Haunt My Block · Library Archive Hour
A free 45-minute Chronicling America program, run by your library.
A printable program kit that introduces patrons to the Library of Congress’s free historic newspaper archive, using real, odd, non-tragic items from old local papers and a short, clearly fictional Family-Friendly ghost story.
Your library runs the program. Haunt My Block supplies this free printable and nothing else.
Your program, your library
The library plans, presents and promotes the program. Haunt My Block does not present, attend, co-host, promote, register attendees or sell anything at it.
Family-Friendly Edition only. Every exhibit, story and listening option in this kit is Family-Friendly: spooky, not scary; no gore; no real deaths or tragedies.
Patron privacy
- Haunt My Block collects no patron data and no data from children: no sign-in sheet, no form, no QR code to us, no survey, no tracking.
- Please don’t send us attendee names, emails, ages, photos or counts by age.
- Patrons who want to search their own street can use the free archive, which needs no account.
Program outline (45 minutes)
| Time | Segment | Librarian notes |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00 | Welcome | “Tonight we’re reading what our town’s newspapers printed more than 90 years ago.” |
| 0:05 | Exhibits A–C | Read three clippings aloud. Ask: what’s missing from each item? |
| 0:15 | Live archive demo | Open Chronicling America on the projector, filter by state, search a street name, and show how to read a page. |
| 0:25 | Theory round | Patrons call out one-sentence fictional explanations. Nothing is written down or collected. |
| 0:30 | Story | One Family-Friendly listening option (below). |
| 0:42 | Close | Hand out the take-home search-tips sheet. |
Playing a story
Libraries and schools may play purchased Family-Friendly stories at free, non-ticketed public programs.
- Free: read aloud a short fictional town story, or play a town episode of the free podcast Haunted America, Town by Town, from Haunt My Block, where available.
- Purchased: a Family-Friendly Edition story ($14), ordered by a staff member for a public place in town (the library itself, Main Street, the town green), played only at a free, non-ticketed program. See the Family-Friendly Edition.
Exhibit A · Illustrative sample
Neighbors Puzzled — Owner xxxxxxxx (name redacted) Abroad Since Spring
Residents of the block were at a loss last evening to account for a steady light observed in an upper window of a dwelling known to have stood empty these four months. Patrolman xxxxxxxxx made inquiry but found the doors fast…
Take-home search tips (no account needed)
- Go to loc.gov/collections/chronicling-america.
- Filter by state, then by date (try one decade).
- Search a street name in quotation marks plus your town, for example
"Elm Street"(an example name). - Try period words: Hallowe’en, lantern, strange light, fair, parade, snow.
- Open a result to see the full scanned page; check the date and the paper’s name.
- Write down the date, paper and page so you can find it again.
Credits and fine print
- Clippings: Library of Congress, Chronicling America (public domain, published 1930 or earlier). Personal names redacted by Haunt My Block.
- Haunt My Block is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Library of Congress.
- Stories are fiction, written and narrated with AI assistance. Characters are invented; we make no claim that any place is haunted.
- Libraries and schools may play purchased Family-Friendly stories at free, non-ticketed public programs.
- The kit is free to print and use with its credits intact. Questions: hauntmyblock@agentmail.to (no patron information, please).