Today, I am bewitching the stacks.And by bewitching, I mean walking around in a lot of black with a stereotypical nylon witch's hat on. The hat was meant for a kid so we're doing battle. So far the score is 4-1 in favor of the hat. But the sucker is securely on my head right now, so I am going to claim victory.
An e-mail came across the staff listserv today sending us to a website on haunted libraries. You can read about them here. When I've trained staff, a few of them have actually asked me if the stacks are haunted. People do hear odd noises with no apparent cause and, sometimes, there are random shadows that move. I always tell my staff that the stacks are free of ghosts, but that there are Stacks Gremlins about. They're the ones that shelve the books wrong.
We have had an eerie story or two but they usually end up being caused by a practical joker. To me, however, there is nothing creepier than walking around the stacks, alone, late at night - particularly when it is raining outside. The center section of our stacks have huge windows and when the lightning strikes, it's downright terrifying. There are days I really do hate to put in over time hours.
Also there was this one time I was convinced the stacks were haunted. I was shelving a cart and went one aisle over to put a book away. When I came back, the bottom row of books on my cart had moved to the top. So, who knows, maybe my library is haunted.
Does anyone else have any creepy stories?
Comments
Kathleen - Homeless does not equal haunted. But it does equal creepy!