Entry No. 47 — the Des Moines file — filed under: witchy
The Haunted Bookshop
Iowa's largest used bookshop, 40,000+ rare and out-of-print titles crammed floor-to-ceiling into an atmospheric 1847 Victorian mansion, complete with a dedicated Occult & Magic section and resident shop cats.
The story
You don't drive two hours east down I-80 from Des Moines just to buy a paperback you could order off a screen; you make the trek to Iowa City to disappear into an 1847 native-stone house packed floor-to-ceiling with 40,000 forgotten volumes. The Jacob Wentz House sits on North Gilbert Street as one of the oldest standing structures in town—a National Register historic building that has operated as The Haunted Bookshop since 1978. Step inside, and you're immediately confronted with a creaky, ten-room warren spread across two floors that feels less like a retail store and more like the sprawling library of a nineteenth-century eccentric.
The shop wears its atmosphere naturally. While you'll find plenty of poetry, regional history, and out-of-print fiction, the real magnetic pole for curiosity-seekers is the cramped Occult & Magic section. Here, squeezed between narrow shelves, you can run your fingers along dust jackets dedicated to esoteric philosophies, grimoires, and strange folklore. Add in a couple of resident shop cats wandering the corridors and claiming ownership of the donated armchairs, and you have a place designed explicitly for lingering rather than efficient shopping.
What it's like
The moment you cross the threshold, the floorboards groan and the scent of aged paper takes over. The central staircase rises right near the front entry, leading up into a maze of smaller back rooms. Street parking is scattered around the surrounding Northside neighborhood blocks, so leave yourself plenty of time. Grab a volume, collapse into a worn armchair, and wait to see which cat picks your lap. When your eyes finally tire, iconic local spots like Pagliai's Pizza, the Hamburg Inn, and John's Grocery are all within a two-block stroll.
The move: Split up and each hunt the cramped Occult & Magic room for the weirdest grimoire you can find, then trade discoveries in a corner chair while a cat decides whose lap to claim.
📍 Before you go This one is a road trip: the shop sits in Iowa City's Northside neighborhood, roughly two hours east of Des Moines straight down I-80, so build the day around it. It fills the native-stone 1847 Jacob Wentz House at 219 N. Gilbert St. — on the National Register, one of the oldest buildings in town — and inside it's a creaky maze of roughly ten rooms on two floors, with the staircase to the upstairs warren right inside the front door. Street-park on the surrounding Northside blocks; Pagliai's Pizza, Hamburg Inn, and John's Grocery are all within a couple blocks for the before-or-after. Comfy donated chairs are scattered everywhere, so plan to linger, not dash.
- 📍 Iowa City
- 💸 $$
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Hours: Added 2026-06-09 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- Granny Sprague Cemetery — Pair your hunt for esoteric paperbacks with a stop at Iowa's smallest cemetery—a solitary white-fenced grave resting in a railroad right-of-way in the Amanas.
- Communal Kitchen Museum — Extend your walk through 19th-century history by touring the only fully intact communal kitchen surviving from the Amanas' collective era.
- Henry Moore's Mini-Americana Barn Museum — Follow up a day among rare antiquarian books with a visit to an 1876 horse barn packed with over 200 hand-crafted miniature American buildings.
Good to know
How far is The Haunted Bookshop from Des Moines?
It sits in Iowa City's Northside neighborhood, roughly a two-hour drive east from Des Moines straight down I-80.
What is the history of the building itself?
It fills the 1847 Jacob Wentz House, a native-stone Victorian landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places and one of the oldest buildings in Iowa City.
What kind of books does the shop carry?
The inventory features over 40,000 used, rare, and out-of-print titles across ten rooms, including dedicated sections for Occult & Magic, antiquarian books, and local history.
Are there really cats inside?
Yes, resident shop cats roam the rooms freely and frequently sleep in the donated chairs throughout the house.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site · Yelp · pw.org · Facebook
last checked: 2026-06-09