Episode Transcript
[00:00:06] Good evening. I'm Ben, and welcome to the show where you and I gather around this campfire to hear some of our fellow campers scariest experiences. Whether you're a new or returning camper, I'm happy to have you.
[00:00:19] For those of you who know me in real life, and not just the borderline fictionalized version of myself I play here, as your host, you'll know that I'm in grad school. So when I came across an email for a submission about the haunted library at Syracuse University, I couldn't resist. So tonight we will hear a story sent in by a camper named Baker McDonough. He wrote us a story about his encounter with the ghost inside the Syracuse University library. Now, without further ado, do you want to hear a ghost story?
[00:00:57] If I hadn't gone down into the stacks that night, I don't think I'd be telling you this now. Finals week had already rung me like an old sponge. I was running on stale coffee and half a protein bar I found in the bottom of my bag. Graduation was two weeks away, and I was still on the edge of failing Classical Political Theory, the one class I couldn't afford to bomb. So, like every other desperate college senior clinging to the edge, I found myself in the library after hours, trying to force four months of material into my brain over the course of one night.
[00:01:35] The main floors were packed, every outlet claimed people were huddled into all of the study pods like survivors of a shipwreck. I wandered the aisles for a while until I gave up and headed downstairs into the basement. That's where the stacks were. If you've never been into a library stacks, they all look like this. The ceiling is just low enough to feel wrong. Rows of dusty old books on old metal grates, none of which had been opened since the 1980s. In the stacks, it's always got this silence that settles into your skin. There's no windows. There's no cell service.
[00:02:15] The overhead lights were motion activated and flickered like they were bad fluorescent ghosts every time you walked past. I sat up at a back table halfway hidden between rows labeled Political Philosophy and Eastern European History. A single desk lamp glowed like a candle. It felt like I had dropped off the face of the earth. Until I noticed I wasn't alone. There was another student down there, a guy sitting a few tables away. He looked about my age. Probably another senior, too. Well, maybe younger. He had his hoodie pulled up, earbuds in, scribbling furiously into a notebook. I nodded as I passed, but he didn't look Up.
[00:02:55] I didn't think much of it. Just figured he was another student about to break under the weight of Aristotle, Plato. Or hell, maybe he was a math major. I don't know. Hours passed. At least I think they did. Time honestly got strange in the stacks. My laptop battery died, but I was too deep into my notes to notice. My phone said it was three in the morning when I last checked it, and then another few hours went by and I checked my phone again.
[00:03:25] It said it was only 3:20 in the morning.
[00:03:28] Huh. That can't be right. There was no new notifications, just the time had barely changed. Attracted up to maybe sleep deprivation. Half the protein bar from earlier. Not doing enough.
[00:03:42] Eventually the other student on the floor took out one of his earbuds. Hey, are you studying for that poli sci final too? He said, yeah, Thompson's class.
[00:03:54] He just nodded. He loves Hobbs. I mean, I guarantee he's going to ask you at least two questions on Leviathan, right?
[00:04:01] That's right. He does love Hobbs. Thank you.
[00:04:04] Don't thank me yet. Yeah, I'm taking the exam.
[00:04:08] He just smiled kindly. We talked a little bit more, mostly just trying to study. He could quote things from memory, lines from books I didn't even know we read for class. Asked me what I thought the real difference was between Razu's general will and Locke's social contract.
[00:04:27] I mumbled something half right. I think he corrected me gently, though, like a tutor who didn't want to bruise my ego.
[00:04:36] At some point I noticed his hoodie. It had Syracuse's logo on it. But the old one, the one I think they stopped using in like the mid 2000s. I almost asked him where he got it, but the words never came out of my mouth. I was just glad someone was keeping me grounded, keeping me sane and helping me. It was like we were in this boat together.
[00:04:58] Around 4am I went upstairs to the bathroom. There was none down in the stacks. You had to go up to the main floor. When I came back, I swung by the help desk. We had to swipe in through this desk to get down to the stacks. I don't know why. It was something about the books down there. When I stopped to re swipe in to get back downstairs, I asked the librarian, hey, I'm studying with this guy down there, but for the life of me I can't remember his name. Can you look up who it was? She blinked at me like I just asked if I could borrow the moon.
[00:05:28] You're the only person down there.
[00:05:30] No, that can't be Right? I mean, I've been down there with him for hours. Maybe he came in earlier. He was down there when I got there. She didn't smile. She didn't seem amused. She just sighed.
[00:05:43] I've worked this shift for a long time. Every finals week, someone tells me they met him down there. I just stared at her. His name, I think, was Daniel. According to the story, he died down there years ago.
[00:05:58] I didn't say anything. I just turned and walked back down the stairs slowly, like I wasn't sure what to expect. When I got there, the moment I crossed the threshold into the stacks, the air felt colder still.
[00:06:13] The table where he'd been sitting was completely empty. Just his notebook was still there. I picked it up. The first few pages were notes. Scribbled. Definitions, dates, quotes. Things that I couldn't even imagine remembering.
[00:06:30] And on the last page, there was a name. Daniel Carter. May 6, 2003.
[00:06:38] I knew that date. Everyone here did.
[00:06:41] Well, at least it was a day. We all chose to get drunk.
[00:06:47] Because according to the legend. I suppose this is the same legend the librarian was talking about. That was the day a student collapsed in the basement of the library. Heart failure, I think. He'd been up for some three to four days, cramming for finals. I am almost ashamed to say it, but I used his notes. I took the exam the next morning and I passed. I graduated, moved on. But I always think about Daniel because he didn't get to graduate.
[00:07:17] Thank you, Baker, for allowing me to share your story. I know your struggles with final exams, but I must say I find your story fascinating.
[00:07:27] It makes me wonder because sometimes I feel lost on campus after spending too long going over something. I just feel like it'll never end.
[00:07:37] And I just wonder if that's how Daniel feels for eternity.
[00:07:42] With that being said, I have no show announcements this week, but if you'd like a shoutout at the end of an episode or access to our monthly bonus episodes, head over to patreon.com do you want to hear a ghost story? But as always, I am just glad to have you all as campers on this journey. Please keep sharing the show with anyone you think might like these stories or someone you're just trying to scare. If you are enjoying it, go ahead and leave a review. I would love to hear from you. Until next time.
