Ghost Stories

The main colonial-style structure was built around 1825. The rich soil and abundance of rain in this area of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania made it the perfect spot for a farmhouse. However, perhaps the location made it perfect for a lot of things. In 1837, the building was turned in to a hotel, general store, and post office complete with a stagecoach stop. The business remained the same through the Civil War. Despite changing hands, the bar always remained open. When the 1930s rolled in, it transformed in to a restaurant, bar and hunting lodge. It gained a reputation as a family establishment during the '40s and '50s. A decade or so later, the building went through some construction. First floor walls were removed. A stage and two bars were built. Canned Heat from Woodstock fame and Tiny Tim both performed at the Roadhouse. The Hanoverville Roadhouse may be known as a great place to take the family, but is it haunted? Many believe so. Most of the activity centers around a little...

In 1877, the original house was built in Reading, Pennsylvania. Charles W. Hendel, a financier and owner of the Charles W. Hendel hat manufacturing company, enlarged the Victorian mansion. He hired the  Muhlenburg Brothers Architects of Reading to turn the structure in to a spacious Queen Anne style family home, popular during that time period. Adelaide K. Hendel was the last of the Hendel family to live in the house. It was transformed in to a Lutheran church from 1949 to 1999. In 2000, a Marjorie Hendel-Perject "donated" the house to the Historical Society of Berks County in an effort to preserve the structure in honor of her grandfather Charles Hendel. It has since been used as office space, meetings, a space for events and storage. Hendel House is also believed to be haunted. A male spirit known as "Mr. Whitman" has been seen throughout the home and he may not be alone. Witnesses have also encountered a little girl and various other entities.  You have a c...

The main colonial-style structure was built around 1825. The rich soil and abundance of rain in this area of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania made it the perfect spot for a farmhouse. However, perhaps the location made it perfect for a lot of things. In 1837, the building was converted in to a hotel, general store, and post office complete with a stagecoach stop. The business remained very much the same through the Civil War in to the turn of the century. When the 1930s rolled in, it transformed in to a restaurant, bar and hunting lodge. During the 1960s and 1970s, the building went through some construction. First floor walls were removed. A stage and two bars were built. Canned Heat from Woodstock fame and Tiny Tim both performed at the Roadhouse. The Hanoverville Roadhouse may be known as a family dining establishment, but is it haunted? Its current owner Charles Oehlbeck believed it to be a possibility, leading to TAPS investigating the building. Most of the activity centers on a little...

Construction began on this 18th century Moravian architecture in 1758. The first guests were welcomed two years later. It was built by the Moravian community for non-Moravian merchants who had business with the community. The Sun Inn was known throughout the American colonies for its gracious service, fine food and wines, and its comfortable rooms. This Bethlehem, Pennsylvania inn had many notable guests. During the American Revolutionary War, General George and Martha Washington, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, John Hancock among others were guests. In 1777, leading fourteen members of the Continental Congress met at the Sun Inn, signed the order of Protection and stayed the night. Many people fleeing Philadelphia after General Washington’s defeat at the Battle of Brandywine stayed at the inn. During the Fries's Rebellion in 1799, seventeen of Fries's followers were held at the inn and then freed by Fries. Sun Inn began as a 66ft by 40ft two-story stone struc...

The Carnegie Library of Homestead, Pennsylvania is a public library founded by Industrialist Andrew Carnegie in 1896, third one built in the USA and the second given to Steel Valley. This library would serve the workers and families of the nearby Homestead Steel Works as a way to make amends after a deadly battle broke out during the Homestead Strike of 1892 which pitted union workers against private security agents from the Pinkerton company. The building was designed by Pittsburgh architects Frank Alden and Alfred Harlow and constructed by William Miller and Sons with a price tag of $300,000. It not only contained a library holding over 34,000 volumes but also contains a 1,000-seat music hall and an athletic wing with a heated indoor swimming pool. In early years, the library held class for immigrants preparing for naturalization, and later for women entering the work force. In the 1900s, the library’s football team was composed of many former star Ivy League players and was con...

