Since Halloween is fast approaching, I thought it fitting to post a slightly spooky story about my first paranormal experience. To this day, I remember it vividly, even though I was only six years old at the time.

There is an old building in the town where I grew up that was used as the library when I was very young. It's your typical-looking colonial-style brick building. The only unique feature is that there was a long, black iron staircase on the outside of the building that went all the way up to a second story wooden door.

My mother and I liked going to the library when I was a kid, as I have always been a bookworm and I adore old books..the older the book, the better. It was also an old building and I have always loved old buildings; they hold such history. So we would frequent this library and would often bring my cousin (who was also my best friend) along with us. After browsing the children's section for a few moments, I would always get bored (as is expected of a six year old), so my cousin and I would go outside to play in the grass while my mom continued browsing the books.

One day during one of our trips to the library that year, my cousin and I went outside to play as usual. It was then that I got the brilliant idea of climbing the rickety and rusted staircase on the side of the building, just so I could look in the second story windows. Now I've always been the nosy sort and love to explore. My cousin, however, has always been the more practical, level-headed half of our relationship. She, being only five years old at the time, was not so sure that climbing that old staircase was such a good idea. But as usual, I was able to talk her into participating in my adventure.

So up the staircase we went...me first, of course, eager to see what was in the windows at the top. All seemed fine until I got to almost the top of the stairs and saw something that to this day I still can't quite believe I saw. An old man was sitting at a desk in front of the window, with his head down, looking at papers. He was holding his head with one hand and was mostly bald, except for a few strands of silver hair on the top and sides of his head, where a pair of glasses sat perched just above his forehead. He had on black suspenders and wore a simple white shirt, the kind that men wear under a suit jacket. He had a look of great concern on his face, as if the papers he was examining were of great importance to him.

All this would have seemed normal except for one thing...the old man I was now staring out with mouth agape was completely transparent. I could see straight through him. I saw the window on the other side of the room right through him. His hair moved slightly, as if blown by a slight breeze. Needless to say, I quickly dragged my cousin down the stairs so that she couldn't see him and get scared, and ran into the library to tell my mother what I had seen. After explaining to her what this man looked like, she replied, "You saw the principal of the old school that used to be in this building." Turns out that when she was a kid, the old library used to be a school. A man that fit exactly the description of the spectre I had just given my mother was principal of the school. My mother said this man used to sit at his desk just like I described him, with his jacket off and just in his shirt sleeves, with glasses pushed up on his head, going through student papers. He was a much-loved man by the parents in the town because he loved his students like they were his own children and took their academic achievements very seriously. There's even a monument outside of the library that is dedicated to his memory.

My mother knew I must have seen the old principal, because how else would I know what a man looked like that died ten years before I was born (he died in 1962)? How else would l know that he wore glasses and always wore black suspenders? I had never seen a photograph of this man, never even heard of his name until that day. There is no likeness of him on the monument outside, either.

Today the old brick library is now used as a nutrition center for senior citizens. The rusty staircase had been removed from the side of the building and the upstairs windows were boarded up many years ago. Sometimes when I drive through my old hometown I can't help but wonder if the old principal still is sitting at his desk, looking over a school that no longer exists?