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Some of the Spookiest Specters in the Library’s Archives

Library staffers aren’t easily spooked — as proved by a recent presentation by reference specialists on some of their collection’s most haunting finds, just in time for Halloween. The Bell Witch, spirit photography, gargoyles — you never know what you'll come across in the Library's stacks!

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Death of the Magician: 100th Anniversary of Houdini’s Tragic Death

Harry Houdini died 100 years ago this Halloween, the master magician shuffling off this mortal coil on Oct. 31, 1926. But his real final act — the Prestige, in the parlance — was that he never really disappeared. He bequeathed to the Library his astonishing collection of books on magic, witchcraft and spiritualism, about 4,000 books in all, going back to 1489, ensuring that the nation would always have access to his world of the mystical. He remains, after all this time, firmly embedded in pop culture.

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On this day: October 26

October 26 Edward Roye 1341 – The Byzantine army proclaimed chief minister John VI Kantakouzenos as emperor, triggering a civil war between his supporters and those of John V Palaiologos , the heir to the throne. 1871 – Liberian president Edward James Roye (pictured) was overthrown in modern Africa's first coup d'état. 1906 – The Illinois Memorial , honoring Union army soldiers from Illinois who fought at the Siege of Vicksburg , was dedicated at Vicksburg National Military Park . 1994 – Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty , settling relations between the two countries and pledging that ne

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On this day: October 27

October 27 City Hall station in the 1900s 1726 – In Leipzig , J. S. Bach led the first performance of Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen , one of the few works that he called a cantata . 1904 – The first underground segment of the New York City Subway opened, connecting New York City Hall (station pictured) with Harlem . 1946 – Inter-religious riots in which Hindu mobs targeted Muslim families began in the Indian state of Bihar , resulting in thousands of deaths. 1999 – Armed men led by Nairi Hunanyan carried out a mass shooting at the Armenian parliament , killing Prime Minister Vazgen Sargs

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On this day: October 28

October 28 Statue of Liberty 312 – Civil wars of the Tetrarchy : Constantine the Great defeated Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in Rome. 1453 – Ladislaus the Posthumous was crowned King of Bohemia , although George of Poděbrady remained in control of the government. 1886 – In New York Harbor , U.S. president Grover Cleveland dedicated the Statue of Liberty (pictured) , a gift from France commemorating the Declaration of Independence . 2013 – Members of the Turkistan Islamic Party drove a vehicle into a crowd in Tiananmen Square , Beijing, China, killing five people and injuring t

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On this day: October 29

October 29 : Republic Day in Turkey ( 1923 ) 1831 Bristol riots 1831 – Rioting broke out in Bristol, England, after the Second Reform Bill failed during its passage through Parliament , causing up to 250 casualties and £300,000 of damage (pictured) . 1868 – The Nanbu clan of Honshu surrendered to Japanese imperial forces during the Boshin War . 1956 – Suez Crisis : The Israel Border Police massacred 48 Arab citizens in Kafr Qasim , among them women and children who were returning from work. 1991 – Galileo became the first spacecraft to visit an asteroid when it made a flyby of Gaspra . Edmund

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On this day: October 30

October 30 French troops capturing Stettin 1806 – War of the Fourth Coalition : Believing that they were outnumbered, the German garrison at Stettin surrendered to a much smaller French force (pictured) without a fight. 1966 – Singaporean leftist opposition leader Chia Thye Poh was detained under the Internal Security Act , which allows for preventive detention ; he was released 32 years later. 1991 – The Madrid Conference , an attempt by the international community to revive the Israeli–Palestinian peace process through negotiations, convened. 2001 – Michael Jackson released Invincible , his

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On this day: October 31

October 31 : Halloween Indira Gandhi 1917 – World War I : Allied forces defeated Turkish troops in Beersheba in Southern Palestine at the Battle of Beersheba , the battle involving one of the last successful cavalry charges . 1941 – One hundred crew members of the USS Reuben James perished when their vessel became the first U.S. Navy ship sunk by hostile action during World War II after it was torpedoed by the German submarine U-552 . 1984 – Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi (pictured) was assassinated by two of her own Sikh bodyguards, sparking riots that killed thousands of Sikhs . 2005 –

