Specters In The Stacks

Strange doings at a certain North Country library.

Ask the employee who worked alone one night about such an incident. The library was closed for the day. She was cleaning downstairs when she heard footsteps overhead from the supposedly empty second floor. Someone -- or something -- walked from one end of the upstairs room to the other. The cleaner quickly wrapped up her work.

Sometimes other things are heard. Another employee was working one day when a voice said to her: "Lower." She looked around. No one was there.

The next day the message became clear. She stepped on an electrical cord and it shorted out, starting to smoke. A warning from beyond?

And the same employee will also tell you about the screaming woman. She and two co-workers were busy in the work room one night after the library had shut down for the day. Only the three people were in the building -- at least in the physical sense.

Suddenly the employees heard a woman screeching, the voice apparently originating from the main floor of the building. When the co-workers checked the security camera, the main floor was empty.

But things are also seen -- not the entities themselves but their effects on the material world. Security cameras have recorded the elevator operating on its own late at night, traveling between floors, doors opening and closing.

There's the incident with the rotating rack, one of those freestanding units that can hold a variety of paperbacks or CDs. One day a young girl was twirling the rack, nothing mischievous, just looking over what was available.

Nearby a library employee watched her. The rack slowed down to a dead stop. Suddenly the young girl said: "I hate ghosts."

And on its own the rack started to rotate again.

It is said that the young girl can sense when immaterial beings are about.

For years there were whispers that the spirit of a employee from the early days of the library was making her presence known. Someone concerned about the eldritch happenings privately invited a spiritual healer to perform a energy clearing/cleansing. Such rituals can involved smudging, the burning of certain herbs, or the use of dowsing rods when employing the art of Feng Shui.

And the result of the clearing/cleansing? While the lingering spirit of the former employee has been released, allowed to pass over to the other side, it seems other entities are about, young ones, children.

But not everyone believes the library is the site of occasional paranormal activity. When asked about incidents, one employee dryly observed:

"Well, it does make interesting stories."