It’s summer, a time for vacations, and a fun tradition I enjoy: ghost tours! hether I’m visiting a large city or a small town, there’s a good chance I’ll sign up for an evening walk through historic streets, listening to stories of hauntings, mysteries, and unexplained events. Over the years, I’ve taken at least a dozen ghost tours, and while some have been excellent, I’ve noticed a common pattern.
Many of the stories are surprisingly vague. The guide may tell a fascinating tale about a mysterious death, a haunted house, or a ghostly encounter, but when you start listening closely, details are often missing. Where did the story originate? Who documented it? What actually happened? Sometimes it feels as though the same stories have been repeated so many times that nobody remembers where they came from in the first place.
This observation led me to a thought more than a decade ago that has stuck with me ever since: Why aren’t more libraries involved in this?
Libraries—particularly those with local history rooms, archives, genealogy resources, and special collections—are uniquely positioned to help tell these stories. In many communities, they are the organizations most capable of sharing the historical records, newspaper articles, photographs, maps, oral histories, and primary sources that bring local legends to life.
In fact, libraries often know the stories behind the stories. During my years at Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, one of my favorite departments to work with was the Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room. The staff possessed an incredible depth of knowledge about Charlotte and the surrounding region. They knew the people, places, events, and historical context that helped explain how our community developed over time. They often described themselves as Charlotte’s best-kept secret.
As a marketing professional, I always had the same reaction: Why would we want to be a secret?
Libraries spend a great deal of time discussing how to demonstrate their value, increase visibility, and connect with new audiences. Yet many libraries are already sitting on some of the most fascinating stories in their communities.
People are naturally curious. They want to know who lived in a historic home, what happened in an old building, why a street has a particular name, whether a local legend is true, or how their ancestors fit into the larger story of a place. That curiosity is precisely what fuels the popularity of ghost tours, historical walking tours, cemetery tours, and local history programs.
Libraries have an opportunity to become a larger part of those conversations.
Imagine partnering with a local tour company to help research stories before a tour launches. Imagine creating a “Fact or Folklore?” exhibit that explores the history behind local legends. Imagine developing research guides, digital collections, or QR codes that connect visitors to photographs, newspaper accounts, and historical documents related to locations featured on a tour.
These types of partnerships could benefit everyone involved. Tour operators gain access to stronger research and richer stories. Visitors gain a deeper understanding of local history. Libraries gain visibility among audiences who may never have realized the breadth of resources available to them.
Perhaps most importantly, libraries reinforce their role as trusted community experts.
Too often, local history rooms and archives are viewed as niche services. Yet they contain resources that no other organization in the community possesses. While many groups can tell stories, libraries are uniquely equipped to verify them, expand them, and preserve them for future generations.
The opportunity extends far beyond ghost tours. Every community has organizations that rely on local storytelling: historical societies, museums, preservation groups, downtown associations, tourism agencies, neighborhood organizations, and cultural institutions. Libraries can serve as valuable research partners to all of them.
Libraries don’t need to manufacture relevance. Sometimes relevance is already sitting in a local history room, waiting for the right audience to discover it. And if that audience happens to arrive looking for ghosts, all the better!
