Lore - Legends 78: The Stacks

Episode Date: April 27, 2026

Folklore tells us that ghosts can be many things, but the most common view is that they are echoes of the past that are still present today. Which is why one type of building is the perfect place for a haunting. Narrated and produced by Aaron Mahnke, with writing by Alex Robinson and research by Jamie Vargas. ————————— PRE-ORDER EXHUMED TODAY: aaronmahnke.com/exhumed ————————— Lore Resources:  Get Ad-Free Lore: lorepodcast.com/support Episode Music: lorepodcast.com/music  Episode Sources: lorepodcast.com/sources  Official Lore Merchandise: lorepodcast.com/shop ————————— Sponsors: Boll & Branch: Upgrade your sleep with Boll & Branch. Get 15% off your first order plus free shipping at BollAndBranch.com/lore with code LORE. MeUndies: Slide into game changing comfort and get 50% off your first order, plus free shipping, at MeUndies.com/lore with the promo code LORE. Good Chop: Get high-quality American meat and seafood straight to your door. Use code 50lore to get $50 off plus free shipping on your first order at goodchop.com/podcast. 1-800-Flowers: Order one dozen roses, and they'll double your bouquet to two dozen for FREE, at 1800Flowers.com/LORE. ————————— To report a concern regarding a radio-style, non-Aaron ad in this episode, reach out to ads @ lorepodcast.com with the name of the company or organization so we can look into it. To advertise on this podcast please email: [e-mail]. Or go to: https://advertising.libsyn.com/lore ————————— ©2026 Aaron Mahnke. All rights reserved.

In the early 16th century, Michael made a breakthrough. He was the first to discover the function of pulmonary circulation. Put another way, he had figured out how the human heart worked. Naturally, this should have catapulted the field of medicine to new heights. Finally, after years of guesswork, he knew how blood and oxygen traveled through the body. But there was just one problem. Michael had a mortal enemy. And unfortunately, this man,

was significantly more powerful than he was. You see, John Calvin hated Michael. Today, he might be best known for his buttoned up take on religion, but back then it seemed that one of his major goals was to destroy both Michael and his legacy. And it worked. Because of Calvin's campaign against him, Michael Servetus was executed in 1553.

His papers were destroyed, and the church declared his publications to be heresy. It would be another century before William, Harvey would propose his own theories about pulmonary circulation, and yet another century after that before the wider medical world finally accepted them, 200 years of delay that must have cost countless lives, all because the papers of Michael Servetus had been lost. There's a reason that we hold on to things, memories and emotions for sure, but more importantly, the books that gather up our discoveries and experiences. When we call it record-keeping, it sounds kind of

boring, but without our precious collections of knowledge, we run the risk of learning a terrible lesson. If we never go into the stacks to confront our ghosts, then we might just join them. I'm Aaron Mankey, and this is lore legends. We have always been storytellers, and for most of human history, those stories were passed on orally. Of course, many of those tales were eventually written down, and over time that physical collection grew. And when you have a pile of stories, you need somewhere to put them. Enter the library. The oldest known organized library in history was the Ashurbanipal Library, located in the ancient city of Nineveh. It certainly wasn't the first collection of written

texts, but it was the first to arrange its holdings into a classification system. It burned down in 612 BC. But thankfully, everything was written on soft clay tablets, which means that the fire actually baked them and made them stronger. Today, many of those surviving tablets are kept at the British Museum. The next major significant library in history is one that we have all heard of, the Library of Alexandria, which coincidentally also burned down. Unlike its cousin in Nineveh, though, it was largely filled with papyrus, not clay. As far as we know, nothing survived its destruction. But for centuries, it did exist, and it was the academic center of the world. It would seem that the libraries of antiquity were destined to be destroyed one way or another,

but one exception does stand out. In 79 CE, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius buried the villa of Papyri under 90 feet of rubble. The scrolls were perfectly preserved, if a little blackened by the volcanic ash. They were recovered in the 1750s, nearly 2,000 years later. Over in Baghdad, there was the House of Wisdom. Modelled after the Library of Alexandria, this 8th century repository eventually became the translation hub of the Middle East. But it was destroyed, along with the rest of the city, when the Mongols invaded in 1258. It said the invaders threw all the books into the Tigris River, which, according to legend, caused the water to flow black with ink. Libraries have evolved a lot since the days of antiquity.

