Putting the ‘BOO!’ in books Bowlby Library provides Halloween fun with ‘Haunted Mansion’
WAYNESBURG — The Eva K. Bowlby Public Library in Waynesburg recently presented a “spook”tacular event for the Halloween holiday, the third annual “Haunted Mansion.”
The event included blacked out windows, fog machines and zombies. Particularly, young children were urged not to attend, as the library has found that younger children tend to get too scared.
While waiting to enter the library, popcorn and hot chocolate were provided by the volunteers as a Halloween treat.
There is a history behind the library’s use of the name, “The Haunted Mansion.” It is a history that dates back for quite some time, according to Kathy Douglas, public relations director at the library.
“Back around the turn of the century, they called the library a mansion, which is where the tour’s name comes from,” Douglas said.
The volunteers for the Haunted Mansion event at the library were primarily made up of local high school and college students. Douglas said this allowed them to “scare” those in a similar age group. Douglas also mentioned that these volunteers and the time and effort they each put in truly helped make the event a success.
Taylor Summerville, a volunteer from the haunted mansion, was sure that the event was successful in scaring people this Halloween season.
“The basement on the first floor seemed even more scary,” Summerville said. “The volunteers used a lot of motion sensors on that level, and a little girl that was singing a nursery rhyme which gave it a spooky feeling. I had people come up to me and tell me that it was really scary.”
Staff and volunteers did all of the decorating for the event. The volunteers were dressed in complete costumes for the tour. The volunteers dress up each year in what the workers call elaborate costumes that help make the Haunted Mansion scarier.
It is also rumored among the workers and those in attendance that Mrs. Bowlby, the woman who donated and helped found Eva K. Bowlby library, still haunts the library to this day. A volunteer was dressed up as the ghost of Mrs. Bowlby and scared the groups as they made their way through the tour.
The tour went over the course of all four floors in the library, each floor completely decorated.
In past years, the volunteers would dress up like zombies, which was a crowd-pleaser and an overall favorite, Douglas explained. The volunteers can dress up in whatever costume they choose.
“It is really cool to see how creative the makeup becomes and how believable it all is,” Douglas said.