Has there ever been a place you walked by often and almost every time thought to yourself, “I need to check that place out sometime”? That is what the Haunted Bookshop has been for me the last two years.

I approached the bookshop, located in a house on Washington Street, and was immediately drawn to the Halloween sale for kids. The sign on the boxes read, “Please pay inside, thanks for being worthy of our trust.” That immediately made me smile.

As I approached the door, I saw through the window, seven twentysomethings sitting on the floor in front of a desk. As I opened the door, each head swiveled in my direction, causing me to blush and apologize for interrupting. “Am I interrupting a reading?”

“No, just telling some stories, come on in.”

Not a good start to my first experience but I scurried past the group and began to explore the bookcases.  Rooms were labeled by subject and with signs like “Claire’s Room” and “Nialle’s Room.” Who are these people, I asked myself.

The shelves had comic strips pertaining to language, books, and reading sporadically placed on the wood bookshelves. There were old chairs and ancient-looking typewriters sitting in corners. A large, light gray cat slept on an armchair in the corner of the fiction room.

I walked throughout the house and finally gathered the courage to ask the girl at the desk if the owner was in. To do so, I had to intentionally interrupt the storytelling that was taking place but, thankfully, she saw me loitering near by.

“Can I help you find something?”

“Actually, I was looking for the owner.”

“Okay.”

“I was hoping to ask some questions for an article I’m writing.”

“Well then, I’m Nialle, the owner.” (Giggling immediately commenced from the peanut gallery on the floor.)

I waited a few minutes for Nialle to sell used books and recommend more titles. I took a seat in the worn out armchair across from her desk. She was not what I had pictured for a bookshop owner; first of all she was only 28 years old and lacked a pipe.

I spent an hour talking to Nialle about how she came to own a bookstore at such a young age and what keeps her going through the days, because used books are not a highly profitable business. She told me ghost stories and great moments she experienced in the shop.

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Updated December 14, 2006