for one, they're significantly less likely to burn to the ground. But they've also become more open to the public, traded in their scrolls for books, and have been developing new systems of keeping everything organized. One thing, though, has not changed. They are still a place for storytelling, and stories can last forever. In a cruel twist of fate, the oldest public library in Ireland was actually established by an Englishman. The Archbishop Narcissus Marsh became provost of Dublin's Trinity. college in 1679, but he must have liked it there because he stayed in the position for decades.

There was just one thing that bothered him about his new home. The college's library was completely inaccessible to most of the students. The only people who were allowed to use it were the fellows, and of course the provost himself. So while Marsh could read to his heart's content, nobody else could, even though, logically speaking, the students were the ones who really needed that resource the most. In 1690, he was named the Archbishop of Keschel, and with that promotion came the money to do what he always wanted to, to build a library for the public. 17 years later, in 1707, Marsh's Library opened its doors. Modelled after Oxford's Boldly in Library, it's filled with beautiful dark oak shelves

lined with over 25,000 books. To this day, it's considered to be one of the most beautiful libraries in the world. Marsh's Library has attracted some of history's biggest names, too, from Bram Stoker to James Joyce, but its most famous patron isn't an author or a celebrity. Instead, it's the ghost of its founder, Archbishop Marsh himself. According to legend,

Marsh had guardianship of his niece, Grace, whom he loved dearly. He ensured that she always had every comfort and opportunity that the world could offer her. But when she grew up, she fell in love with a lowly sea captain, furious that she would consider marrying below her station, Marsh forbid them from seeing one another.

But of course, it was no use. The two lovers snuck away to elope, leaving the archbishop brokenhearted. Marsh never saw his niece again. Legend has it that before Grace ran away, she wrote him a note begging for his forgiveness, and then tucked it into one of the library's books. When he finally discovered the letter, he put it away without ever reading it. Years later, though, when he changed his mind, he sadly couldn't remember where he had stashed it. Ever since his death, Marsh has returned to the library over and over again. continuing his eternal search for his niece's letter.

He's been spotted walking through the stacks, running his finger over the leather spines. And readers there have claimed that the pages of their books will sometimes randomly turn, as if an invisible hand were rifling through them. It's a saying that most of us have probably heard. You can never truly know someone. Phyllis thought that she completely understood Dr. Byram.

She loved him more than she had loved anyone else. The two met when he became a boarder at her father's New Jersey Tavern. Their love story was the very definition of a whirlwind romance. In a matter of days, Dr. Byram had swept the young woman off her feet. Looking back, the details of their relationship are a bit hazy. Some people say that they were lovers. Others say that they made it official with an engagement. A few even claimed that they were secretly married.

Either way, they were utterly devoted to each other. Well, Phyllis, at least, was devoted to him. him. To be fair, he very well might have loved her, but even if he did, his allegiances were split between two priorities, Phyllis and the British Empire. You see, these lovebirds came into each other's lives during the American Revolution, and while Phyllis's loyalties were to the colonies, Dr. Byram's were not. One evening, General Anthony Wayne of George Washington's Continental Army stayed overnight at the Parker Family's Tavern. He was traveling with the most trusted members of his staff, and when some top-secret military documents went missing,

he immediately turned his suspicions to the other borders. Everyone had an alibi. Everyone, except for Dr. Byram. Now, as you would expect, he was immediately taken in for questioning. During his trial, he was accused of actually being a Tory spy named Aaron Wilde. Whatever his true name was, he professed his innocence, but it fell on deaf ears. He was convicted of treason and hanged. And then his body was placed inside a wooden crate and sent to the tavern.

