A Haunting at the Hoyt Library

My name is Kelly Ferchau.

I've worked for the public libraries

of Saginaw for 35 years.

Working in a library as old as this

or any building as old as this, I guess,

you always hear about oh, is it haunted?

Are there ghosts?

Do you ever experienced anything

out of the ordinary?

Every once in awhile, while we're looking at old newspapers,

we might read something where someone actually died

in the library, so you know, then you think

well, maybe that's that person's spirit is here.

I know there are portions of the library

that some of the employees either try to avoid

or absolutely avoid

because they have experienced paranormal activity

and were very upset by it.

- To me, this is one of the creepiest areas of the library.

I cannot come down here without getting goose bumps

on my arms and the back of my neck.

One time I was walking down one of the aisles

and there was someone in front of me,

no one behind me, and I felt something

tugging on the back of my sweater.

And that is a feeling that you know what that is.

It couldn't have been anything else.

There was no one there.

I turned around, nothing but darkness.

Hoyt library has a colorful past.

People talked about some of the paranormal activity

that was happening at Hoyt.

You didn't hear it all the time, but one of the things

that I heard was that there was a video,

a short clip online from Hoyt library,

of a chair in the basement,

and it was just spinning.

And so I did go out on the Internet and I looked at that

and I was quite amazed by it.

Because at that time I wasn't terribly interested

the paranormal.

I can't really say that I believed in ghosts,

but I didn't disbelieve.

I'm a believer now.

- Right now, we're headed into the fiction room.

This originally was the reading room.

I've only heard one story about there being

an encounter here.

A patron a few years ago was down here looking

at works of fiction,

and there was a little girl

sitting here, a little blond girl,

about four years old.

And all I could think is that maybe it's a little girl

who's waiting for story time.

When this section of the library was the children's

department, and the librarian would sit here

on the floor with the children and read them a story.

- The area that we're in now is called the tech attic.

This is really a storage area for the library.

This is probably the most active

and most disturbing of all the places in the library

where people have experienced some kind of haunting.

This particular room has had everything happen

from books moving by themselves on the shelf,

footsteps that sound like someone with hobnail shoes

walking around, when there's no one in the room,

to lights being messed around with,

turned on, turned off.

When you hit the switch, the lights go on one way,

and then they go off, and the only other light switch

is at the bottom of the stairs.

- When was the last time that happened?

- Just now, actually, when we came in the room.

Yeah, I'm a little bit creeped out by it right now.

This the Michigan room.

Several people who work here

don't like going into this room.

In 2010, I was here.

It was late at night.

The library was about ready to close,

and I was working at the desk.

I looked up and going across

inside the room

was the shadow figure of a woman

in a long dress.

She just went from this side to that side

and that's all there was.

Here on the grand staircase

when I leave at night and other people leave at night

we always had a feeling that somebody is

up on the landing,

just staring at us,

waiting for us to leave.

And I never look back

and I never look at the window,

just in case there's a reflection.

We always get this feeling that we, the living,

we have the building during the day

and there's like a shift change when

we close the building at night.

And sometimes I think they're a little bit

more anxious to get the building to themselves

and you just feel it when I walk down the stairs

that it's time for us all to leave.

- One of the things that I find so fascinating

about this location specifically

is how many different spirits are said

to haunt the Hoyt library.

How many different apparitions have been identified.

And one has to wonder, how could there be so many ghosts

trapped within the walls of one building like that.

What's the cause of that?

And one of the theories I have is

you gotta consider multiple things.

The land that the Hoyt was built on

at one point used to be a jail

where many people were murdered violently

in the 1800s.

On top of that, people have died here

since it's been a library, so you've got

to wonder if that plays a part.

And it's also a theory that spirits can be attached

to certain objects, and the Hoyt

has one of the biggest collections,

if not the biggest collection of Saginaw history

and Saginaw's past.

So all of this together could really account for why

there's been so many different things

seen within this building.

We just want to find the answers.

We want to document and get some evidence.

- The hard drives on all the digital recorders

have been wiped clean.

We're ready to record all night.

We've got fully charged infrared lights

and fresh batteries in all the rest of the gear.

The tripod cameras have been set up.

And that's actually one of the biggest challenges

that we have this evening is the building itself

is so large, we have more rooms than we have cameras.

But we've got the live feed broadcasting in here.

And with all the stories that we've heard

about this building, with all the history behind it,

I know it's gonna be a good investigation.

I'm ready to go.

Looking at this picture, I can imagine

the amount of blood, sweat, and tears

that went into creating this building.

Especially when you get into all these little

detailed carvings in the archway

and all on the exterior of this building.

Kind of makes you wonder if any of these gentlemen

have returned and they're the source

of the paranormal activity that

the staff here at the library are experiencing.

- I'm really excited about this investigation.

I've heard rumors that this place is haunted for years.

Read all kinds of articles in the paper.

Heard all kinds of stories.

We've got employees who have given us eyewitness claims.

We just want to validate those on both audio and video.

We owe it to them.

One of the things that's most exciting about this is

we've never had a place where there's so many

professional people who've come forward

and stake their reputation on the stories that

they're telling us, being in our documentary and all.

I can't wait to see what we find.

- Alright, guys, this is one of the biggest places

we've ever investigated.

Thousands of square feet, multiple floors,

and dozens of different rooms.

The only possible way that we're gonna cover

all this ground before the sun comes up,

we all need to split up and go our own way.

Just be cautious.

Be careful walking around here in the dark.

Stay in radio communication.

Now, this is important.

Severe thunderstorm warnings have been issued for tonight.

There's warnings all over the radio and TV.

We all know that thunderstorms cause a huge spike

in the electromagnetic field,

giving spirits more energy to manifest.

Alright, that being said, we're all geared up.

We've got the guys on the monitors here.

I'm ready to go.

You ready?

Good.

Tim?

Josh? - Ready.

Alright, let's go.

Hoyt Library investigation.

Let's do it.

This is Tim.

EVP session on the mezzanine.

Do you enjoy seeing people come through here?

Remind you of when you worked here?

Or remind you of when you frequented here?