Hill View Manor in New Castle, Pennsylvania has acquired quite a bit of a reputation especially after being featured on Ghost Adventures, Ghost Hunters and Ghost Lab among other notable people in the paranormal field. Its story began in 1925 as the Lawrence County Poor farm built by Architect A. L. Thayer to be a working farm unlike any of its kind, housing the county’s homeless and indigents. The building was equipped with a kitchen, hospital, laundry, separate living quarters for men and women, a cemetery, bomb shelter and an extra wing for employees and officers. It officially opened the doors to those in need in 1926. A few decades later in the 1970s, a skilled care wing was added along with a new name, Hill View Manor, turning it in to a nursing facility. Unfortunately, the home faced financial strain and was forced to close in February 2004. While the building appears to be empty, minus a few things including medical equipment left behind, some people believe former residents...

USS Olympia saw service in the United States Navy from her commissioning in 1895 until 1922 as a 5,300-ton protected cruiser. She launched on November 5, 1892. Her claim to fame came when she led five warships in to Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War on May 1, 1898. Navy Commodore George Dewey stood on her bridge and utter the famous words: “You may fire when you are ready, Gridley.” The fleet destroyed ten Spanish cruisers and gunboats without losing a single American life. The ship was decommissioned after returning to the United States in 1899, but returned to active service in 1902. Her first duty was to serve as the flagship of the Caribbean Division. She served until World War I as a training ship for naval cadets and as a floating barracks in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1917, she was mobilized again for war service as the flagship of the US Patrol Force, patrolling the American coast and escorting transport ships. She patrolled the eastern seaboard of the United ...

In 1903, the Pennsylvania Legislature authorized the creation of the Eastern State Institution for the Feeble-minded and Epileptic. A commission was organized to determine how many feeble-minded and epileptic people were in need of specialized institutional care. Construction began in 1903 on hundreds of acres of Crab Hill in Spring City, Pennsylvania. It officially opened on November 23, 1908. However, additional buildings were added throughout its years of operation. The lower campus buildings include Philadelphia, Quaker, Franklin, Nobel, Devon, Mayflower, Whitman, Wilson I and II. Upper Campus are Pershing, Buchanan, Audubon, Keystone, Capital and Horizon. A tunnel system connects twenty-six of the buildings. The Pennsylvania Railroad created a Pennhurst Station to deliver coal and other supplies. The tracks had since been removed but are currently being recreated. In 1908, "Patient number 1" was admitted. Four years later, Pennhurst was overcrowded and under press...

When I was a senior in high school, we did this little experiment in English class. Each person on the far left of the room was given a sheet of paper with a few sentences on it. Those people were instructed to whisper the sentences in to the ear of the person sitting to the right of them. Then, that person was to whisper the same words to the person on the right of them. And so on and so on until it reaches the other end of the room. The last person to hear the sentences was told to write down what they hear and then read it aloud when called on. The story the person on the far right heard was much different than the original. If you don’t remember something, you tend to make something up to fill in the blanks. Ghost Stories are unfortunate victims of this. The story of Marvin at the Widows Tavern and Grille in Stockertown may never be proven true. Back in the stagecoach days, Widow’s was a brothel. It was during this time Marvin met his demise. How he died is uncertain. Story goes ...

In 1777, George Washington's Colonial army was defeated at Brandywine by British forces. Led by General William Howe, 20,000 British troops moved into Philadelphia. He needed supplies that were on 200 British ships at the mouth of the Delaware River. Howe had to get his ships up the river before it froze in order to pursue Washington. What he didn't know was that there was a small contingent of troops in an unfinished British fort called Ft. Mifflin. Their objective was to delay the British ships. The siege of Ft. Mifflin began in November of 1777. The British took over the fort after about a week. Before and during the battle, Washington arrived at Valley Forge and out of reach from British troops. The river began to freeze and Howe didn't get his supplies. Fort Mifflin was used during the Civil War and the Korean War as a prison. It was closed in the 1960s and is now open for tours. Most of its' haunted past deals with the Civil War but there are other spirits tha...