News traveled slowly in the 13 colonies, and Phyllis Parker had not yet heard what had become of her beloved. So when she opened the box, she was unprepared for what was waiting inside. As soon as she saw the cold dead face of her lover, she began to scream. Phyllis underwent a complete mental breakdown, shrieking and sobbing for days on end. They say that from that moment on, she was never, the same again, that the entire incident broke her mind beyond repair. It was impossible to move on. Her heart couldn't let go of him, liar or not, and as far as we know, she never fell in love again. Instead, she held a torch for her long-lost love until the day she died. And perhaps beyond,

because if you believe the legends, Phyllis Parker is still waiting for Dr. Byram to this very day. After the death of Phyllis' father, the Parker family tavern changed hands multiple times until it was converted into a private residence in the mid-19th century. Once people were living in the building long term, they started to notice odd sounds, the clang of a hammer and a woman screaming, sometimes even the slamming of a heavy wooden lid, and it happened over and over again. Years later, in 1903, the building stepped into a new era, officially opening its doors as the old Bernardsville Public Library.

Despite the change, though, Phyllis's spirit still seemed to remain, wandering amongst the stacks. In 1974, the library was remodeled. During the construction process, workers claimed they could hear a woman crying in the area that had once been the original tavern, a spot that now served as the reading room. For years afterwards, the library staff reported hearing disembodied voices and crying whenever they were in the room. Just three years later, her ghost was seen for the very first time. A high school student who volunteered at the library had arrived to work early one day.

And like any of us might do, she sat in her car and waited for the library doors to be unlocked. And while she did, she saw what she thought was the head librarian moving around inside, appearing in various windows. Assuming the building was unlocked, the high school student started to get out of her car. But froze when the head librarian's car pulled into the parking spot, next to her. In fact, the library doors were still locked, and when they went inside, no one was there. The last time Phyllis Parker was spotted was back in 1989. A little boy told his mother that he had seen a lady wearing a long white dress in the reading room. He claimed that he said

hello to her, but that she didn't return the greeting. And when his mother went to investigate, she didn't find anyone else in the room. In the 1990s, the library relocated and the original building was converted into a performance academy. But as far as we know, Phyllis didn't tag along to the new library, nor for that matter has she reappeared in the building that had once been her family's tavern. Even so, the Bernardville Library staff is holding out hope that they'll see Phyllis again. She was so active in the late 20th century, it almost felt that she was one of their co-workers. In fact, they made her an official library patron by granting her ghost her very own library card. Let's just hope that they never have to find her to collect late fees.

Ever since her nephew had come to live with her, Mary's life had gone up in flames. You would think that taking in an orphan would have inspired the universe to give her a break. Unfortunately, when it came to Mary Gray, karma seemed to be on a holiday. To be fair, her nephew was a handful. He stayed out all hours of the night, drinking and having run-ins with the law. And eventually that bad behavior caught up with him. In need of a lawyer, the nephew hired one of Peoria's newest attorneys, a guy named David Davis. But once Davis got the charges against him dismissed, the nephew refused to pay.

In retaliation, Davis sued Mary until she was forced to foreclose on her home. She was furious, and considering that she would soon be homeless, she had every right to be. In a fit of rage, she threw her nephew out on the streets. Mary said good riddance, and that was that. But we all say things that we don't mean when we're angry. In time, Mary might have forgiven her nephew. We'll never know for sure, though, because just a few days later,

his corpse was found in the Illinois River. Wacked with grief and anger, Mary cursed the very ground that she lived on before moving out for good. In the years that followed, neighbors claimed that they could hear the ghost of Mary's nephew wandering around her old property. They say he was begging,

for Mary's forgiveness. But with no one home, he received no such absolution. At some point, the lawyer David Davis moved into Mary's old house, but the building would never become a home for him. Nothing but weeds grew from the ground, and the walls were filled with vermin. Even his law firm suffered, and mysteriously, the business began to decline. Eventually, he gave up, moving out of Mary's rat-infested house. And it's a good thing he did, because soon after the entire, the higher building went up in flames. Onlookers would later claim they saw a ghost dancing through the fire laughing maniacally. Every single witness identified her as Old Lady Grey. That is to say, Mary. Over the years that followed, tragedy haunted that location. Tom Ford, the former governor of

