Home » Mind & Soul » Ghosts » Ghostly Bookworms

Ghostly Bookworms

© Janice Oberding

Oh for enough time to curl up in a comfortable chair and crack the covers of every interesting book in the library. Apparently the love of a good read is a strong one. Even death doesn't seem to be able to keep ghostly bookworms out of the library. Books and the people who love and care for them seem to be especially appealing to a number of spirits.

The oldest public library in Indiana is The Willard Library in Evansville, Indiana. It also happens to be one of the most famous haunted libraries. The staff refers to their ghost as the lady in grey, and although no one is really quite sure of her identity, some believe that she may be a former librarian. Her attire is always of a dull grey color and in the fashion of long ago. Over the years several people, including staff and patrons, have seen the mysterious lady in grey hovering near the bookcases on the second floor.

So serious do the folks at the library take their lady in grey ghost, they've set up a camera on the second floor so that ghost hunters who surf the net might have a chance to catch a glimpse of her and report their findings.

Is it haunted or isn't it? The Dover Public Library in Dover, Delaware is home to something even stranger than a ghost. It seems that the library is in possession of a skull believed to be that of a well-known 19th century criminal. And while the library staff admits the skull is there all right, they are just as quick to deny the rumors concerning the ghostly presence that lurks amongst their books.

If you visit the New Hanover County Library in Wilmington North Carolina don't be surprised if you happen onto the apparition of an elderly woman. Hush, please. For this ghostly lady demands peace and quiet. She has been known to topple books from their shelves when someone dares to speak too loudly in her presence.

A heartbreaking tale of a love affair gone wrong surrounds the old Umatilla County Library in Pendleton, Oregon. It seems that the librarian was jilted by her fiancée shortly before the wedding. Inconsolable, she poisoned herself in the library after hours. But she missed the library and the books so much that her spirit refused to leave. Even though building is no longer a library, some say she is still there, calmly reading her favorite romance novels.