Near downtown Evansville, Indiana  stands a century old library, the oldest library building in the state. It sits in the center of a block surrounded by trees, only a few hundred feet from a main highway. During the day it looks like a beautiful Victorian building, but at night, it is exactly the kind of place one might expect to be a haunted mansion.

During the next two weeks this library, Willard Library, will have many people taking special tours in the evening hours. The visitors aren’t there to check out books, they are there in the hopes of catching a glimpse of a very special lady. She is known to the locals as the Grey Lady Ghost who supposedly resides at the library. While no one knows for certain who she is, many believe she is Louise Carpenter, the daughter of  library founder Willard Carpenter. When Willard Carpenter died, he left the bulk of his estate to the library, which reportedly angered Louise and many believe this is why her spirit stays on in the library.

 There have been reported sightings of this library ghost for more than 60 years, by both library employees and  visitors. The interest in the Grey Lady ghost has drawn many paranormal investigators over the years.  Among the many trying to prove the existence of the library ghost include the Sci Fi channel show, Ghost Hunters, which visited in 2006.  The Willard Library  segment filmed for this television show is available on the following links. The segment starts at the 5:32 mark in the first link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU1Y61jKx08&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbnTsqcnNIs&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Djd2J18jOM&feature=related

In addition to the paranormal investigators, there are also “Ghost Cams” which are available on the library website. Visitors are encouraged to freeze frame any suspicious image they find. Over the years there have been numerous unexplained sightings and encounters in the library.  Most of the pictures are grainy and whether there are any ghostly images is debatable. There are a few which do have something out of the ordinary in the shot.

The Evansville Courier Press has compiled many of stories on their web site and has an archive of video accounts of these encounters. http://www.courierpress.com/videos/detail/willard-library-encounters/

I am not sure whether I believe in the ghost or not. However, whenever I drive by the library at night, I cannot help but glance at the library in hopes of catching a glimpse of something.  I also must admit I do get nervous whenever I am in the library and tend not to stay for long. For more information on the Grey Lady Ghost  and Willard Library visit their website at: http://www.willard.lib.in.us/about_willard_library/ghost.php