Happy Halloween Week everyone! Besides harboring the books that we love and know so well, at some libraries dwell the darkest and spookiest stories that you may not be aware of. Who knows? Some of the most frequented bookspots that you may know of holds more that just books. Here are just some of the spookiest and creepiest stories about bookspots to put you in the Halloween mood.
1. Copley Library
The Copley Library at the University of San Diego is said to be haunted by an unknown spectral nun donning blue robes. She has been sighted floating through the stacks and shelves of the library & the balcony of the library reading room.
2. Peoria Public Library
The Peoria Public Library in Peoria, Illinois was built in 1894, literally, on cursed ground. Before the construction of the Peoria Public Library, it was a house owned by a woman named Mrs. Gray in the 1830s. She struggles with money and eventually the bank foreclosed on her home. Before leaving, she placed a curse on the land and on any subsequent owners. Mysteriously, ever owner after have suffered great financial losses and a loss of fortunes. Activity escalated when part of the estate was turned in to a library—the first three library directors mysteriously passed away. After a reconstruction of the library in 1966, staff hear their names called by eerie voices and experience chilling temperature droppings.
3. Willard Library
The Willard Library in Evansville, Indiana has a resident ghost—The Grey Lady Ghost. She was first spotted by custodian in the 1930s and has appeared before many others over the years. Her identity and history is unknown, but she lingers in the library, leaving only the sent of perfume, strange noises, and taking books with her.
4. The Library of Combermere Abbey
The ghost of Lord Combermere haunts the library of Combermere Abbey near Cheshire, England. Immediately after the lord of the abbey tragically died by way of a horse-drawn carriage in 1891, the household staff started experiencing paranormal activity. While everyone was at Lord Combermere’s funeral, a photographer left the camera shutter open for an hour where an apparition appeared in the lord’s favorite armchair in the library.
5. Bellwood Elementary School
Bellwood Elementary School is haunted by many ghosts, specifically the library. One infamous ghost is of a severely burned woman who is often seen gazing out a window in desperation. Paranormal activity is normal at the school with ghosts glooming through the hallways near the library and frightening, unexplained noises.
6. Sweetwater County Library
The Sweetwater County Library, in Greenriver, Wyoming has a very long history. Before the library’s construction in 1980, it was a cemetery of mostly Chinese railroad workers dating from the 1860s, although most were moved by the 1920s. Flying orbs of light, flickering lights, and sounds in the night are the normal in this library. One chilling experience in recent years had to do with a librarian. As she turned away from the computer that she was working on an she looked back at the screen, her name was typed in large font with nothing else on the screen.
7. Felbrigg Hall
Felbrigg Hall in England has a bookish ghost haunting its library. The ghost of an 18th century scholar, Willian Windham III (friend of lexicographer Samuel Johnson), was seen up until recent reading books and just chilling in his family library. One man sent by the National Trust to tidy up the estate saw a man working at a nearby table; he didn’t think much of it besides the very, very old clothes and just left the ghost of Windham alone for about 15 minutes. After, he sat his book down on the table and disappeared. The following year, they found a trunk full of clothing very similar to what the ghost was wearing in a trunk in the attic.
I hope you enjoyed these spooky library findings! For more on Bookstr’s curated bookspots, click here!