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Anastasia

 

The first story I'd like to share (I have many) is about what I believe to be a residual haunting I experienced.

This story is about a public library in the town I grew up in Pennsylvania. I wasn't sure if I should change the ghost name, but for this story, we'll call her, Anastasia.

The library was originally a beautiful Victorian home. It was bequeathed to the city upon the owners death because there were no heirs and a few years later it was utilized as a park and library. In the legalities of the grant, it was specified to not cut down the trees because they were well loved by Anastasia. 

The grounds of the park were several acres of serenity. It was shaded, with countless elm trees. There was a playground, a tennis court, basketball court and grassy area for picnics.

The house on the land was a three story Victorian white building. The interior had gorgeous marble fireplaces in every room and a grand staircase in the center. Dark mahogany woodwork. There were two front parlor rooms, an entryway, a hallway leading to the staircase in the center and one back room as well. There was also a restroom area in the rear. I'm not sure if the restroom was originally there, my guess it was added on to make it functional but who knows. I'm not sure if there was a basement. Could have been, but it was blocked off to patrons. The staircase led to the upstairs where I later learned there were four rooms.

When I went to this library as a child, the grand winding staircase was blocked off with one of those red velvet rope chains they use in movie theaters hooked on both ends. Initially, it was unused. The librarian just said it was storage up there and it needed repairs. But then a few years later, it was rented out as an apartment upstairs. I remember a few college students lived up there and once a young family with small children. No one stayed long. Then eventually it was used as the children's department in recent years.

I moved away from this town. I grew up. Got married and had kids. When I came back to this town to live for a few months, this library was on my list to take my own children. I was elated to know it was still operating and curious to learn that the upstairs was now open to the public and the children's department. I wanted to see it. I spent so many days when I was young looking up the stairs and wondering what was up there. So, I did take my kids there. Headed for the upstairs. It was pretty much like the downstairs. Ornate woodwork. Marble fireplaces. Hard wood flooring and those giant old radiators. Stained glass windows on the staircase. Nothing unusual but a really nice children's play area and small tables and books.

There is a third floor which is now the storage area and closed off to patrons.

But, this story begins in the 1970s when I spent many afternoons discovering my love of reading. I read every single book in that children's section several times over.  At this time, I was about 8 years old or so.  I pretty much went every Saturday. One Saturday, I asked my mom to take me there. She thought it might be closed today. It must have been a holiday. We pulled into the parking lot and my mom went to check the doors to see if they were open or closed. I waited near the car. I looked up in the window which sat about six feet off the ground, where the children's books were kept at this time. The front right parlor. As I was looking at the window, I saw a woman looking at me. Now when I say looking at me, she might have been looking just past me, it was like she saw me, but didn't. She smiled when she saw me. She had a very pleasant smile. She just looked content and peaceful. Warm and inviting. She was middle aged. Pretty. Rather stout. Her hair was pulled back in a bun. It was dark hair. She had on a dark colored dress too.  I smiled back and waved. I was happy to see her because that meant the library was open and I was going to get my favorite reads. She looked familiar to me and I had been seeing this lady before and knew her to be a librarian. She was in the library and visible to me on other occasions and I accepted her as a real person in the library.

My mom came back to the car and said, "the doors were locked library is closed today no one is here". "No", I said that was impossible because I saw a lady, the librarian, in the window. My mom went and rechecked the doors. Still locked. I was sure someone was in there. I didn't see the lady in the window anymore but was confused. I knew someone was in there. "No", my mom said, "no one there. If you saw a lady in the window then you saw a ghost because no one is in there". After she said that she seemed kind of scared. She scared herself and wanted to bolt out of there. I didn't understand why she was afraid because I wasn't at all.  A ghost? I looked at her like she was crazy. I never would have questioned the lady I saw in the window as not real. I never considered ghosts to be real. But I knew I saw that lady, and she was real.

The lady I saw in the window I later learned was the last surviving family member of the owners. Her name was Anastasia. There are portraits of her hung to this day in several rooms in the library.

