Bloomington's history museum occupies the 1917 Carnegie Library building — where a girl crying on the staircase vanished when a janitor approached, and a phantom dog was watched walking through a wall.
202 E 6th St, Bloomington, IN 47408
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
See monroehistory.org for current admission pricing and hours.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Historic Carnegie Library building downtown; accessibility information on museum website
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1917 · 1917 Carnegie Library building · Neoclassical architecture on limestone basement · Monroe County historical collections · Indiana University community history
The building at 202 E 6th Street in downtown Bloomington was constructed in 1917 as the Monroe Carnegie Library, funded through Andrew Carnegie's library endowment program that produced public libraries across the country in the early twentieth century. The structure is a one-story, rectangular Neoclassical limestone building on a raised basement — a style Carnegie libraries in Indiana often adopted to convey civic weight within modest budgets.
The library served Bloomington until a newer facility was built. The historic Carnegie building then transitioned to museum use as the Monroe County History Center, preserving both the structure and a focus on the county's documentary heritage. The museum's collections span Indigenous history, early settlement, the growth of Indiana University and Bloomington's commercial district, and the county's role in Indiana's broader history.
The building was recognized for its architectural and historical significance and designated a historic site. It stands in downtown Bloomington within walking distance of the Indiana University campus, which has shaped much of Monroe County's character across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The museum has operated programs including its Dearly Departed Tours, which engage both the building's ghost lore and the broader haunted history of the county.
Sources
The Monroe County History Center's two primary paranormal accounts come from witnesses who were inside the building during normal operations. A member of the cleaning staff was working in the building when she encountered a young girl crying on the main staircase. When the staff member approached to help the child, the girl disappeared. The account was reported to museum staff and eventually documented in Bloomington's official tourism literature.
A separate incident involved a paranormal investigator who was inside the building during an authorized investigation. The investigator reported watching a phantom dog walk directly through a solid wall. The two phenomena — a crying child and an animal apparition — are unconnected by any shared historical narrative in the available sources; they appear to be independent encounters reported at different times.
Visit Bloomington, the city's official destination marketing organization, cited the Monroe County History Center as a haunted attraction in coverage of the county's paranormal sites, lending the reports a degree of institutional recognition. The Leo Weekly, an alternative news outlet serving Louisville and the region, also included the museum in coverage of Bloomington's haunted landscape.
The Monroe County History Center offers tours of its exhibits on the history of Bloomington and Monroe County, housed in the 1917 Carnegie Library building. The main staircase — where a child apparition was reportedly witnessed — is part of the standard tour path.
The museum offers its own Dearly Departed Tours program, exploring the haunted history of Monroe County. Check the museum website for scheduling and availability.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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