped shape human storytelling for eons.
The reason ghost stories and libraries co-mingle so frequently is because of the history of libraries and of the legends tied to ghosts. So many libraries are in older buildings, with hundreds across the nation dating back to the Carnegie Era. This means that their walls contain not only the stories on shelves, but stories about the people who worked, visited, and may have met an untimely demise in or near those facilities.
In honor of Halloween, let’s travel to a hand full of haunted libraries across the United States. These libraries lean into their spirited histories, and several provide an array of opportunities to learn more about their ghostly inhabitants. As a bonus, I’ve got a story of a haunted book to share, too!
Hoyt Library in Saginaw, Michigan
The quote in the title of this piece comes from a review of this particular library. It tends to draw visitors in and beyond the area curious about its haunted history, which is not only well-documented by the library but was the focus of the documentary A Haunting at the Hoyt Library. The paranormal investigators who surveyed the library for that film found plenty of evidence confirming the presence of otherworldly spirits.
Hoyt Library dates back to the 1890s. One of its most notorious ghost stories is that of the elderly woman who greets visitors and who has been known to help patrons when they’ve had questions. It is believed that this elderly woman is the spirit of Harriett Ames, the institution’s first librarian.
Other strange happenings in Hoyt include the sounds of keyboards typing when there are no keyboards nearby. Patrons and staff have reported books falling off shelves, weird light flashes, and cold splashes, and more.
These aren’t just one-off experiences. Word is that the strange things in this library happen almost every day. Hoyt Library has the designation of being one of the most haunted places in the entire midwest.
Peoria Public Library in Peoria, Illinois
Was the main library built atop cursed grounds? That’s the legend of the spiritual presences at Peoria Public Library in central Illinois. Back in the 1830s, Mrs. Andrew Gray owned a home that stood near where the library was constructed years later. She took in a nephew after her brother died, and her nephew was not interested in having a job nor in staying out of legal trouble. She hired a lawyer to help out her nephew, but it began to cost them a LOT of money—so much so that the lawyer convinced them to use the house as collateral. It wasn’t a good idea. Gray lost that home shortly after the surprise death of her nephew and, upon the home’s foreclosure, supposedly cursed the land upon which it was built.
The library was built in 1894, and not one, not two, but the three first directors of the library each died under mysterious circumstances. One of them, Erastus S. Willcox, was a leader in librarianship across the country. His presence is rumored to be among the spirits who wander the halls and stacks, dressed in early 20th-century clothing, even today.
Here’s where there’s a bit of a twist…or more evidence that there is indeed something to the curse from Mrs. Gray: the Peoria Public Library’s main branch was razed and rebuilt in the 1960s. But even a new space hasn’t stopped the regular sightings of ghosts wandering the stacks.
You can listen to an entire podcast episode about this haunted library, too.
More Haunted Libraries—Plus a Haunted Library Book!—Below for Subscribers.
Broken Bow Public Library in Broken Bow, Nebraska
The entire town of Broken Bow, Nebraska, has a reputation for being haunted. The 1928 Arrow Hotel is especially notorious for an apparition of a former owner going up and down the stairs to the kitchen. Guests and staff at the hotel have seen two other ghosts throughout its history, including a woman with red hair said to be a witch from a local cemetery.
As for the library, it was relocated in the 1990s, taking up space in a building that once belonged to the high school. The most frequently cited bizarre experience is that of hearing people arguing in a specific corner of the library basement before closing at night, alongside the sounds of children laughing and a rush of chilly air right after.
This particular library story comes through a variety of websites that share haunted locales, and it appeared on several. However, the library itself does not seem to have any information on this particular set of presences in their midst, nor is there much other verifiable information or investigative material to share much more. In other words, there’s not a rich history here beyond, well, some weird stuff happens!
Harvey Public Library in Harvey, North Dakota
Be prepared for this one, as it’s a story entwined with domestic violence.
The Harvey Public Library’s current facility was built in 1990. It was built on land where the Eberlein-Bentz family lived decades earlier, and the librarian’s office, right above her bedroom. Sophia Eberlein was murdered by her husband Jacob in her sleep, and as a means of trying to avoid being caught and charged, he tried to make the murder look like a car accident. (If you’re thinking this is bananas, remember it was the 1930s in a tiny town in North Dakota).
That wasn’t going to fly for Lillian, their daughter who came into town for the funeral. She immediately knew something wasn’t right when she saw the mess inside the house and contacted the police. Jacob knew he was cooked, and so he admitted to the crime and spent the rest of his life in prison.
The library has reported strange lighting issues, mysterious orbs and flashes, and has even had strange things happen with their technology. This all began when the library was preparing to open and since.
The Haunted Manuscript at the Linda Hall Library in Kansas City, Missouri
There are so many more haunted library stories, and several will be linked below for your enjoyment. But beyond the library building itself, there are so many other opportunities for spirits to slither through the bookish world. At the independent science research Linda Hall Library, there’s a haunted manuscript. Yes, a book that brings with it all of the chills.
Herbert and Linda Hall died in the 1940s with a wish for what their home and trust fund would become: a public library. The executors of that estate determined that the library should focus on science. Per request, the library began to collect incredible works of science and the history of science. In the ’60s, the original Hall house was torn down to make the current Linda Hall Library.
The Library isn’t able to hold every item they have, so they have an Annex building. If an individual requests an item in the Annex, a library worker heads over to get it and bring it back. Staff began to report strange experiences on the top floor of the Annex almost immediately. The lights would flicker or be off altogether, and messages would appear on a nearby chalkboard. One of those messages eventually began to make sense to staff—it read “I am Andre Dettonville.”
Slowly but surely, Andre’s story began to unravel with each subsequent weird experience in the Annex. He’d died in the 1650s in a scientific research accident, and his spirit attached itself to a book. He’s not just there, though. Andre has been traveling through time with the book’s history.
The library believes Andre is attached to the collection of works the library acquired in the 1960s from the American Philosophical Society.
Here’s something especially interesting: Pascal, French mathematician and physicist, wrote one of his most well-known works in the era of when Andre Dettonville died. One of the pseudonyms Pascal used throughout the process? A. Dettonville. Could this spirit be tied to Pascal?
Want some more stories of haunted libraries? Check out these stories:
- Maybe one of the most famous US haunted libraries is the Evansville Public Library (IN), home to the Grey Lady. They really, really lean into this.
- Westerly Library (RI) was featured on Season 11, Episode 9 of Ghost Hunters because of a long history of haunts through the library.
- Sweetwater County Library (WY) has so many spirits lurking that they keep a ghost log.
- Alvah Belding Public Library in Belding, Michigan, shared their haunted library story on their podcast.
Bonus hot tip about ghosts and libraries that you may not be expecting to see here: if you’re interested in exploring the spiritual world with an EMF meter, your local public library may have one you can borrow from their “Library of Things” collections. Mine does!
Have you ever had a haunted library experience? Let’s chat in the comments!
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