Unbeknownst to me, around this time, sightings of her looking out the windows had started to pick up. Rumors circulated in the town because she was beginning to be seen frequently. Windows she was most seen in were the downstairs children's section at that time and the room she died in the window upstairs. It was supposed that there was a connection between her sightings and the gradual death of the elm trees in the park. Apparently, she loved her elm trees. The whole park was covered in them. They were huge and ancient and had beautiful coverage over the park. Daily, Anastasia would gaze out on her trees until she died. The elms were victims of a tree fungus in the 70s and eventually by the late 80s and early 90s several had to be cut down. When this occurred, sightings of Anastasia intensified. But I didn't know any of this. All I knew was I saw her in the window.

Like Anastasia, I also loved those trees, and they were part of the reason why I loved that park. Elm trees produce those little seeds that fall and crack open and inside are those brown circles we called buckeyes as kids. Many many hours of my childhood were spent collecting buckeyes and putting them in my pockets to take home. Honestly, I did this for hours as did many of my friends. We compared our buckeye collections and made fairy food and squirrel soup with them. The whole town actually had a lot of Elms, but the largest and best were at the park. I loved to go read at the library but I also loved the park. Every time I left the park, I literally hugged my favorite trees before I left because I loved them so much as a child. I realize this seems laughable now being the proverbial  tree hugger but it just seemed natural to do then. It was my way to say goodbye. I wonder if Anastasia felt my love for these beauties of God's creation on some level?

Sometimes my friends and I would walk to this park by ourselves. We all were around 9 then. They had community arts and crafts in the summer time in the little pavilions at the park run by the high school. So from breakfast to lunchtime we hung out there. In the upstairs windows, especially in the one room where they say she died, we often saw her looking out at us, smiling. It wasn't just a shadow or something that looked like her, it was clearly a  solid body and distinctly Anastasia's face witnessed by many of us kids several times. I don't ever remember any of us  kids being scared. I also remember it happening on a fall day when we had rode our bikes there. I remember a light rain starting and a dark cloud blowing in. One of the boys I was with shouted, "look, there she is"  and there she was indeed looking at us. It was just a normal thing for us kids to see Anastasia smiling in the windows. Once my parents were driving past the library and I pointed out to them from the back seat that Anastasia was in the window but my parents never saw her and said it was shadows. This happened on two occasions when I was in the car with my parents. The second time, I didn't say anything to them, I just watched her watching me. My parents didn't notice a thing.

Once, my older teenage brother walked me to the library to get books. We were standing near the staircase and we both saw as plain as day a beautiful woman walk past us in a dress from the 1900s. It was pale rose color and silky. It was quite ornate and looked very fancy. She walked past us and right up the stairs, taking each stair one at a time. I noticed the woman but it looked so solid so real, that it didn't register in my head as ghost. My brother started yelling "l just saw a ghost"! I looked at him like, "what"? I looked again and she just vanished as she got to the top of the stairs. A few other patrons came running and the librarian to see what the problem was as my brother was screaming. I remember a few other people there upset as well. All of a sudden she was there again at the top of the stairs, reappearing for us, walking from one side to the other, she turned and looked at us all and walked down the first two steps before vanishing into thin air. I remember a lot of people gasping and one lady almost fainting, but I didn't feel any sense of fear at all. I thought, at the time, everyone was overreacting. My brother hurried me and took me home.

Again, when I was there, I was near the staircase, the young family renting the upstairs came running down the stairs screaming "Ghost Ghost... I just saw a ghost!" The young man was holding a baby about a year old and the wife was crying holding another small child. They ran like someone put a rocket under them and screamed "We can't live here anymore. Enough is enough!" The librarian at the bottom of them stairs understood and tried to calm them down working out the details of breaking their lease. I again saw Anastasia coming down the stairs and vanishing  after a few steps.

