1884 Queen Anne library where staff nicknamed the unseen presence 'Toby'
1609 Washington Avenue, Cairo, IL 62914
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Public library; free to enter
Access
Wheelchair OK
Level entry; historic building interior
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1884 · Early Southern Illinois Public Library · Queen Anne Architecture · Cairo Civic History
Cairo, Illinois sits at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and in the late nineteenth century was a significant commercial hub. The A.B. Safford Memorial Library was erected in 1884 through the philanthropy of Mrs. Alfred B. Safford, who donated the building to the city as a civic gift. The Queen Anne design reflects the architectural fashions of the 1880s: asymmetrical massing, decorative woodwork, and a sense of domestic scale that set early public libraries apart from the monumental Beaux-Arts style that would dominate later Carnegie-funded buildings.
The library's longevity is notable in the context of Cairo's broader decline. The city's population peaked in the early twentieth century and has contracted significantly since, leaving many of Cairo's historic structures vacant or demolished. The Safford building has survived as a functioning public institution, continuing to serve the community in a city now better known for its economic struggles and ornate Victorian-era architecture than for its former riverfront prominence.
Historical records on the library's founding are documented on its own website, which confirms the 1884 date and the Safford family donation. The building is referenced in regional accounts of Alexander County history as one of the more intact examples of late Victorian civic architecture still in active use.
Sources
The ghost at the Safford Library acquired a name through repeated staff experience rather than any identified historical figure. Former librarian Louise Ogg is the primary recorded source for the phenomena: she named the presence 'Toby' and documented incidents that included a rocking chair creaking rhythmically with no one seated in it, a white light rising from behind the librarian's desk and moving through the book stacks, and interior lights activating and extinguishing in rooms confirmed to be unoccupied.
The Britannica blog documented the library in a 2008 roundup of haunted Midwestern libraries, citing staff accounts that aligned with Ogg's observations. The specificity of the floating-light report — its origin point behind the desk, its trajectory through the stacks — is unusual for library ghost accounts, which more typically involve footsteps or cold spots.
No historical record has been located to identify who or what 'Toby' might represent. The phenomenon has been attributed to the building's age and the concentrated quiet of a library environment, where unusual sounds and movements are more noticeable than in noisier institutional settings.
Notable Entities
Visit the operating public library housed in this 1884 Queen Anne building. The stacks, reading room, and main desk areas are the locations where staff historically reported the rocking chair moving on its own and a white light drifting through the shelves. Self-guided; no tour is required.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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