Andrew Bayne Memorial Library
photo taken from groundspeak.com
Amanda Bayne was born in 1846 to Andrew and Mary Bayne. Andrew owned several acres of land north of Pittsburgh. This land became a valuable commodity as this city began its expansion. He would give some of this land to his two daughters so they could build houses on it. In 1870, Amanda married a prominent architect named James Madison Balph. Balph began the construction of his dream house on the property that was completed in 1875. This building is currently known as the Andrew Bayne Memorial Library.
The home is a three-story brick Victorian mansion that sits on a hill that looks over what is now a two-acre park. Balph died in 1899, and Amanda lived out the remaining thirteen years of her life in the mansion. She spent most of her time reading books from her bedroom and looking out the window at the beautiful elm trees on her property. In her will, she donated the house to the city as long as it would be used as a library and that the trees would never be harmed.
Ghost sightings and strange sounds have been reported for decades at the library. Footsteps are heard on the second floor while walking on the first floor when no one is up there, lights are turned on and off, and strange numbers have been typed on the computers by unknown entities. Amanda’s ghost has been present but only on rare occasions. The assistant staff director reported seeing Amanda’s reflection in the mirror one time when she was setting up in the morning. The reflection looked exactly like the portrait of Amanda that is in the library.
(Source: Belanger, Jeff. Encyclopedia of Haunted Places. 2005.)
its soo weird i just was watching the travel channel and looked up the riddle house and found your website…so while here i decided to type in pittsburgh and see what came up….and this library ive been to since i was a little kid and i have never seen or heard anything in there but yet everytime im in there i feel a little creeped out….crazy….