Eventually, I stopped seeing her. But gradually the incidents changed from sightings to paranormal activity. As a teenager, in the front room, I was looking at books and remember books falling off the shelf near me. Once the librarian yelled at me for throwing a book, when I told her I didn't she got all quiet and scared and said, " I guess it was that ghost again". It would be common for me to hear other patrons yelling " Help, it's a ghost!", whenever I was there. "Or I think I heard a noise, footsteps!"

To this day the activity has continued. People have had different experiences there. From what I've heard it's been more of things like lights going on and off, fans turing on in the children's area, and books falling. Less of the actual sightings I experienced.

In recent years I had a dream of her... I dreamed I was in the library bathroom and the lights went out. Other women inside the bathroom were screaming because they were scared. They ran out. But, I knew where the light switch was and turned it on. After I turned it on, it turned itself back off leaving me in darkness... In the dream I got an evil sensation of darkness and a feeling that Anastasia wasn't there anymore but something else.

Around 2012 or so I learned they have had ghost hunts at the library and psychics. In their terms, they have been successful in contact. This in no way means to be disrespectful and my own personal opinion,  but I wonder if these efforts to contact Anastasia should have occurred. My overall sense is that Anastasia is just there in residual form because she loved her home and her elms. Her energy just repeats the actions most familiar with her; looking out her windows  and going up  and down the stairs. Other means of contacting her through psychics and seances may be stirring up something that should be left alone.

The Anastasia that I knew as a child was kind and seemed to love children, her home and trees. She was not scary in any way. But she had the warmest kindest smile. I would hate to think that someone would use her for their own curiousness.

When I did bring my own children to see the "haunted library", I didn't seem to feel Anastasia there anymore. Supposedly, to this day, she is most active in the children's department upstairs. So, I wanted to see if she was there. It was weird to walk up the steps I saw Anastasia walking up and down. It was weird to finally be allowed into her upstairs space.

It was larger than I envisioned upstairs. But the toddler room was cozy. The meeting room where story time was held was the only room I just didn't like. That had been her bedroom. I didn't see  anything amiss. In the toddler room, there were a few kiddie chairs tilted back placed on their heels so to speak. I thought it was weird for kiddie chairs to be balanced like that, but I couldn't rule out maybe a child had been playing with them and propped them somehow like that. We checked out some  books and went to go play outside under  the last few elms. I showed my little ones how to collect buckeyes. We had a really nice day there. The second time I went there to return the books, the kiddie chairs were upside down. But again, could have been kids. While my kids were reading, I wandered off to what was Anastasia's bedroom. I took time to look out the windows and stood where Anastasia would have stood, I stared out the windows I saw her staring at me as a child. I looked at what was left standing of her elms. I closed my eyes and said Goodbye to Amanda and wished her well wherever she was. Rest in peace, Anastasia.

Other hauntings by LuciaJacinta

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Comments about this paranormal experience

The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, LuciaJacinta, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

PBnJilly (18 posts)
 
6 years ago (2018-02-15)
Lucia,

I just wanted to write and let you know how very much I enjoyed this story! I have always had a love for old houses and architecture and a soft spot for libraries, as well, so you can imagine how much your story delighted me!

Your writing style and description of the library and park helped me to perfectly envision the area. I'm from WV and make trips to PA about once a month. If it's on my route and still open, I'd love to stop by and see this place sometime.

Thanks so much for sharing!

Love and light,
PBnJilly
Amor (5 stories) (64 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2018-01-28)
Thank you for a wonderful story you shared. Whatever imperfection it may present only adds to the beauty of how you as a young girl witnessed it vis-a-vis how you are writing it down now as a grown woman. I also acknowledge that aside from recounting your experience, you also shared your opinion (e.g., Anastasia may have left and that there may have been different entities haunting the place, that A's presence is a residual haunting, etc.). Most stories are shared this way. Our senses are poor recording devices and our memory most often unreliable for recollections of events from long ago. But. Having gone through such experience and being able to share it as clearly as one can is the most important thing. As a reader, I thank you for your wonderful story:)
ChickenLittle (11 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2018-01-24)
LuciaJacinta,

