With its Strange States series, Mental Floss is on "a virtual tour of America to uncover the unusual people, places, things, and events that make this country such a unique place to call home." This week's quest was for the Phantom of the Maine State Library in Augusta. In 1991, staff members "wondered if there was a ghost among the aisles" after odd items began disappearing, refrigerators and candy machines "were nearly cleaned out, and a handwritten note of apology was left behind. As the thefts continued without any signs of a break-in, it became clear that someone was living in the library."
The mystery was finally solved when security guards discovered, "in a cramped crawlspace with barely five feet of overhead clearance and temperatures that reached nearly 100 degrees," 20-year old Andre Jatho, a former bookseller from Santa Clara, Calif., who had traveled to Maine looking for a better job.
Although he was charged with felony burglary and theft, "the people of Maine were impressed by his soft demeanor and ingenuity, and began to see him as a sort of folk hero." Ultimately, he was given a suspended $500 fine and had to serve 25 hours at the local elementary school as a reading tutor. Mental Floss noted that Jaho "wasn't able to parlay his local fame into lasting employment, and went back home to California a few months later."
