This week we are checking out haunted locations in North Dakota and today’s post is about a very interesting building. This topic was requested by Tamara Q. who said that her father use to work at this location and had encounters with the “Stack Monster”. The location we are discussing today is the Liberty Memorial Building.
Located in the beautiful city of Bismarck, North Dakota, the Liberty Memorial Building has gone through a few identity changes. It is located on the city’s capitol grounds and is the oldest building on the grounds. It was built between 1920 to 1924 and was dedicated to the men and women who bravely served in World War I. Since it was built it has housed the State Historical Society of North Dakota, the state museum, and now currently houses the state library.
With all the history at this location, its little surprise to have a least one spirit wondering these halls. As mentioned earlier, the main spirit here is called the “Stack Monster”. The Stack Monster is known to call out to people, be heard walking around, messes with technology, and can be heard coughing. Liess Vantine is a former archivist who use to work in the building said that he heard a voice call him by name. He heard someone say “Come here, Liess.” When Mr. Vantine followed the sound of the voice, he expected to find his coworker, Craig Gannon. After looking around a bit, it turns out that Mr. Gannon was actually two floors up from where Mr. Vantine had heard the voice calling to him. Mr. Gannon had also not called out to Mr. Vantine. The former superintendent, James Sperry, said that one day while working he had ridden the elevator to the basement. Upon stepping out of the elevator, Mr. Sperry saw a gentleman in a white shirt walking into a storage room. Since Mr. Sperry didn’t recognize the gentleman, he went to check out the storage room to make sure everything was okay. After searching the entire storage room, Mr. Sperry wasn’t able to find anyone in the storage room. Mr. Sperry also recalled another time when he had brought his dog, Shadow, with him to work. One of the times that he had brought Shadow with him, Shadow had begun growling before running into the basement. Shadow would then quickly return to Mr. Sperry’s side, whimpering as if something had scared him. An administrative officer name Ron Warner reported that one morning he had arrived to the building before anyone else had. To his surprise he heard someone coughing from another room. When he went to investigate, Mr. Warner couldn’t find anyone else in the entire building.
There has been other paranormal activity reported to happen in the Liberty Memorial Building. The south entrance door will open and close of its own accord. Lights have a tendency to flick on and off by themselves. Historic preservationist Walter Bailey stated that one evening he was working late in the building when he was overcome by the intense feeling that someone or something wanted him out of the building immediately. His claims of this feeling were backed up by an archivist named Frank Vyzraiek, who had also had those overwhelming feelings of something wanting him to leave. People have also reported hearing footsteps walking near them but no one else being in the room with them.
Those that have experienced the Stack Monster have mentioned that they haven’t experienced him since about 1981. At that time the building had gone under renovations and the State Historical Society was moved to the new state museum. One employee who worked for the historical society claimed that when the State Historical Society moved, they saw the Stack Monster walk out the door. Since the activity has since died down, its safe to assume that he has indeed left the building but that’s okay. The staff at the Liberty Memorial Building have made the Stack Monster a security badge in case they decide to return to the building.
Paranormal Housewife 