I enjoyed reading this account very much! I think you have a very warm, friendly writing style. I also saw no reason to doubt your account. I think you were young and have written it as a child would have interpreted the interactions around you. Also, even though you have been exonerated 😉 with regards to your claim that the upstairs was rented, I would like to add my two cents. I work with local governments in various states, and often municipalities are willed or have donated to them certain parcels of properties, including houses, other buildings, etc. Often, these municipalities have no current use for the property and WILL lease them simply to generate revenue to offset the upkeep. Additionally, it is also very feasible that, just as was suggested, the "renters" could have been caretakers. Also, I, too, grew up in a small town in the 70s, and, as one of six, was OFTEN left in the car while my mother ran in to pay for gas, drop something off, etc. I really don't see any reason to question any aspect of your story. Thanks for submitting this!
Manafon1 (6 stories) (712 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2018-01-23)
Babygoatpuller - I've been called many a variation on Manafon over the years. It never bothers me but thanks for separating me from that other dude😂
babygoatpuller (4 stories) (432 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2018-01-23)
Did I really call Manafon "Manafort"?! WTH! My most sincerest, deepest apologies Manafon! I have GOT to stop reading politics!

YOU are awesome! ❤ NOT that other guy!
babygoatpuller (4 stories) (432 posts)
+2
6 years ago (2018-01-22)
I enjoyed this read Lucia. To me it rang true as to what happened as a 7 or 8 year old retelling what she saw and heard as it happened. And thanks lady-glow for the info provided. To me, it pretty much cemented the account. And like AugustaM suggested, not every single account is going to get the credit simply because not every single account is going to be documented.

I do understand Manafort and Mack's skepticism given the recent spate of stories we were bombarded with by a certain poster. I think they're being hyper-vigilant and I have to admit that when I first read that you were going to "change the name" of the ghost and didn't mention the name of the public library, my spidey sense shot straight up. 🤔

But like I said, I enjoyed reading it and am looking forward to reading more of your accounts. As for Mack and Manafort, consider them a couple of our vigilant soldiers on the war of the trolls. They're both awesome! ❤
Manafon1 (6 stories) (712 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2018-01-22)
I looked up the book The World's Most Haunted Places by Jeff Belanger that has a section on the Bayne Library. Scanning the sample chapters I was able to online (sadly the chapter on the library was not available) shows it's a "travelogue" type of ghost book that briefly describes haunted locations around the world. The chapters are commonly only a couple of paragraphs long and there is very lttle detail.

I was curious to know if the man named Zettle that is mentioned having lived there with his wife and child was the same family who fled or did they just witness something? These types of books are specifically written to provide light reading and are not intended as in depth case studies as found in psychical research literature.

People did clearly live in the building, that much is established by the book but again, it doesn't seem that there are any mentions of some of the more dramatic incidents that should have risen to the top of the reports. It would be interesting to know if the American Society of Psychical Research ever visited the location, as they exhaustively interview people who experienced a haunting and scrutinize the evidence, from small to big, to create the clearest picture possible. A book like Belanger's is too vague to provide much information besides confirming there were apartments there for seven years and "allusions to many other accounts and sightings as well of which they are not all written down."

To really establish the details of a haunting you need a book that takes the subject of hauntings beyond the "pop" non-fiction level and sadly Belanger's book almost begs more questions than it answers (at least in the chapters I was able to read). Still, it is quite interesting to find out people lived above the library!
Manafon1 (6 stories) (712 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2018-01-20)
LuciaJacinta - Thanks for providing that book and author information. I have no problem whatsoever admitting I was wrong about something. The thing I'd like you to understand is that the comment section is for asking questions and, if there are doubts, to voice them.

Having been a member of YGS for several years I have read a lot of accounts on this site that have turned out to be partially or completely fabricated. I have bought, hook, line and sinker stories that turned out to be completely fake and that makes a person a bit more skeptical, jaded even, when reading an account with elements that bring to mind other accounts that weren't on the level.

