Friends & Alumni News The Grey Lady at Willard Library Willard Library, a beautiful Victorian Gothic building in Evansville, opened in the spring of 1885. It is the oldest public library in the state and still operating for which it was originally intended. The building has been preserved beautifully through historic preservation. Willard Library continues to serve its patrons from adults, children, genealogists, to historians. The library contains an art collection, archival library, a department of genealogy and local history… and a ghost. Mater Dei alumna Annette (Adams) Doughty ’91 has worked at Willard Library since 1995, and she conducts ghost tours that happen in late October each year. Guests of the library who take the tour are hoping to get a glimpse of the resident ghost, the Grey Lady. Annette gives an overview at the beginning of the Grey Lady tours informing ghost seekers that no one knows who the Grey Lady is, but speculation is that it is the ghost of Louise Carpenter, daughter of Willard Carpenter for whom the library is named. According to the story, Louise was upset that her father designated her inheritance to build a library. She sued the library’s Board of Trustees claiming her father was not of sound mind when he made the decision. She lost the lawsuit and any money that she would have received. After her death, so the story goes, her spirit haunts the place that robbed her of her inheritance. The first sighting of the lady in grey was in 1937 by the library custodian. He arrived at 3:00 a.m. one cold morning to get the furnace going, and he ran into a figure wearing a long grey dress and a grey shawl. Since that time, strange
happenings in the library are attributed to her. She has a chilly presence, and when she is near people, they feel very cold. Books fly off the shelves when no one is around. Women have experienced the feeling of someone playing with their hair or earrings. One library employee entered a restroom, locked the outer door and went into a stall. While she was in the stall, the water faucets turned on. When she came out, the restroom door was still locked. The Grey Lady has been described by those who have encountered her as having a strong perfume smell of either lavender or lilac. A long-time children’s librarian had the most experience with the ghost in the Children’s Room. When that area was being remodeled, the Grey Lady followed the librarian home until the renovation was completed. She knew the ghost was in her home because she smelled the perfume scent and felt the coldness associated with her. Over the years, there have been sightings of a woman standing in front of an upstairs window of Willard Library during the night. Before shelves blocked the view from a Berry Plastics building, employees working the night shift would see the elevator in Willard going up and down all night. Annette recalls accounts she has heard since she has worked at the library. “The most common stories I have heard from patrons is a feeling of not being alone on the elevator, or that there is a presence with them on the stairs. Others claim to smell the perfume, which is described as being like lavender or the scent Tabu.” According to Annette, the Grey Lady is still making her presence known. “A couple of years ago the children’s librarians were looking at the security cameras, and saw a figure standing in the book sorting area. Suddenly she just disappeared. Our director, Greg Hager, heard water running one day when the library was closed. He traced the source to a sink on the second floor. The faucets had been turned on, and the water was just gushing out.” Annette has never seen the Grey Lady while giving a tour, but some members of her group think that they encountered something. “Sometimes they capture floating white orbs, especially in the Bayard Room, that they will show me after the tour,” she shares. The Grey Lady is not just local legend. She is known as one of the most famous ghosts around. Once a year, ghost hunters spend the night in Willard Library picking up paranormal activity. The Grey Lady has been the subject of episodes of Discovery Channel’s Real Ghost Hunters, Syfy Channel’s Ghost Hunters, and Travel Channel’s Ghost Adventures. So after 20 years of working at Willard Library and conducting the Grey Lady Ghost tours, does Annette believe the Grey Lady exists? “I think there are many things in this world that cannot be explained, so yes, it is possible she exists.” Fall 2016
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