HOMEWOOD, Ala. (WIAT) — An Alabama ghost story about The Homewood Library has gone viral on TikTok.
“When the doors close at the Homewood Library, the library becomes a different place,” creator Joshua Dairen said in a TikTok video featuring the ‘Alabama Urban Legend’ that ghosts roam the isles of books. His account has over 2 million combined views.
After Dairen posted the video, Homewood Library Director, Judith Wright, said she was confused why so many people were asking about the ghost. She was receiving lots of emails and calls from people around the country.
“And then one of our board members sent me an email and said, ‘my granddaughter saw this on TikTok!’ And we absolutely loved it,” Write said.
She especially appreciated that Dairen got all of his facts right in the video.
“Facts are important to us librarians,” Wright laughed.
The ghosts have been researched and documented for years. The stories are even written about in books featuring hauntings in Alabama. All of them are filled with accounts of lights flickering, doors opening and closing by themselves, items flying off shelves, and perhaps most chilling; the sounds of ladies laughing and talking in the basement.
“When workers come down here to check on it, nobody is here,” said Leslie West, head of the library Adult Services programs.
When asked what she says to people who do not believe in ghosts, West said, “well, you’ve not had an experience that you couldn’t explain.“
A small farmhouse once stood in the middle of a pasture on the library’s land. Then, The Church of Christ was built in the 1960s. In the mid-1980s, the building was converted into The Homewood Library we know today.
Write was skeptical about ghosts until a group of paranormal investigators visited in 2017.
“And it’s just the three of us and their equipment– which is a kind of AM-FM radio scanner. And they are asking questions, and I’m not paying the most attention. And they ask, how many spirits are here? And it’s silence. And then the scanner goes ‘nine,'” Write said. After that experience, Write was a believer in the group of friendly, sometimes mischievous ghosts.
Once something caught her attention in the corner of a surveillance video.
“When we slowed the video down, sure enough, no one was in our DVD section – but a DVD just flies off the shelf,” Write said.
The ghosts may not have a library card, but they are welcome here nonetheless.
“I think they are here because they have an attachment and affection to the place. I think they are part of our mission here. We are here to expand people’s ideas and thoughts,” West said. Now, the group of nine ghosts is attracting new patrons who want to ‘check out’ a ghost story.
Before the pandemic, the library would host ghost tours with local paranormal investigators with S.C.A.R.E of Alabama. With all the growing attention, they’ve decided to bring the ghost tours back as a fundraiser for the library. More ghost tours are expected to be added to the event calendar in January 2023!
