HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
The Penn State library stacks where the 1969 murder of Betsy Aardsma remains unsolved
Pattee Mall, University Park, State College, PA 16802
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free to enter the University Libraries during open hours. Pattee Library is an active research library; visitors should respect its function as a study space.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Modern university library building on the University Park campus
Equipment
Photos OK
Site of the unsolved 1969 murder of Betsy Aardsma · One of Pennsylvania's most enduring cold cases
Pattee Library serves as the central research library on Penn State's University Park campus. On the afternoon of November 28, 1969, the Friday after Thanksgiving, 22-year-old graduate student Betsy Aardsma was attacked in the library's stacks and died. A native of Holland, Michigan, she had returned to campus early to finish coursework.
The Pennsylvania State Police assigned roughly thirty-five troopers to the investigation and set up a command post on campus, interviewing hundreds of students and staff in the following weeks. Despite the scale of the effort, no charges were ever filed. Over the decades, investigative journalists and authors have publicly pointed to a former Penn State faculty member as a suspect; he was never charged with the crime and died in 2002. The case remains officially unsolved, and many of its records are sealed.
The killing of Betsy Aardsma is one of Pennsylvania's most enduring cold cases and has been the subject of national news coverage, documentary treatment, and books. Pattee Library continues to operate as a working library, and the case is remembered as a real loss rather than a curiosity.
Sources
Because the 1969 murder was never solved, the spot where it happened, identified in reporting as the stacks of Pattee Library, became attached to campus ghost lore. Students passing through the older sections of the stacks have described an unsettled feeling and have circulated stories of apparitions tied to the case.
The most concrete account is documented rather than purely anecdotal. On an anniversary of Aardsma's death, a lit candle was found in the aisle where she died, set among clippings about the case and a written message bearing her name. The display was treated as a memorial-style appearance and is the most often-repeated detail in the Pattee Library lore.
Some retellings add claims of screams or blood; one researcher who has studied the case has called those embellishments fabricated, and they are not treated as credible here. The legend is published as a true-crime entry centered on a real, well-documented case, with the paranormal element kept to the reported anniversary memorial and the general unease students associate with the location.
Notable Entities
Visit Pattee Library, Penn State's main research library at University Park and the site of the unsolved 1969 murder of student Betsy Aardsma. The library is open to the public during normal hours; it remains a working study and research space, so visit quietly and respectfully.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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