I have stated all along that I believe you saw the apparition of Amanda Bayne. I wasn't calling you a liar. My nitpicking comes from the widespread skepticism that paranormal cases, even extremely well documented ones, face in the wider scientific community where even parapsychology is considered a fringe or pseudo-science. When accounts contain any embellishments it makes an already uphill struggle that much more difficult to convice the naysayers.

With all that said you don't need to feel angry with me. I am just extremely interested in paranormal subjects and as I've been scammed before, can be a bit overly cautious at times.
LuciaJacinta (8 stories) (291 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2018-01-20)
Since ya know, it's so embellished, I guess this Google search of a local author who wrote about it is just more embellishing...

The World's Most Haunted Places, Revised Edition: From the Secret...
Https://books.google.com › books

It's by Jeff Belanger

Well if you read, you can see there it says that it was used as apartments from 1975 to 1982 with an eyewitness account from some guy named Zettle and his wife and child who lived there...

And you can tell that there are allusions to many other accounts and sightings as well of which they are not all written down.
Manafon1 (6 stories) (712 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2018-01-20)
Augusta - I can understand kids listening in on an unexpected and exciting incident but I have to say that, unlike Colonial Williamsburg which is a very famous destination, that a rather small local library would be much less likely to withhold such impressive and startling incidents as renters fleeing in horror or an apparition walking around witnessed by multiple people. I found several articles of the Bayne Library online and all outlined similar activity. In such a small library with an equally small staff, it seems much less likely that such sensational stories would be ignored when newspapers show up every October to detail the haunted history of the place.

There are pictures of the library online too. If you look at them you can see it would be a strange decision to rent to a family with an infant and a toddler as it simply isn't that large and they would almost certainly make A LOT of noise that wouldn't be conducive to the silence libraries insist on. The OP, in a response to one of my comments, went on to write that she didn't know who the renters were and suggests they might have been researchers, students or contractors. Those are possibilities but the two young kids who were mentioned would be a bit problematic in any of those set-ups. Possible yes but to me unlikely.

As I wrote in earlier comments, I absolutely believe the OP saw the apparition of Amanda Bayne, probably several times. I personally feel, however, that she added the more sensational incidents to spice up or enliven her narrative. It's just my gut feeling. I apologize for any confusion regarding my last comment to you. Your insight is always most welcome. I just have a feeling there are embellishments in this account that don't add up when the location is taken into close consideration.
AugustaM (7 stories) (996 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2018-01-20)
Manafon, I am not sure where you got that from - my comment was to do with renters in historic buildings, the tendency of kids to oogle in the face of a surprising incident, the OP's lack of fear of the ghost and a possible confusion over vocabulary. I never commented on the frequency of the sighting, possible differences in names or embellishments.

However, in terms of your comment regarding a lack of additional accounts online, there is some precedent for that. Sure, CW has its ghost tours and there are a few publications allegedly on its hauntings, the real stories are rarely shared with outsiders. I don't think most consciously decide to keep such things secret just that they tend not to talk about it but with each other. Quite possibly, the same goes for this library. There are also various historic homes scattered across the landscape near where I live and if you talk to the employees you'll find that the ghost encounters abound - some even involving guests - but you only rarely see such things published. Maybe other items proved more newsworthy at the time.

Oh and, Lucia - my mom left me in the car all the time and I was born in the mid 80s. Whether we were at the grocery store or Wal-Mart or wherever. I preferred it. I kept the doors locked and knew not to open them - it was never a problem.
LuciaJacinta (8 stories) (291 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2018-01-19)
I said almost fainted.

"A"s spirit was seen many many times by others in the town. In many ways. Every incident wasn't documented. It was a general sense of hey there is this spirit and she typically does this and that that was passed down to today. I just happen to have a particular story to share to the ygs community if you all like to read such things I thought it would be of interest.

