Linderman Library haunts campus for first time

Linderman Library, known for being a quiet, study-centric spot on campus, came to life on Thursday night with music and Halloween-themed activities. 

Linderman Haunted Library was a collaborative effort between Lehigh After Dark, the Office of Student Involvement, and the Library Welcome Committee within Lehigh Libraries. 

A main draw for the event, besides the live music and food offerings, was the library maze located in the stacks on the lower level of the library. 

Lila Goldenberg, an assistant discovery archivist within Special Collections at Lehigh Libraries and a member of the welcome committee, said they were most proud of the maze they were able to create, which took them from early morning until late afternoon to build.

“It was a big collaborative effort, not just from the welcome committee, but pretty much all the librarians here pitched in today to help build out the maze,” Goldenberg said. 

The “spooky maze” featured animatronics, spider webs, hanging candles and a list of Halloween-themed trivia questions hidden throughout. 

In the rotunda on the first floor of Linderman, there was a student DJ, named DJ ‘Mari, who played in the Halloween-themed space for students on the dance floor. 

Whatley said there were also stations for pumpkin painting, face painting, ring toss and a sensory space on the second floor.

As students went around to various stations, they could bring their “passport” with them, which was a sheet of paper they got upon checking in that could be stamped at all of the stations. 

According to Kate Whatley, the engineering librarian, one of the goals of the event was to get students to explore the library and discover new spots that they didn’t know about before. 

The passport encouraged this, as two of the activities were located downstairs, where Whatley said not many students typically visit. 

Goldenberg said the idea to turn the historic quiet library into a loud haunted event was first considered in July when the welcome committee was considering their fall programming. 

They typically plan a forward-facing event meant to strategically welcome the Lehigh community into library spaces at least once a semester, but this is the first time that a haunted house-themed event has been put on in the library. 

Whatley said Linderman was chosen because of its history and its greater ability to be spooky. 

“When we were looking at the reading room, it’s just so big and pretty, but if you turn the lights off and just leave the chandeliers on, it can be kind of spooky,” said Whatley. “We had the idea that with FML, it might be more of a loud collaborative space, but it was definitely less thematically appropriate, so we shifted to Linderman.”

Viviana Velez, ‘29, heard about the event through an Instagram post and said that her fascination with haunted things drew her to it. 

“I really loved going through the maze,” Velez said. “All of the ghosts in there were sheets of torn homework, which was really cool.” 

Students came dressed in costumes, like Emma Coraggio, ‘29, and Owen Alvarez, ‘29, who created their outfits from used Amazon boxes. 

Whatley said that the event was a success, with good student attendance and positive feedback on how the space was decorated. 

Goldenberg said the next event created by the welcome committee will be a movie night held in Linderman during the spring semester. The specific details and theme haven’t yet been finalized.