The main county library housed in a converted former Belk-Beery department store since 1981, with reports of a female apparition, a Civil War-researching male presence in the local history room, and a self-unplugging vacuum.
201 Chestnut St, Wilmington, NC 28401
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free to visit. Seasonal haunted-history programming occasionally ticketed; confirm with the library calendar.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Modern accessible county library building converted from a former department store; elevator-served
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1981 · Adaptive Reuse of Belk-Beery Department Store · Principal Local History Collection · County Library System Headquarters
New Hanover County's public library system has been operating in various downtown Wilmington locations since the early 20th century. In March 1981, the main branch moved into the recently vacated Belk-Beery department store building at the corner of Third and Chestnut Streets. The adaptive reuse retained the department store's interior volume and retail-era infrastructure, which the library administration has openly acknowledged is the likely source of many of the unexplained sounds reported in the building.
The main branch houses the system's largest circulating collection, its central reference services, and the North Carolina Room — a specialized local history and genealogy collection that draws researchers from across the region. The branch is also the administrative center for the New Hanover County Public Library system.
The library has addressed its paranormal reputation directly. A published FAQ on the library's 'Ask NHCPL' service responds to the question of whether the main library is haunted; the library notes that many of the odd sounds attributed to ghosts can equally be explained as echoes from the building's former retail infrastructure, settling of the building, and trucks passing on the surrounding downtown streets.
Sources
The main branch of the New Hanover County Public Library has been a recurring subject in regional ghost coverage since the 1990s. The most consistently reported figure is a female apparition described in NCHauntedHouses and Drugstore Divas materials as a former library patron whose presence is reported throughout the building. Witnesses describe seeing her standing among the stacks or seated at reading tables briefly before she disappears.
The local history room — the North Carolina Room — is the focal point of the building's reputation. According to staff reports collected by Port City Daily and the NCHauntedHouses listing, papers left clean overnight in the room have been found shuffled or spread across tables by morning, and files have been disturbed in patterns that suggest active research. The repeated reports led to the local nickname of a Civil War-researching male ghost attached to the room.
Other reported phenomena include phantom footsteps in evening hours after the public has left, books that relocate themselves between shelves, a vacuum that has been reported to unplug itself, and microfilm readers in the local history room activating without a user present. A separate entity reported in the building is described in some accounts as an elderly man killed in a nearby duel.
The library itself addresses these reports with cautious humor on its 'Ask NHCPL' FAQ, noting that the building was adapted from a department store and that infrastructure echoes and settling are plausible alternative explanations for many of the sounds.
Notable Entities
Self-guided visit to the main branch of the New Hanover County Public Library, including the North Carolina Room (local history and genealogy) where the library's most consistently reported paranormal activity is centered. Library staff have addressed the haunting reports in a published FAQ.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Ocracoke, NC
Ocracoke Light is the oldest operating lighthouse in North Carolina and the second-oldest operating lighthouse in the United States. Built in 1823 by Noah Porter for $11,359, the 75-foot whitewashed brick tower has guided ships through Ocracoke Inlet for over two centuries and has been administered by the Cape Hatteras National Seashore since 1951.
Creswell, NC
Somerset Place is a state historic site on the northern shore of Lake Phelps in Washington County, North Carolina. Between 1785 and 1865 it was one of the four largest plantations in North Carolina; by 1860 more than 300 enslaved people lived and worked on the property. The site is now operated by the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Bellevue, NE
Bellevue, Nebraska's oldest settlement, began its public library tradition in 1929 with twelve donated books in a private residence; the collection moved through the Presbyterian Church, the county courthouse, and two buildings at Washington Park before the John Rice Memorial Library opened in September 1975. The library has served the Sarpy County community continuously since then, named for John Rice, a figure in mid-century Bellevue civic life.