This was the 70s. People left their kids in the car all the time. It was a safe town, safe place. It was only for a few minutes. My mom could see me from the doors. No other other cars were there. The lot is very small, like for only 4 cars at a time so it wasn't like I was abandoned in a parking lot at Walmart.

I can't prove anything. I can clarify. If you don't want to believe my story that's fine.
Macknorton (5 stories) (646 posts)
+2
6 years ago (2018-01-19)
Hi LuciaJacinta

Thanks for taking the time to share this. It's quite a long read!

My personal rule of thumb, or methodology when reading submissions on this site is that I imagine myself there as the OP or witnessing the events. Then I have to decide whether what is written is within plausible boundaries that are acceptable; I.e is that really how people would behave / act?

That can be difficult when dealing with spirits, the spirit world, our minds and everything that exists in between.

I can see why some members have doubts about aspects of this story. But I think it's perfectly reasonable to ask for clarification or more information in order to better understand the submission.

Personally I struggled with the part where your mother left you, as s young child waiting by the car in a car park whilst she "tried doors". As a parent of three children I find that odd; I would instinctively take my children with me and they would want to stick close by. It just seemed too convenient that while you were alone this "spirit" was visible in the window.

I also agree that multiple sightings of spirits would garner A LOT of newsworthyness.

Also people fainting? That just seems unlikely considering it was just a human form. In my opinion most people would instinctively assume they were hallucinating
And then be confused and then talk with others as in "Did you just see that too?" Then the fear would come later as their minds work out what they witnessed.

No doubt this building and gardens captivated you but aspects of this story do appear somewhat embellished. That's my ten cents worth for what it's worth.

Regards

Mack
LuciaJacinta (8 stories) (291 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2018-01-19)
Tweed I can't clarify any further than I have. That's all I know. I do know there was a family there for a time. How or why I don't know. I can't prove it any further so if you don't want to believe that's fine.

The family came down running very flustered and upset saying they can't stay there. I didn't dream that. Several of us were at the bottom of the stairs and we saw her when all this happened. I can't help it wasn't documented. I bet there were many sightings of which weren't documented.

Jubeele there have been multiple psychics that have had sessions there. What transpired during those sessions I don't know. Yes, they believe they have made contact with her. I never had contact with her outside of the house, I don't think she roams the grounds just the house.
Tweed (33 stories) (2475 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2018-01-19)
Manafon, we're old and grey jaded YGS members, it would seem. I get your point about embellishments, I figured as much while reading this account.

Lucia, I believe much of your account, like Manafon. But some of the reactions don't seem to fit. Is it possible you dreamed some of this as a child and have remembered some dreams as real events?
The lease thing is odd, aren't libraries supposed to belong to the public? It does seem weird a portion of a library was rented out. Or maybe I'm out of touch.

The library I frequented as a child was supposed to be haunted. Many people spoke of a woman in white roaming the grounds, and sometimes she was supposedly seen in the building. These encounters did the rounds, that's for sure. But so did the older encounters from years previous, in an urban legend kind of way. So I find it strange no one documented a multiple witness event.
Manafon1 (6 stories) (712 posts)
+2
6 years ago (2018-01-19)
LuciaJacinta - My point is that stories of full bodied apparitions appearing to multiple stunned people and a fleeing family would be expected to garner more attention and mentions in newspaper articles than lights and fans being switched on. And with that I'm out.
Jubeele (25 stories) (882 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2018-01-19)
Hi LuciaJacinta, I enjoyed reading your account. You've described it so thoroughly that I can almost see it in my mind's eye. I love libraries. Yet another place I'd love to visit someday. I have such a long list now!

Has anyone ever talked to Amanda? Or had her say anything to them? I wonder if she had a favourite spot that she frequented. When you were children walking in the park, it is significant that you were not afraid. "I don't ever remember any of us kids being scared." Because in your innocence, you were also more open to your instinctive senses, which told you there was nothing to fear.

