Andruss Library: Haunted or Just Full of Really Big Books?
For some Bloomsburg University students Andruss Library is a frightening place. Understandably so. Four floors of thick tomes and dusty dictionaries is enough to give anyone the shivers. Yellowing newspapers and stacks of unwatched foreign films further add to the horror. Come on a weekend or Thursday night and the building is deathly quiet. Aesthetics aside, however, a more logical fear lies within the library’s massive walls; the legend of the Andruss Apparition.
Some say its the tortured spirit of a past BU student. Some say its the restless ghost of scorned librarian. Still others maintain thats is just a crazy old man who has lost his way. Whichever story you choose to believe in, this thing is very real, and very creepy.
The legend of the Andruss Apparition is as old as the building itself. When the library moved from the building now containing the student services center to its present location in 1998, the books were not the only items that came along for the trip. In the ten years since, there has been numerous reports of someone or something inhabiting the 4th floor of Andruss Libary. This is not your father’s Casper the Friendly Ghost, mind you. The spirit has been linked to numerous acts of vandalism and destruction around the building.
“We’ve seen books being placed in the wrong locations, things being scattered all over the place, trashcans that have been knocked over,” stated Miranda, who has been a part of the library as both a student and now a supervisor since 1998. “Then again it could just be the kids…”
Maybe so, but what kind of student would roam the 4th floor only at night, approaching studying kids asking to have them “change his diaper?” Yep. You heard that right.
“Oh sure,” laughed Alice, another of Andruss Library’s hardworking staff members. “He’s been described as being an old, crazy man who goes up to kids and asks them to change his diaper.”
When asked if there is any grain of truth to this story, Alice reaffirmed its validity.
“Well a number of a years ago we had a student come down from upstairs to the front desk. He said that there was an old man bothering him up on the 4th floor, asking to be changed.”
Upon investigating the situation, however, no old man was found.
“A few years later, the same thing happened. Another student came to us with the same story. This time though two of us went up to check it out, one going to the 3rd floor and the other to the 4th. There was nothing though.”
Alice stated that she does not think that these stories were made up as they were a number of years apart. Nor does she believe that they are just a coincidence.
A couple brave Bloomsburg students ventured up to the 4th floor during a power outage in the building, hoping to catch a glimpse of the mysterious menace. Again, they found nothing.
And so, as Halloween approaches we are reminded once again of the phantom who dwells right here on our own very campus. He may not have the gruesome appearance as Freddy Kruger, or murderous impluses like Michael Myers, but one things for certain; whatever this is, its certainly strange and very bizzare.
So the next time you venture up alone to the 4th Floor of Andruss Library, beware of the Andruss Appariation, and his persistant pleas to be cleaned up. Suddenly that research and writing paper does not seem so scary. Well…almost.
