HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Staff at the 1964 Spruce Street library report after-hours activity tied to a spirit they call Isabelle Jane
373 Spruce Street, Morgantown, WV 26505
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free public library. Open during posted hours; this is a working branch, not a paranormal attraction.
Access
Wheelchair OK
One-story public building with basement, on a downtown Morgantown street
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1964 · Morgantown's downtown public library since 1964 · Built on the site of two razed homes
The Morgantown Public Library has stood on Spruce Street in downtown Morgantown since 1964, when it opened as a one-story building with a basement. According to local accounts, two private homes were torn down on the lot before the library could be built, which is part of why the site is sometimes raised in conversations about reported activity in the building.
The library is a functioning branch of the Morgantown Public Library System and is open to the public during posted hours. It is not operated as a haunted attraction, and the stories about the building come from staff and from a single documented investigation rather than from any program the library runs.
In November 2018, a group called Spirit Walk Paranormal carried out what its account describes as the first formal paranormal investigation of the property. That visit, along with staff anecdotes collected over the years, is the basis for the building's local reputation. No death or named former employee has been firmly connected to the activity in the available sources.
Sources
The library's reputation centers on a presence that staff have long called Isabelle Jane, although accounts note that no one can explain where the name came from; there is no former librarian by that name on record. The detail that complicates the nickname is that on the rare occasions when witnesses describe a full-bodied figure, they report seeing a man in 19th-century clothing rather than a woman.
The more common reports are smaller: books said to fall on their own and unexplained sounds during quiet hours. In November 2018, Spirit Walk Paranormal conducted a formal investigation and reported elevated EMF readings in the children's section, EVP recordings, and spirit-box responses that they said repeated the name Sarah. None of this has been independently confirmed, and the library does not present itself as a haunted site.
Because the activity rests on staff anecdote and a single investigation, the entry is best read as documented local lore tied to a working public building, not an established haunting.
Notable Entities
The Morgantown Public Library is a working branch of the Morgantown Public Library System on Spruce Street. Visitors can browse during posted hours. The building is not run as a haunted site, and there is no ghost tour or after-hours access; the reported activity is staff lore rather than a public program.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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