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On this day: November 1

November 1 : Samhain and Beltane in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, respectively; Rajyotsava (Formation Day) in Karnataka , India ( 1956 ) Goaltender mask worn by Jacques Plante 1921 – Frances Kyle and Averil Deverell were called to the Bar of Ireland , becoming the first female barristers in Ireland or Great Britain. 1959 – After being struck in the face with a hockey puck , Jacques Plante played the rest of the game wearing a face mask (pictured) , now mandatory equipment for goaltenders in ice hockey . 1963 – Lê Quang Tung , loyalist head of the South Vietnam Special Forces , was exe

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On this day: November 2

November 2 Ngô Đình Diệm 1943 – World War II : A U.S. Navy task force turned away an Imperial Japanese Navy formation at the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay , thus protecting the landings at Cape Torokina . 1963 – South Vietnamese president Ngô Đình Diệm (pictured) was arrested and assassinated in Saigon , marking the culmination of a coup d'état led by Dương Văn Minh . 1984 – Velma Barfield , a convicted serial killer, became the first woman to be executed in the United States since 1962. 2008 – Lewis Hamilton overtook Timo Glock in the final corners of the Brazilian Grand Prix to become the Fo

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Wikipedia picture of the day for October 26

The Babylonian captivity , or Babylonian exile, was a period in Jewish history during the 6th century BCE when thousands of Judeans from the ancient Kingdom of Judah were deported to Babylonia . A major deportation occurred in 597 BCE, following the conquest of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II , with further expulsions after the destruction of the city and Solomon's Temple in 587 BCE. In the aftermath of the Persian conquest of Babylon in 539 BCE, Cyrus the Great permitted the exiles to return to Judah, although many remained in Mesopotamia. The exile had a significant influence on the developme

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Wikipedia picture of the day for October 27

The golden-crowned kinglet ( Regulus satrapa ) is a small songbird in the family Regulidae, the kinglets . It is found in forests throughout much of North America. Measuring 8 to 11 centimeters (3.1 to 4.3 inches) in length, it is among the smallest North American passerines . Its plumage is olive-gray above and white below, with white wing bars and a yellow crown surrounded by black. The adult male has an additional orange patch on the crown. The species feeds on insects, their eggs and spiders, and makes its nest in a concealed hanging cup suspended from a conifer branch. This golden-crowned

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Wikipedia picture of the day for October 28

The rupiah is the official currency of Indonesia. Introduced in 1946 during the Indonesian National Revolution , it was intended to replace Japanese-issued currency and competed with Dutch-issued money in the country. The rupiah is issued by Bank Indonesia , the country's central bank, and its banknotes and coins feature national heroes, traditional dances and natural scenery. This one-rupiah banknote, part of the National Numismatic Collection of the United States, is from the first issue of the rupiah . Although dated 17 October 1945, the notes were not in fact issued until late 1946. The ba

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Wikipedia picture of the day for October 29

Mosquitoes (Culicidae) are a family of more than 3,700 species of flies found throughout most of the world. Both sexes feed on nectar, but females of many species also drink blood, using specialised mouthparts to pierce their hosts' skin. Mosquitoes undergo four life stages: egg , larva , pupa and adult , with the first three being largely aquatic. Some mosquito species transmit diseases including malaria , yellow fever and dengue fever , causing more than a million human deaths annually. Mosquitoes also serve as pollinators and as food for other animals. This annotated illustration shows the

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Wikipedia picture of the day for October 30

Danell Leyva (born October 30, 1991) is a Cuban-American former artistic gymnast who represented the United States in international competition. He achieved particular success on the parallel bars and the horizontal bar , winning the parallel-bars title at the 2011 World Championships , as well as a team bronze medal. Leyva won bronze in the individual all-around competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Four years later, at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, he won silver medals on both the parallel bars and the horizontal bar. With eight medals across the Olympic Games and

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Wikipedia picture of the day for October 31

White Zombie was a 1932 pre-Code horror film that was independently produced by Edward Halperin and directed by Victor Halperin . The screenplay, by Garnett Weston, was based on the 1929 book The Magic Island by William Seabrook , and is about a young woman's transformation into a zombie at the hands of an evil voodoo master. Bela Lugosi stars as the zombie master "Murder" Legendre, with Madge Bellamy appearing as his victim. This theatrical release poster for White Zombie was printed in the United States for the film's distributor, United Artists ; the original artist is not known. Poster cre

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Wikipedia picture of the day for November 1

