1893 Scranton library modeled on a Paris museum, with reports of basement shadows and self-moving doors
500 Vine St, Scranton, PA 18509
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free public library; no admission charge to enter or browse.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Historic stone library building with interior stairs; main floor accessible
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1893 · Main Branch of the Scranton Public Library · Designed by Green and Wicks; Modeled on the Musee de Cluny · Late-19th-Century Civic Landmark
The Albright Memorial Building opened in May 1893 as the home of the Scranton Public Library, a gift to the city connected to the Albright family. The Buffalo architectural firm Green and Wicks designed the stone building, and at the request of John Albright its exterior was modeled on the Musee de Cluny in Paris, giving Scranton a public library with the look of a small French chateau.
For more than a century the Albright Memorial Building has served as the main branch of what is now the Lackawanna County Library System. The historic interior, with its stacks, staircases, and basement, has been retained, and the building remains in daily use by the public.
The library's age and its distinctive architecture have made it a fixture on the regional tourism office's Lackawanna Haunted Trail, where it is listed among Scranton's historic landmarks with reported paranormal activity. Unlike a former hotel or asylum, the haunting here attaches to an ordinary, still-operating civic building, which is part of what gives the stories their durability.
Sources
The Albright Memorial Library's ghost stories are the quiet, accumulated kind that gather in an old public building used every day. The reports collected by the regional tourism office describe mysterious shadows in the basement, doors that open and close on their own, and orbs reported on the staircases. Staff and patrons have also described books falling from shelves with no one nearby.
None of the accounts attaches to a named figure or a documented death. They are the ambient sort of phenomena that long-serving staff and regular visitors notice in a building more than a century old: a shifting shadow in the stacks, a door that swings shut, a sound on a staircase.
The library does not promote itself as a haunted site, and its inclusion on the Lackawanna Haunted Trail rests on its age and its place in local lore rather than on any specific tragedy. The verified facts are architectural and civic; the hauntings are reported atmosphere, consistent with the building's long, ordinary life as a place people visit and then leave.
The Albright Memorial Building is the main branch of the Scranton Public Library, a free public library open during regular hours. Its 1893 stone interior, modeled on a Paris museum, is the setting for staff and visitor reports of basement shadows, doors opening on their own, and books falling from shelves. Walk in during open hours to see the building.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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