Brown University's special-collections library (1910) housing four confirmed anthropodermic books bound in human skin, the world's largest H.P. Lovecraft archive, and the Damon Collection of occult and demonological literature.
20 Prospect Street, Providence, RI 02912
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free admission to the library and current exhibitions; reading-room access for researchers requires registration.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Beaux-Arts library building with elevator access; ground-floor reading rooms accessible.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1910 · Beaux-Arts library building designed by Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge · Named for John Milton Hay — Lincoln's secretary, McKinley/Roosevelt Secretary of State, Brown alumnus · Holds the world's largest H.P. Lovecraft archive · Four anthropodermic books confirmed by 2015 PMF testing · Damon Collection (occult / demonological literature) and H. Adrian Smith Collection (conjuring)
The John Hay Library opened in 1910 as Brown University's main library and now serves as the university's principal special-collections facility. It is named for John Milton Hay (1838-1905), a Brown alumnus who served as Abraham Lincoln's private secretary, ambassador to the United Kingdom, and U.S. Secretary of State under Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt. The Beaux-Arts building was designed by the Boston firm Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge and stands on the corner of Prospect and College Streets on the Brown campus.
The library's collections are extraordinary in scope. It holds the world's largest H.P. Lovecraft archive — including manuscripts, letters, photographs, and ephemera donated and assembled over decades — making the Hay the global center for Lovecraft scholarship. The Damon Collection comprises occult, demonological, and witchcraft-related literature. The H. Adrian Smith Collection covers stage magic, conjuring, and magicana. The library also houses the Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection, the Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays, and substantial Civil War, Lincoln, and Hay-family papers.
The Hay's most-discussed holdings are its four confirmed anthropodermic books — volumes bound in human skin. Peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF) testing conducted in April 2015 confirmed the bindings: an edition of Andreas Vesalius's anatomy textbook 'De humani corporis fabrica,' two 19th-century editions of Hans Holbein's 'Dance of Death' rebound in 1898, and 'Mademoiselle Giraud, My Wife' (1891). Brown's library FAQ confirms these are no longer on regular public display and are 'treated as human remains' under current ethical-stewardship protocols. Public Halloween-season showings of the anthropodermic volumes ran annually until 2019, when the library updated its handling policy.
The combination of the skin books, the Lovecraft archive, and the Damon occult collection makes the John Hay a perennial fixture on Providence ghost-lore lists and on Brown University's own annual 'spooky sightings' campus tours.
Sources
According to Brown University News, the Brown Daily Herald, and Atlas Obscura, the John Hay Library's haunted reputation rests primarily on what it holds rather than on dramatic apparition reports. The four anthropodermic books — including the 'Mademoiselle Giraud, My Wife' volume rebound in human skin in 1891 and confirmed by peptide mass fingerprinting in April 2015 — are treated under current library protocol as human remains and are no longer on public display.
Brown's own 2017 'spooky sightings' feature (brown.edu/news/2017-10-24/halloween) lists the John Hay among campus haunted spots, citing both the skin books and the H.P. Lovecraft archive — which contains the manuscripts, letters, and personal effects of an author whose Providence-centric horror fiction defined a genre. The Damon Collection's accumulation of demonological and occult treatises adds a third layer to the library's atmospheric reputation.
Reported phenomena from students and staff (Brown Daily Herald) include cold spots in the special-collections stacks, a heavy or oppressive atmosphere near the rare-book vault, and the sense of presence while working alone with the Lovecraft manuscripts. The Tab Brown's annual 'most haunted buildings on campus' feature has included the John Hay multiple times.
No independent paranormal investigation has been published — the lore here is tour-tradition and undergraduate folklore. We treat the anthropodermic-book history with the editorial care it deserves: the 2015 PMF testing is documented science, and Brown's current handling of those volumes as human remains is the responsible institutional stance.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Visit the John Hay Library to see rotating exhibitions of rare books, manuscripts, and special collections. The library has historically held public Halloween-season showings of the anthropodermic books and Lovecraft manuscripts; check current programming.
Researchers may request access to the H.P. Lovecraft archive, the Damon Collection of occult literature, and the H. Adrian Smith Collection of conjuring and magicana through the special-collections reading room (advance registration required).
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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