The African blue flycatcher ( Elminia longicauda ) is a small passerine bird in the family Stenostiridae , found in parts of West, Central and East Africa. Measuring 15 to 18 centimetres (5.9 to 7.1 in) in length, it has bright blue upperparts, a short crest, a long tail, and pale greyish-blue underparts. Its black flight feathers are edged with blue, while juveniles have duller plumage. The species inhabits forests, moist savannas, gardens and wooded farmland, foraging among leaves with its tail fanned and wings partly spread. Its song consists of a series of slow and irregular sibilant notes

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Wikipedia picture of the day for November 2

Mõdriku is a village in Vinni Parish in Lääne-Viru County , northeastern Estonia. It is the location of Mõdriku Manor, a house that was first mentioned in 1470, and belonged to several Baltic-German families, including the family of the Russian general and explorer Alexander von Kaulbars . His ancestor R. A. von Kaulbars, reputedly a great patriot, put up the column commemorating the French invasion of Russia in 1812 that is still visible in the manor park. The building dates partly from the 17th century, with substantial alterations in the 1780s and 1890s. During the 20th century, it was used

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October 26 Wikipedia featured article

Cover of the first issue, 1914 Eyebrow Talk was a Chinese monthly literary magazine published in 18 issues from 1914 to 1916. Among the first Chinese literary magazines marketed towards women, and the first to be edited mainly by women, it was founded by Gao Jianhua and Xu Xiaotian, her husband and cousin. The magazine often ran romance stories aimed at women, but contained sexually explicit depictions of women in its advertising, covers, and pictures, some sourced from European erotic postcards . Unlike its contemporaries, Eyebrow Talk 's romances often centered on the desires of their female

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October 27 Wikipedia featured article

Mookie Wilson 's two-run at bat won Game 6 of the 1986 World Series . The 1986 New York Mets season began on April 8, 1986. It concluded on October 27 with a Mets victory in Game 7 of the World Series , for their second and most recent World Series title. The Mets had narrowly missed winning the NL East in 1985, but in 1986 were not seriously challenged, winning the division by 21½ games. They defeated the Houston Astros in six games in the NLCS , with the Mets erasing a three-run ninth-inning deficit and winning Game 6 in sixteen innings. They played the Boston Red Sox in the World Series and

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October 28 Wikipedia featured article

1865 drawing of Price's Raid The Second Battle of Newtonia was fought on October 28, 1864, near Newtonia, Missouri , between cavalry of the Union Army and the rear guard of the Confederate Army of Missouri . In September 1864, the Confederates launched Price's Raid (pictured) , an attempt to create a popular uprising against Union control of Missouri . After being forced to retreat, the Confederates halted to rest near Newtonia. On the afternoon of October 28, Union pursuers caught up and surprised the Confederates. The main Confederate army withdrew, leaving a rear guard under Brigadier Gener

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October 29 Wikipedia featured article

Chimacum Creek is a stream in Jefferson County, Washington , United States. Located on the base of the Quimper Peninsula , the main stem originates from springs and ponds in the forested hills south of Discovery Bay . It flows south from its source, then turns east, then north, taking in tributaries before entering Chimacum Valley. It enters a ravine where it meets the sea in Port Hadlock-Irondale , creating a small estuary and an area of intertidal wetland as it enters Port Townsend Bay . The topography of the watershed was shaped by the Cordilleran ice sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum ,

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October 30 Wikipedia featured article

John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Father of the United States , a leader of the American Revolution , and the second U.S. president . He was a Province of Massachusetts Bay delegate to the Second Continental Congress and the leading advocate for American independence from Britain. In addition to seconding the Lee Resolution , Adams served on the Committee of Five , which drafted the United States Declaration of Independence . A dedicated diarist, Adams corresponded with his wife Abigail during this time, recording historical information on the era. In 1783, Adams was

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October 31 Wikipedia featured article

Adam West Zombie Nightmare is a 1987 zombie film starring Adam West (pictured) , Jon Mikl Thor , and Tia Carrere . The film centres around a baseball player killed by a group of teenagers, then resurrected as a zombie by a Haitian Vodou priestess. The zombie kills the teens, whose deaths are investigated by the police. The film was written to star mostly black actors but, at the request of investors, the characters' names were changed to more typically white names. While Jack Bravman was credited as director, John Fasano directed most of the film, causing problems with the production crew, who

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