Haunted Places in Harvey, North Dakota: Harvey Public Library and Surrounding Buildings

Ask anyone in Harvey. The haunted place in Harvey to visit is the Harvey Public Library, located just off Harvey's main street. Flickering lights, misplaced items, even unexplainable computer glitches have been reported.

The eerie phenomenon could be explained by the presence of a spirit, which is what both librarians at Harvey Public Library have come to believe. They even know who is haunting their workplace: Sophia Eberlein-Bentz, or "Sophie" as she's been nicknamed.

Sophie was brutally murdered by her second husband, Jacob Bentz, on the morning of Oct. 2, 1931, in their home, located at the site now occupied by the Harvey Public Library. According to Librarian Marlene Ripplinger, from a 1997 article in the local newspaper, The Herald-Press, "We moved into the new library on the anniversary of Sophia's funeral, in October 1990."

Sophie was a 41-year-old mother of two girls. Her husband Jacob at first covered up the murder, stating that he and Sophie were on a business trip early in the morning of October 2. Sophie was driving and the car jumped the road, took the ditch, and caught fire. He claimed to have attempted to save Sophie, but he could not.

Once the evidence pointed to murder, Jacob confessed that he had killed his wife. He said that he and Sophie quarreled and he struck her several time with a hammer. It is believed that she lived a short time after he attacked her. According to a 1931 article from the Harvey Herald newspaper, Jacob "busied himself in cleaning up the murder chamber. Blood had flowed over the bedding, upon the floor, and was splattered upon a portion of the wall."

Both Ripplinger and Stephina Gisi, assistant librarian, regaled me with tales of the infamous Sophie. They recalled times where strange keys unlocked the doors, lights flickered six times (Sophie has six letters in her name), and documents have disappeared.

"I was working feverishly one afternoon on the computer on some reports that needed to be done," Ripplinger said, "when suddenly, all my work was gone." She went on to relate that the local computer technician couldn't retrieve her file. All that remained was a big, bold S. Ripplinger's office is located where Sophie's bedroom once stood.

Gisi said there are plenty of other haunted places in Harvey, people who have experienced very similar instances, in buildings or at sites which were once connected to Sophie. But no one wants to discuss them.

If you're planning a trip to tour haunted places in Harvey, you had better act now. A group from Fargo, North Dakota, may travel to Harvey and 'release' Sophie's ghost later this year. "She's unhappy here, and she wants to leave," said Ripplinger.