Ghost hunter explores possibility of spirits in St. Marys library

ST. MARYS - Is the St. Marys Community Public Library haunted?

Some library staff members believe it is, and they invited St. Marys resident and amateur ghost hunter Troy Anderson to investigate.

Library staff and even some patrons have reported unexplainable phenomena there. Anderson, during a presentation at the library on Wednesday, said he and associate Grant Wiesner had spoken with several people, and each mentioned the same location and the same general description of the unusual events.

Witnesses reported seeing a medium-sized man in their peripheral vision. The man was wearing dark clothing and had been noticed going into a particular room at the library. When the staff member would stop to see who had entered the room, however, it would be empty.

The occurrences led the staff to research the history of the building and the land on which it sits, Anderson said. They discovered the first missionary to visit the town was an unknown man who arrived in 1825 and died shortly thereafter. He was buried in an unmarked grave near where the library stands today.

Theories about a restless spirit have been raised, but no one really knows what to think, Anderson said, and he would like to find an explanation. He and Wiesner during their presentation set up cameras, computers and other tools to help them investigate.

Anderson, who works full time as Auglaize County's Emergency Management Agency director, distributed some thermal imaging cameras to volunteers from the nearly three dozen attendees. He instructed them to search parts of the library to see what they could find while video feeds recorded images from the interior of the building. Unfortunately, the volunteers turned up no concrete evidence.

"With the one, they thought they saw an object, but it turned out to be a reflection, and that was verified by two units," Anderson said.

As for the rest of the data being collected by technology, Anderson said curious library staff and patrons would have to wait and see.

"Grant's got the camera images, and he'll be looking at them when they're done recording," Anderson said. "We're looking at one room that is the central pattern for everybody's images that they've been seeing. We'll have to take them back, take a look and see what we can come up with. Maybe nothing."

Anderson said his ghost hunting is only a hobby that has grown out of stories he's heard from others along with his own experiences.

"You see things on TV that make you wonder what's going on, and then with some of the experiences I have witnessed myself, it makes you sit there and scratch your head and think, 'I did not see that or hear that. What is going on?' " he said.

Anderson noted he's also been told of about 20 cases in the area. Of those he's seen, six have made him think.

"I went and looked at them and I came back saying, 'There's definitely something here,' " he said.

Several people during the presentation also said they've had unexplainable experiences and asked if he would investigate.

"They're still very unsure about what's going on," he said. "All we can do is do some research, do some checks and maybe give them some piece of mind."