Illinois, moved into the brand new house that replaced Mary's, but after losing his three daughters and his wife within the span of just a few months, he passed away. from a broken heart. After that, a formerly enslaved man, Tom Lindsay, built a shack there on the property, but it kept getting struck by lightning. And when a big mansion took its place, the businessman owner lost his wife less than a year after moving in. And the list goes on and on. There was the banker after that, who lost his wife and their newborn. After him, a woman moved in, only to leave after her daughter drowned in Lake Peoria and her son fell to his death from a hot airbus. balloon, and finally a hatmaker set up shop in the building, only to leave when a mysterious stench

drove her clientele away. When the city of Peoria took over the property in 1894, they figured it was time for a fresh start. They built a library there, and then they crossed their fingers that the darkness of the past had been buried beneath its foundations. But I think you can guess how that turned out for them. The first three library directors all died rather unfortunate deaths. The first was hit by a streetcar. The second had a heart attack in the middle of a board meeting, and the third took his own life with a lethal dose of arsenic. And knowing all of that, every mysterious event and tragic death, it should come as no surprise that the Peoria Public Library is very, very haunted. Employees and visitors alike have reported seeing cold spots, hearing disembodied voices,

and seeing chairs move across the floor as if pushed by an invisible hand. One employee even said that she regularly heard whales emanating from the office. Yet another employee said that once a ghostly hand flicked her earrings off, sending them flying across the room. And to the great dismay of the janitorial staff, books are frequently seen flinging themselves off the shelves, and they don't stop even after the custodians ask politely. In all, 13 individual ghosts have been identified as regulars. The most famous is Erastus Wilcox, the library director who was barreled over by a streetcar.

Visitors have reported seeing an older gentleman dressed in black early 20th century clothing wandering around. And in another story, one of the library custodians claims that she has seen several ghosts, and in fact she has run into a few of them with her cart. She also said that when she accompanied another employee down to the basement, her companion saw a flurry of movement as the ghosts ran away to hide. which, to be honest, is really not all that surprising. After everything that's happened on the property since the days of Mary Gray,

any ghosts hiding beneath the stacks probably just want to avoid the living so they can finally rest in peace. If you're anything like me, you love a good library. Heck, I practically grew up in one, thanks to the fact that my grandmother was the town's head librarian. All those tidy rows of books, that unforgettable scent of old, paper and dusty leather covers. Even now, it sounds like heaven. And for a library ghost, well, I have a feeling that they would probably agree. As far as afterlives go, eternity in a

library sounds like a pretty good deal. It's quiet, there are people to watch, and if you get bored, there's plenty to read. I certainly hope that's the case for the Peoria Public Library ghosts, because if the land truly was cursed all those years before, they were all given the short end of the stick. Many of their deaths were painful, so if anyone deserves a consolation prize in the afterlife, it would probably be them. If the legends are true, though, we know at least one of the curses victims is happy with how things turned out. Director Erastus Wilcox absolutely loved working at the library when he was alive, and carried that passion with him to the grave. They say whenever he's spotted among the shelves, he isn't just walking around

aimlessly. Instead, he keeps his hands busy res shelving books to his exact specifications. He's even occasionally been known to scold the staff if they make an error. It seems that, after all these years, he's still devoted to his library. And who can blame him? After all, we humans have always been storytellers, and I doubt something as trivial as death, could ever change that. I hope today's trip into the library was as rewarding for you as it was for you. As for me. As I've already mentioned, they will always be a special, sacred place to me. Although, I'm definitely not the only person to feel that way. That said, I would wager that most of us haven't had the chance to visit a haunted library. But in a way, reading a story is sort of

like meeting a ghost, isn't it? They're all echoes of the past, still active in the present. Which makes it difficult to imagine a world where stories don't exist. According to one last legend, though, that's exactly what happened. Stick around through this brief sponsor break to hear all about it. This episode was made possible by 1-800 flowers. Moms are the ultimate unsung heroes of our world. I remember mine working multiple jobs, making sure we

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Exclusions apply. What happens when storytellers have no stories to tell? Well, according to Ghanaian folklore, not a lot. According to them, many years ago there were no stories, at least not on earth. Instead, they were all hoarded by the god Nehame, hidden away under his throne, high up in the sky. Because of that, there were no folk tales among human beings, no myths or legends, where mothers might have told a bedtime story that was just a quiet bedroom, and where a village elder might have passed on their wisdom, there was only silence.

