Sweetwater County Library, Green River, Wyoming

Origins: a library built “over the dead”

The story of the Sweetwater County Library begins long before its first books were shelved. The land where the library stands today was originally the town’s main cemetery.

By the late 19th century, the cemetery had been officially established. As Green River grew, the town eventually decided to relocate the graves to a larger parcel uphill, now known as Riverview Cemetery. However, certain sections — especially one said to hold graves of railroad workers who died in a smallpox epidemic — were deliberately left untouched. Workers reportedly refused to exhume some graves out of fear of disease.

Over time, the land went through several transformations: it became a park in the 1930s, then was repurposed in 1944 as temporary housing for returning World War II veterans. During demolition of those housing units in the 1950s, additional remains were discovered and reinterred.

When the late 1970s brought plans to build a new public library, construction workers uncovered more coffins and remains, confirming that not all graves had been relocated decades earlier. The library opened around 1980, but far from putting the past to rest, the building quickly developed a reputation as a haunted place.

First reports: early hauntings and “strange happenings”

Paranormal activity began almost immediately after the library opened. Some of the earliest and most persistent reports include:

1. Lights flickering on and off with no apparent cause.
2. Objects — especially books — being thrown or falling off shelves when no one was around.
3. Doors opening or closing by themselves, or bathroom doors appearing open when no one was in the hallway.
4. Whispers, cries, and disembodied voices, particularly in bathrooms or empty areas.
5. Apparitions of people in period clothing, ghostly children, and shadowy figures.
6. Strange activity with technology, including typewriters seemingly typing by themselves and computer monitors displaying unusual messages.

These incidents began right from the building’s early days, not only after renovations or ground disturbance.

Cataloguing the unknown: the “Ghost Log” & paranormal documentation

Because of the frequent reports, library staff decided in the early 1990s to start an official record called the “Ghost Log.” Only events considered credible and unexplained were entered.

Some sample entries:

1. A staffer turned off the hall lights and locked a door — but later found the lights back on.
2. Staff or visitors heard crying from bathroom stalls when no one was present.
3. Whispering voices, footsteps, door handles rattling, and unexplained sounds.

The library eventually compiled these accounts into a book detailing decades of reported supernatural phenomena. Interestingly, after acknowledging the spirits, many of the more frightening reports reportedly dwindled, as if the ghosts simply wanted to be recognized.

Ghost Tours & Public Engagement: from secret whispers to community events

The library eventually embraced its haunted reputation, hosting regular “ghost walks,” especially around Halloween.

During these events:

1. Participants roam areas with the most reported activity at night.
2. They are sometimes provided ghost-hunting equipment, including EMF meters and ghost boxes.
3. Organizers emphasize respect: no provoking or mocking the spirits, since these were real people once buried there.

Ghost tours have drawn both believers and skeptics, with attendees reporting flickering lights, strange EMF readings, or orbs on camera. Still, not everyone experiences anything unusual. Some staff assert that nothing “dark” has ever manifested; events are often startling or odd, but not malevolent.

Theories: Why the library might be haunted — or feel haunted

Several factors contribute to the library’s haunted reputation:

1. Disturbed graves and incomplete re-interment: Multiple coffins and remains were rediscovered during construction, suggesting some still lie beneath the building.
2. Soil instability and shifting ground: Layers of clay and underground springs can create odd structural noises, shifting floorboards, and a feeling of movement beneath one’s feet.
3. Psychological and collective memory effects: Once the cemetery-to-library history became public, visitors’ expectations may have influenced what they perceive, creating or amplifying the sense of a haunting.

Reports persist, though some people experience nothing unusual, suggesting that perception and expectation play a strong role.

Why the stories endure: what the haunted library means to Green River

The haunted reputation of Sweetwater County Library shapes local identity, memory, and community events:

1. Preservation of local history: The ghost stories serve as a reminder of past residents — many of them railroad workers, pioneers, or epidemic victims.
2. Tourism and community: Ghost walks bring people together, creating shared storytelling and collective experience.
3. Reflection on burial grounds: The library prompts questions about how we treat graves, whose remains still lie beneath, and how we honor memory.
4. Living folklore: Apparitions, EMF readings, ghost children, and other phenomena blend fact, speculation, and imagination, creating a living tradition of local folklore.

Doubts, skepticism, and alternate explanations

Many non-paranormal explanations exist for the phenomena:

1. Structural issues: Shifting ground, old foundations, and building settling can cause noises, flickering lights, and other anomalies.
2. Human perception: In a building known to be “haunted,” ambiguous stimuli can be interpreted as supernatural.
3. Confirmation bias: Knowledge of ghosts can make people more attentive to oddities, reinforcing the stories.
4. Cultural storytelling and memory: Oral histories and retellings may embellish facts and evolve the stories over time.

Despite skepticism, the number of independent reports from different people over decades gives the library’s haunted history persistent depth and intrigue.

Conclusion: a library where the past refuses to stay silent

The tale of Sweetwater County Library is more than a ghost story — it is a testament to how places accumulate memory, trauma, and meaning over time. A small-town cemetery, hastily relocated graves, and forgotten burials mean the old ground never truly forgets.

Whether or not you believe in ghosts, the library stands as a reminder of lives lived long ago, now resting beneath carpeted floors, cracked concrete, and whispering stacks. Fear has turned to fascination, skepticism to ritual. The “ghosts in the stacks” have become part of Green River’s identity.