By Carol Wright, Gadsden Public Library Staff Member
It has been whispered over the years that the GPL is haunted, and since everyone is welcome there — as long as they behave — we thought we would honor our most talked about, but least seen patrons, our ghosts.
The GPL was not always located at 254 College St. It used to be on Seventh Street and Forrest Avenue. The new facility was built in 1964, but before that it was the site of the old Striplin Elementary School. And even before that, in the 1800s, it was the site of the Gadsden Female Institute for young women, later it was renamed the Gadsden Normal School.
Over the years, people have been known to hear and see things that led them to believe that the GPL was haunted.
Initially, people thought the ghost was the founder and first librarian, Lena Martin — sister to Gadsden Times columnist and historian Will I. Martin — however, after a medium from Pascagoula, Mississippi visited the library, it was determined that the ghost was actually that of Minnie Lay – sister of W.P. Lay, inventor of hydroelectric power and the founder of Alabama Power.
Lay was an educator at the Gadsden Normal School, and her classroom would have been located right about where the locked stacks are on the third floor in the present-day library, which happens to be where the ghost of a lady dressed all in black has been heard and seen most often.
Standing on the second floor near the door to the stairwell, faint sounds of typewriters and laughter can be heard coming from that area.
Most recently, over the past decade, it appears that a new spirit has taken up residence at the GPL: the late librarian, Margaret McGuire.
McGuire worked at the library for many years before she retired and sadly passed away. One night, McGuire mischievously made her identity known by leaving her personal coffee mug in the middle of the floor in the children’s department to be found by a staff member who knew her before her passing.
On multiple occasions, McGuire has been seen casually walking through the library in the early morning hours before opening, or peeking around the corner of the stairwell on the fourth floor when it served as the reference department.
So, what does all this have to do with the Friends of the GPL hosting a Haunted Book Sale? Well, the Friends of GPL host the sale once each year to honor those who still love the library as much in the afterlife as we do today.
The Friends of the GPL Haunted Book Sale will be open to the public Oct. 21 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Oct. 22 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Oct. 23 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The first day of the sale is open to members only for a Preview Sale, with membership available onsite.