Thank you for sharing this with us. 😊
LuciaJacinta (8 stories) (291 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2018-01-19)
The original 2 librarians were like 80 year old ladies at the time who were volunteers I believe. When I first went there, it was not automated in any way. Very old fashioned. You wrote you name on old library cards by hand. The old ladies must have passed on to be replaced by other very old ladies and so on... When I recently went there, a newer modern crop of employees officially took over employed by the city. This group of employees might keep better records. Lots of incidents had to have occurred there, no one is going to officially document each one. I'm sure stories were passed down, but not every one is going to be written in a newspaper.
Manafon1 (6 stories) (712 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2018-01-19)
LuciaJacinta - I wasn't suggesting that you were scared but you certainly suggested other people were. The fleeing family, the person who almost fainted when seeing the ghost, people exclaiming, "Help, a ghost" and your brother.

As I wrote earlier, the comment section exists to clarify aspects of the account. That's all I am trying to engage in. I don't doubt you saw a ghost.
Manafon1 (6 stories) (712 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2018-01-19)
Augusta - I stated in my last comment that I believe the OP saw an apparition of Amanda Bayne. My issues stem from what seem to be additions to add more drama. If multiple people saw the apparition of Amanda Bayne walking back and forth on a landing and then disappearing while descending the staircase, that incident would have been remembered by staff at the library and passed down over the years before lights being switched on would. The same goes for a young family fleeing the building in fear and breaking a lease after seeing a ghost. I found several articles online and all only mention fairly innocuous incidents.

My skepticism is not about the OP seeing a ghost, even multiple times, but to certain aspects of the bigger picture that require clarification.
LuciaJacinta (8 stories) (291 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2018-01-19)
Well I said, I never felt scared by her. I thought I conveyed that. Nor did other children I know feel scared. But I think it's natural for some people to get spooked. Just the thought of ghosts scare some people.

I for sure remember a family living there for a time. How or why they came to live there I don't know. It's a possibility they were researchers or students living there for just a few weeks, months I don't know. The point is they did only occupy it for a limited time on a temporary basis. Maybe they were contractors renovating it and it was just easier to stay there, I don't know. But I do know the librarian told me people were staying up there and I saw them that one day.

The stories that are documented are all similar. Surely there has to be lots more that are undocumented. I can't help that. I think articles allude to the fact that there are long standing circulating stories from various people.
lady-glow (16 stories) (3149 posts)
+2
6 years ago (2018-01-19)
LuciaJacinta - the following link explains a lot about your story:

Http://old.post-gazette.com/neigh_north/20031029ncover1029p2.asp

Sorry for the doubtful attitude.😶

Welcome to YGS!
AugustaM (7 stories) (996 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2018-01-19)
I don't get the feeling that this is fabricated. It reminds me too much of Colonial Williamsburg - both going there as a child and working there for a decade as an adult. There too, parts of the museum were and are rented out to families as living quarters and passing through the museum is necessary for them to come and go. As an employee there, I was not the landlord and never elected to be a renter but I still knew plenty about renting said residences... Its osmosis, you can't help but pick things up when you work in such close proximity. And, had I been a child in a fascinating old library who just witnessed the commotion of an entire family tumbling downstairs in a panic, I probably would have stood there transfixed listening to the exchange as well.

CW also has its share of ghosts. Most of them quite benign spectral sightings. I have never been frightened by them. Though some renters have been given quite a start!

And I think what the OP means as "paranormal activity" is more physical less spectral. A misunderstanding in vocabulary doesn't mean fabrication.
Manafon1 (6 stories) (712 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2018-01-19)
LuciaJacinta - Thanks for giving the name of the library. I looked it up online and there are a lot of articles about it. Indeed the present librarian says she feels Amanda Bayne's spirit watches over the house and is benevolent and friendly. Footsteps are sometimes heard upstairs, lights and overhead fans have turned on unexpectedly and DVD players have become stuck. There have even been reports of Amanda's ghostly torso being seen through her one time bedroom window.

