Freaky Friday Files: The Creepiest Libraries Around the World
- Ash
- Jul 10
- 6 min read
DISCLAIMER: Topics in this blog post may be distressing to some readers. Reader discretion advised.
Hi friends! For this week's edition of Freaky Friday Files, I thought we could take a look at some of the creepiest libraries around the world. Enjoy!!
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The Creepiest Libraries Around the World
Let's get into the creepiest libraries around the world!
In November 1969, a 22-year-old graduate student called Betsy Aardsma was m*rdered from a single st*b wound inside the Pattee Library. To this day, Betsy's m*rder remains unsolved. However, it is strongly believed that the late geology professor, Richard Haefner, was responsible for the crime, allegedly (I have to say that the evidence against Haefner is all circumstantial, and he passed in 2002). Rumours suggest that Betsy's ghost haunts the liminal hallways of the Pattee Library at Penn State.
Marsh's library was the first public library founded in Dublin by Archbishop Narcissus Marsh in 1701. Some people claim that Marsh's ghost haunts the library, and there have been reports of an apparition wandering around the shelves and rummaging through volumes looking for a long-lost letter from his niece Grace. Grace was under his care and was forbidden to marry a sea captain. However, Grace eloped and secretly married him anyway - but she left Marsh a letter explaining everything hidden + a plea for forgiveness in one of the books. Marsh passed away before he could find the letter. I believe that Marsh's library had cages where they would lock people in to prevent them from stealing books! Apparently, chained libraries were common back then (what a time), and you can even still see a few of these at the back of the library, which gives it the utmost eerie feeling. Furthermore, the bodies of Jonathan Swift (the guy who wrote Gulliver's Travels) and his GF Stella are buried next door in St. Patrick's Cathedral. It is said that Swift's ghost can often be seen looking for Stella in Marsh's library.
Located in Brooklyn College, there is a library that is home to over 100 puppets who haven't found their "forever" homes. The puppet library originated in Boston and then moved to New York. It is managed by three people: Jason Trashville, Joe Therrien, and Jenny Romaine. A lot of students don't even know it exists in Roosevelt Hall. An after-school programme partners with the Brooklyn College community for high school students to house their puppets there free of charge. I don't really think this is a place you can just go and visit, but I think it would be a very interesting place. I wonder if this is why lots of the older SNL cast members make lots of puppet references in their TV shows. Imagine stumbling across the puppet library one day and just being terrified because you weren't aware it was there?!
This historical medical library opened in 1788 and served as the main medical library for 150+ years. Now it is considered an independent library dedicated to the history of medicine, housing books that have some of the most harrowing medical procedures ever envisioned (such as blood-letting to trepanning).
Obviously, this one is in Melbourne, and I still have yet to actually go inside here! What a terrible Melburnian I am (considering I've lived in Melbourne for almost 5 years now). Allegedly, some security guards at this library have reported seeing/hearing apparitions around the library. These ghosts include a child librarian called Grace, a gentleman with a moustache who wanders around the music stacks and various reports of poltergeist activity and glowing balls of light.
The Alaska Resources Library and Information Services is probably one of the only libraries in the world that allows you to "check out" taxidermy pieces. The library is located in Anchorage, Alaska and is a library dedicated to educating the public about Alaskan wildlife and precious resources. Fun fact - the library even loaned out some of the animal replicas for the 2013 movie The Frozen Ground (the taxidermy pieces borrowed for the set design of a serial k*ller's basement). If you're not afraid of taxidermy, then this would definitely be a cool place to check out!! But make sure you get your pieces back in time as the late-fees are pretty hefty.
The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library is an academic library located on the St. George Campus of the University of Toronto in Canada. The library has the largest repository of rare books and manuscripts in Canada overall. The library also houses papers of people such as Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid's Tale) and the late Leonard Cohen (singer/songwriter). Some people may think of this library as creepy, as it's home to manuscripts of unknown beasts (think unusual cryptids) and monsters in general.
Arma de Instruccion Masiva (Weapon of Mass "Instruction" Mobile Library)
Artist Raul Lemesoff took a Ford Falcon (1979) and turned it into a library (basically a tank with books). If you're a bibliophile, then this is probably something you'd want to check out! This tank roams the streets of Buenos Aires, "attacking" people with its power of knowledge. The tank holds up to 900 books!!
I don't know if "creepy" is the right word to describe this library, but I thought it was very interesting nonetheless. This library was established in the year 2000 in Copenhagen, Denmark and was designed to reduce people's prejudices by helping them talk to people they wouldn't normally meet. It's a library analogy of "lending" people rather than books. People who are "loaned out" are those who may have experienced stigma, prejudice, or social exclusion, and people can ask them questions that they normally wouldn't get to. This is designed so that people challenge their own prejudices against others. I believe this concept is now available in at least 85 countries, which is pretty cool!
This library (a former 17th-century church) is said to be haunted by a ghost known as the "nun in blue". A direct excerpt from National Geographic says:
"Director Rigoberto Cornejo said in Monterrey’s El Norte newspaper, 'When I leave the building, I feel the sensation of someone following me. In fact, I can even hear the footsteps."
During the 19th century, Reform Laws in Mexico meant that a lot of properties, such as churches, were handed over to the state and turned into public "non-religious" buildings. Other staff from this library claim they have witnessed spirits turn on technology and even felt like someone had touched them that wasn't there.
Allegedly, the library of Kolkata in India is haunted by the most famous ghost in India - the first Governor General of the East India Company (Warren Hastings). Hastings lived at this property before it was turned into a library. It's said that Hastings's ghost roams the halls of the library looking for a black bureau that he wasn't able to find when he was alive, and would show his innocence (Hastings was accused of corruption). Witnesses report seeing an apparition of Hastings.
Guards are given a copy of the Hanuman Chalisa to help keep spirits away, and a fun fact about this library is that in 2010, conservation engineers discovered a secret room - a chamber that didn't have a door or even a secret door! I'm not sure if they found anything inside there, but that's crazy!
Rammerscales House is an 18th-century stately home said to be haunted by the ghost of its former owner, Dr James Mounsey (former physician to the empress of Russia). Allegedly, students and their teacher/s who lived there during World War II were so terrified of the ghost that they ended up sleeping in the stables rather than inside. I'm not really sure if it counts as a library, but occasionally it gets opened up for tours.
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this edition of Freaky Friday Files - I thought it was something a bit different to write about. And let me know if you'd like to see this one as a YT video!!
Ash x
References:
https://www.psucollegian.com/news/campus/article_b6280ed6-1a18-11ea-a966-2b1ac6ebcdcb.html
https://dublin.ie/live/stories/supernatural-dublin-marshs-library/
https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/news/spooky-stories-from-the-library/
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/library-tales-worlds-oldest-monsters-180970471/
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/library_ghouls
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