Carrie Frye has had a series of Halloween stories running over the past week at Terry Teachout's blog, as well as providing a link to the Britannica Blog's Haunted Library series.
Bridgeport Public Library: Some library staff members say they have encountered a ghost in the 6th or 7th floor stacks near the historical materials in this 1927 building. The entity, which they have nicknamed Lola, is said to be friendly and helps find missing items. Former Director Michael A. Golrick said that something opened the garage door that the delivery van uses three times during the night of February 22–23, 2006, causing alarms to go off. A policeman who searched the building during the second alert said he heard someone “turning pages” on the 6th floor.
The list reads like a US library X-Files, and it sounds like quite a few librarians want to believe the truth is out there. At the old Bernardsville Public library in New Jersey, the resident spook, Phyllis, was so active that staff issued her a library card, saying that Phyllis “was not put on our computer with the rest of us mortals, but her card is always available should she choose to use it,” while one fairly superstitious librarian in Pittsburgh has claimed that books play 'hide and seek' on the shelves.
There are, reassuringly, a couple of libraries on the campus of Pennsylvania State University that have more robust manifestations, including a 'grumbling voice' in the laptop library and 'transparent girls thumbing through books, disembodied glowing red eyes, bookcarts that move without anyone present, and all sorts of other phenomena'.
If there's a haunted Oz library out there, do share.
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