I wasn't able to find anything about people feeling scared in the building or that there was ever an apartment upstairs. There very well could have been an apartment upstairs in the 70s of course. However, It seems included in your narrative to really drive home how haunted the place was and doesn't line up with the gentle nature of the spirit others have reported. I don't doubt you saw Amanda Bayne's apparition. When you write that Amanda appeared at the top of the staircase to you, your brother and several patrons (several who gasped and one who almost fainted) and then disappeared while descending the stairs, it just seems that incident would have been documented at the time and would have been mentioned in stories of the place down the years before lights being turned on by unseen hands which is what is mentioned in every article.

Your clarifications have helped much. That's the comments section is for.
LuciaJacinta (8 stories) (291 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2018-01-19)
This was the 1970s when my story begins. So, this was before a lot of regulations I would guess about people renting out a room above a library. I don't know why that would be questionable. It was a Victorian house that "A" lived at herself that was bequeathed to the city to do as they wished. It was converted to a library over the years. It probably coexisted as an apartment and library grounds for a few years in the 1960s and early 70s. This was to raise money for the library. No there was no outdoor private access. Yes I did stand there and listen to the conversation. Sorry if you don't believe that. I don't think the librarian was the renter, the city probably was, but, they were just telling the librarian out of desperation. It wasn't initially open all the time, it probably had limited hours which would have been fine if a family lived there too. I don't think it's much of a problem to rent a young family.

When I say it gradually changed, over the years, it changed from just seeing impressions of "A" to contacting her. To me it was initially just residual energy to more of an interaction. But, in my opinion, not sure if what the mediums stirred up was actually her that's what I'm saying when it felt like a change.

I wasn't sure if I was allowed to give actual details. The name is Bayne library. I changed the named of the ghost for this story. It autocorrected at the end. I missed it when I looked over it, so if you see that at the end oops.

Sorry if you think my story is unbelievable. It's not fabricated or embellished.
lady-glow (16 stories) (3149 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2018-01-19)
Beautifully written story... Though, I have to say, too questionable.
Melda (10 stories) (1363 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2018-01-19)
LuciaJacinta - I don't think that Anastasia's haunting was residual as you say she interacted with you and others. Also, you mention that after the elms were cut down her activity increased.

I know you say that ghost hunts took place and psychics visited the house/library. Do you perhaps know whether anybody tried to help her cross over? As it seems that many of the inhabitants of the town were aware of her presence, I would have hoped that some kind person with the ability to do so would have tried to assist her.

It says quite a lot that you weren't frightened when you discovered that she was a ghost. She must indeed have been extremely benign and friendly. When I was a kid ghosts terrified the living daylights out of me 😨

Regards, Melda
Manafon1 (6 stories) (712 posts)
+2
6 years ago (2018-01-18)
LuciaJacinta - Well that was a heck of a tale. The haunting you describe starts believably enough but quickly descends into awkward and unnatural dialogue ('Help, it's a ghost') and an unclear housing arrangement.

Why are people living upstairs at this library without a private access to the outside. You write, "Again when I was there, I was near the staircase, the young family renting the upstairs came running down the stairs screaming 'ghost ghost... I just saw a ghost!' The young man was holding a baby about a year old and the wife was crying holding another small child. They ran like someone put a rocket under them and screamed 'we can't live here anymore. Enough is enough!' The librarian at the bottom of them stairs understood and tried to calm them down working out the details of breaking their lease."

There are so many things here that don't make sense. Was the librarian the renter's landlord? Why would a library rent an apartment to a couple with a baby and a toddler who could potentially create a lot of noise? Did you really stand there and listen to a full conversation about a lease being broken?

There are so many questions in this story. You even state at one point, "But gradually the incidents changed from sightings to paranormal activity." If you saw a ghost in a window and lots of other kids did, then there was "paranormal activity". There are so many vague elements to this account that it's hard to distinguish what might have happened from what's fabrication or embellishment brought on by stories you heard when you were a child concerning the library and your own imagination.

Please let YGS know the name of the library. I do believe that is acceptable by YGS standards as long as no address is given. If what you write is true, that is one damned haunted library,

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