Sometimes, those of us with bookish dispositions wish we could spend the rest of our lives in libraries. There are libraries, however, where people claim to have seen spirits spending eternity. For this Halloween-week post, let’s consider some tales of libraries with reports of permanent patrons haunting their shelves.

• The Willard Library in Evansville, Indiana claims to be haunted by a “Grey Lady” who may be the ghost of the founder’s daughter Louise Carpenter.  The claims have been confirmed by several Ghost Hunters and you can now watch the library through the night on one of their GhostCams.
• Outside of Toronto, the Thornhill Village Library is supposedly haunted by at least one spirit.  Along with the usual paranormal activities of slamming doors and moving books, the ghost of an old woman sometimes appears in a rocking chair, muttering to herself. Patrons and library staff have either seen the ghost or heard strange things in the library, though the ghost has always remained friendly. One long-time librarian at Thornhill said she wouldn’t mind haunting the place herself!
• The Peoria Public Library in Illinois was doomed from the start.  Built on land cursed by an old Peoria family, the first three of the library’s directors died soon after taking the position.  According to some ghost hunters, even though the original library has since been torn down and a new one built, the ghosts remain.

Interested in more biblio-hauntings? The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champain compiled this interesting LibGuide of haunted libraries.