Haunted places are all around Pittsburgh. I went around to 3 different locations in PIttsburgh to determine if they were, in fact, haunted. I went to Dormont Library, the Medical Examiner's Office, and Larry's Road House.

Dormont Library, located on West Liberty Avenue , was founded on May 8, 1936, but moved to its current location on December 16, 1962. Mary Feuer was one of the beloved librarians of Dormont. According to Ghost Stories of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County , Mary was loved by everyone. “Her love was the books, the library, and her husband Joe.” One day, Mary came to work and became very ill. She was taken to St. Clair Hospital, where it was revealed that she had a heart attack. Once she regained her health, she returned to work at the library. She died in her sleep a little less than a year later in 1987. Soon after she died, rolodex's started to spin, books would fly off the shelves, and the library was said to have an “energy”. They would say “Mary, stop that!”, and it would stop. “Her husband used to come to the library just to sit there and feel her.” However, after contacting Ruth Fritz, a retired librarian, I learned that this was not so. Ruth stated that although Joe was upset when his wife died, naturally, he was not as inconsolable as the book made him out to be. “They were a little over-dramatic about it” (Fritz 10-8-06). Nevertheless, 10 months after Mary passed away, Joe followed suit, and the mysterious happenings at the library stopped. Some people think that Mary waited at the library for Joe, and he came and got her, and now they're not there anymore ( Trapani 13-17).

After visiting the library, I found it to be a very warm and inviting place. The terms “haunting” or “ghosts” usually evoke feelings of fear or anxiety. This was not the case with Dormont Library. While trying to find staff members to interview, I found that many were unwilling due to the book Ghosts in Pittsburgh . Apparently, the information in the book was so fallacious, that many staff members didn't want to talk to anyone investigating Mary's haunting. I decided that I would get the best impression of Dormont Library by going there myself, and talking to a few staff members. Mary was said to have been very friendly, and she was very popular at the library. However, no one had any really recent experiences with her. It seems that Mary has become dormant at Dormont.

When I first started my internship at the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office in May 2006, I intrigued to learn about the death investigation process. However, I got a tip that there may be something more to coroner's office than meets the eye. I talked to many people who had worked for the office for a long time, and none of them seemed to have anything to share with me. The only experience that anyone had was when someone heard whistling over the holidays (meaning not many people were around) (Seskey 10-12-06). Most often, sounds are associated with spirits, the most mild of the infestations. However, one unexplained instance of whistling doesn't exactly constitute a haunting. Unfortunately, there is no other evidence that lends credibility to idea that the Medical Examiners Office is haunted. Although I learned more about the Office than I ever knew before (did you know that the Coroner's Office was not always in it current location? It moved from 4 th avenue about 40 years ago), I found out one thing definitively: the Medical Examiners Office is not haunted.

Larry's Road House is probably that place I was most interested in. It was built in 1850 along Whited Street in the Brookline neighborhood of Pittsburgh . There are many urban legends about Larry's Road House, but it is currently a very respectable restaurant and bar. Nothing bad has happened under the current ownership, but there are too many past stories to dismiss. It is rumored that in the 1860's, Larry's Road House used to be a rental shop for carriage's for funerals and weddings. After that, Larry's was turned into a brothel, and it is alleged that a priest hung himself on the top floor in the early 1900's. Later on, famous Pittsburgh psychic “Mr. Charles” lived there with his mother, who was said to have died in the house. Apparently, Mr. Charles returned with a camera crew to do a séance. The crew was said to have ran downstairs, saying that they chairs levitated. There is also a rumor that someone fell out of a third floor window (rawfear.com).

When I was 5 years old, I was at the Road House for a post-funeral get together. There is a wall that separates the restaurant from the bar. I was playing hide and seek with my friend, another child around my age. I went to go hide up against the far right side of the wall that separates the bar and restaurant. I found that I accidentally bumped up against picture. Not wanting to make it fall, I moved away from the wall deciding to hide somewhere else. Minutes later, I came back past that wall, and I found that the picture was no longer at the far right side, but rather, at the far left side. Perplexed, I told my mother what had happened. She quickly quieted me, therefore furthering my interest. Back at home, I was told that the Road House was haunted. I had lived in Brookline all my life, and I was intrigued that there was a haunted place so close to home.