My First Love Was A Library!

Bookshelves in the Children's Room were built to scale for most children to reach the books. You could browse the bookshelves, always being careful to return the books to the exact spot you found them if you didn't take them to a table to read. The floor in some areas was uneven brick flooring, but walls and bookshelves were painted in a cheery yellow and white. There was always a helpful librarian there if you couldn't reach or couldn't find a particular book. Children in those days of the 1940s were very polite and considerate of those around them. We had been taught to be "seen, but not heard," so the library was quiet. There was no air conditioning needed in the Children's Room, because its basement location kept it always cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Little did I know then that there was another phenomenon that kept the Children's Room cool.

Willard Library has a ghost known as The Gray Lady or the Lady in Gray. A library employee first reported seeing this apparition sixty years ago. Since then, numerous other employees have reported sightings of her, each of them giving similar descriptions. It is said that she appears in various locations in the building, but seems to particularly favor The Children's Room. The Library has been investigated for this phenomenon by various paranormal organizations, and a ghost cam has been installed to film at all times on the chance of proving or disproving the ghost.

Some say the Lady in Gray is Louise, the daughter of Willard Carpenter, the founder of the library, who had sued the library in the 1890s over money that had been given to the library, as she felt it rightfully belonged to her. She lost the case on both local and appeals levels, and became angry and bitter over her defeat.

But the presence of the Gray Lady felt and seen by so many, has not been a vindictive one. So chances are, it is not Louise. In 1985 a well known parapsychologist, Lucille Warren, paid a visit to the library to find out more about the Lady in Gray. She saw the ghost in the Children's Room, and gave a detailed description of her, including her hair style, her clothing, and that in her opinion the clothing was from the early 19th Century. Warren felt the lady was actually haunting the field on which the library was built, and that she was staring into a pool of water. Warren also had the psychic feeling that the Lady in Gray had drowned in the water canal that was located near the library, possibly a suicide. "She seemed to be confused as to why a building is on that site," Warren said.

I remember reading all the Nancy Drew books, and then going back to the first one, and re-reading them. I was fascinated by this girl who could figure out mysteries so well. I also remember Grimm's Fairy Tales...they always ended "and they lived happily ever after." Times were tough when I was a child, so I really liked that part, hoping someday that would be me and my family.

I read many books in those young years, but the thing that really stands out in my mind is that the library was a soothing, welcoming place for a little girl who had nowhere to go. So before I knew what falling in love meant, I fell in love with Willard Library.