HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
WVU's downtown library, the subject of campus lore about an elevator-shaft death and a librarian's ghost cat
1549 University Avenue, Morgantown, WV 26506
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free to enter during library hours. This is WVU's working downtown campus library, not a paid attraction.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Multi-floor academic library building on the downtown WVU campus
Equipment
Photos OK
WVU's downtown campus library · Subject of WVU campus folklore and a university podcast episode
The Wise Library serves as West Virginia University's downtown campus library on University Avenue in Morgantown. Like many older academic libraries, it has grown through additions and renovations over the years, leaving a building with multiple floors, stacks, and the elevator that figures in its best-known ghost story.
The library's reputation is built on campus folklore rather than on a documented record of deaths or incidents. WVU's student newspaper has described the downtown library as long reported to be a center of paranormal activity, and the university's own podcast has dedicated an episode to its stories.
The two recurring tales are a night-shift staff member said to have fallen down the elevator shaft during a renovation, and the cat of a former librarian heard meowing in the shelves. The available sources present both as campus lore and do not provide a verified death record or independently confirmed history for either, so the entry rests on consistent, repeated student and staff storytelling.
Sources
Two stories carry the Wise Library's reputation in WVU folklore. The first concerns a night-shift staff member who, as the story goes, fell to his death down the building's elevator shaft during a renovation; his presence is said to be felt across all floors of the library. The accounts are told without graphic detail and without a documented date or name, and the available sources treat the death as part of the lore rather than as confirmed record.
The second story is gentler. A cat said to have belonged to a former librarian, named Sheba in the campus accounts, is reported to be heard meowing among the shelves long after the cat's life. It is the kind of small, specific detail that has helped the story stick.
WVU's student newspaper lists the downtown library among the campus's most-reported paranormal sites, the university's Haunted Halls podcast devoted an episode to it, and a local ghost-walk operator includes it as a stop. Those repeated tellings, more than any verified event, are what sustain the building's reputation.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
The Wise Library is WVU's downtown campus library on University Avenue. It is open during library hours and free to enter. The stacks and upper floors are the setting for the building's campus ghost stories. It is also named as a stop on a local ghost walk.
Mountaineer Excursions has listed WVU's downtown library among stops on a local ghost-tour-style outing. Tour dates and pricing are set by that operator, not the university; confirm current offerings with the operator before planning a visit.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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