Naturally, without their stories, the people were bored, when they weren't working, they just stood around listlessly. Sometimes they whistled, but their hearts really weren't in it. Life just wasn't the same without story. Eventually, Anansi took notice of their boredom. You see, this spidery trickster god was a master of living well. He delighted in having fun, so when he discovered that there was no fun to be had on earth, he wove a web that stretched high up into the sky, and then he climbed to the top. When he reached the throne, the spider god asked if he could take the box of stories, deliver them to the people of the earth. In response, Naomi told Anansi to bring him the great

python Onini, the mighty leopard Osebo, and the hornet Maboro, and then, and only then, would he give Anansi the stories. And so the spider scuttled back down his web. It wouldn't be an easy mission for sure, but Anansi was up for a challenge. First he waved a large branch around, saying, she was wrong, I know she was, and made such a ruckus that he eventually woke the giant serpent, Onini. Yawning, the snake asked Anansi what he was going on about. And in reply, the trickster told Onini that his wife had claimed the python wasn't longer than the branch in his hand. The snake scoffed at this.

Of course, it was longer than this measly branch. With a flourish, Onini stretched out onto the ground so that Anansi could measure the branch against its scaly body. There was a small problem, though. The spider couldn't tell which was longer because the snake wasn't fully extended. He asked if he could straighten Onini out, and the serpent agreed. And so Anansi tied its tail to one end of the branch and fastened its head to the other. Before Onini realized what was happening, the trickster spider wrapped his body against the branch with his web, and then he brought the python to Neyami.

One down, two more to go. Next, the spider god went after the leopard Osebo. He dug a hole in the ground. and then covered the entrance with litter from the forest floor. When the leopard came out to hunt that night, he fell straight into the trap. The next morning, Anansi went to check on his prize. The leopard begged the spider for help. So with a wink and a nod, Anansi bent a nearby tree down into the hole,

telling Osabo to tie his tail to one of the branches. The leopard did as he was told, and then Anansi released the tree so quickly that a ricocheted back up, dragging Ocebo with it. Instead of cutting the leopard down, though, Anansi trapped him with his web, and then he took Osebo to Niyame, which left just one last beast. Knowing how much Hornets hate the rain, Anansi poured water over Momboro's home. When he came out to check the weather, the trickster god claimed that the rain might have stopped, but it would soon come back.

The Hornet needed worry, though, because Anansi had a nice dry home for him right here. And with that, Anansi showed him a hollowed out gourd. Grateful for the protection, Momboro flew straight into it. And then the spider god put a lid on it and took the little cage up to Niami. After receiving all three creatures, the sky god declared, Anansi has paid the price for the stories of the sky god, and I do hereby give the stories to him. From this day forward, all of the stories belong to Anansi. Whenever someone tells one of these stories, he or she must acknowledge that it is Anansi's

tale. Which is why, even today, all the stories in the world are said to be owned by the spider. Although, out of all of them, his favorite tales are the ones that are about him. This episode of Lord Legends was produced by me, Aaron Manke, with writing by Alex Robinson and Aaron Mankey and research by Jamie Vargas. Just a reminder, folks, I have a brand new history book that's coming out on August 4th called Exhumed, and I'm going to talk about it a lot over the next few months. This book explores the roots of the New England vampire panic through the lens of centuries

of folklore, medical advancements, and pseudoscience. It's available for pre-order right now. And if you pre-order the hardcover version, my publisher has a webpage set up where you can submit your receipt and get a free, gorgeous tote bag. It'll also be available in audiobook, though, so don't worry, and that will be narrated by me. Head over to Aaron Mankey.com slash Exhumed to lock in your copy today.

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