ALTOONA
BAKER MANSION
(Baker Mansion History Museum)
3419 Oak Lane
Status: Former Residence; Museum
By <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pubdog" title="User:Pubdog">Pubdog</a> - <span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>, Public Domain, Link
History
Built between 1844 and 1849 this mansion was the dream house of Elias Baker and very nearly led to his financial ruin.
In 1836 he and his cousin bought the nearby Alleghany Furnace for smelting iron. In 1844 he bought out his cousin’s share.
The house was built at a cost $15,000 ($500,000 in 2019 dollars) and with the falling price of iron very nearly bankrupted Baker.
It is built in the Greek Revival style with 6 pillars at the front.
He lived in the house for 15 years: passing away in 1864. His wife, Hettie, remained a widow – living in the house – until she died in 1900.
Their remaining son and daughter – the eldest son had died in 1852 in steamboat boiler explosion and the youngest daughter from diphtheria when she was only 2 – remained in the house after their mother passed. Neither of them married and they remained in the house until their deaths.
The daughter, Anna, was the last to go as she passed in 1914. After her death the mansion remained empty until 1922 when the Blair County Historical Society was able to lease the it.
In 1941 the Society was able to outright buy the mansion and moved their headquarters into it.
In 2001 they began a major restoration and restored the outside of the building to it’s original grandeur.
In 2015 – upon finishing the double parlor – they completed the restoration of the interior.
Today, the mansion functions both as a museum as well as the Historical Society’s head office.
Paranormal Activity
The Baker Mansion is considered one of the most paranormally active houses in America.
Anna Baker (see above) fell in love with one of her father’s workmen. Knowing her father would never approve she kept the relationship hidden.
Anna is said to have been a very beautiful woman.
Their affair was kept hidden until he proposed to her.
Filled with happiness Anna finally told her family. This being the 19th century her rich father absolutely forbid his daughter marrying below her station. Her father fired the man and chased him away.
Anna was heartbroken and swore to never marry, and she never did.
When her father died, she tracked the man down, but he had married someone else.
Anna’s behavior got stranger and stranger and she confined herself to the mansion with only her brother and staff for company. Maids would often find her alone in her room dancing to her music box in a white gown.
She died in 1914 unmarried and the last of her father’s line.
When the mansion was converted into a museum a wedding dress worn by another iron heiress – Elizabeth Bell – was placed in a glass case in the Bell room. Sealed away and untouchable the dress will occasionally twitch at the bottom as if a breath of air passes through it.
It has also been seen moving swaying so violently people fear the glass around it might shatter. What is truly chilling is these violent movements usually only occur on the nights of full moons and on Halloween.
Perhaps placing a wedding dress in Anna’s home rubs salts into her eternal wounds and mocks the destruction of her only dream.
Update: the wedding dress is no longer on display as it was suffering damage from light and air.
A sad and lost woman in a white gown is often seen looking out of the window of Anna’s bedroom when the house is empty of the living.
While inside the house the apparition of Anna is usually seen in the second floor bedrooms and the double parlor.
The ghost of a Civil War era soldier is seen in the basement. His apparition has been seen standing at the bottom of the basement stairs glaring up at anyone near the top of the stairs.
What is described as a dark presence is often seen and felt on the stairway to the second floor.
Anna’s father, Elias, is also seen and felt throughout the house still standing guard over his dream mansion.
Other Activity: light anomalies, disembodied voices, unexplained images in mirrors and feelings of being watched and not being alone.
BETHLEHEM
HISTORIC HOTEL BETHLEHEM
437 Main Street
Status: Historic 4 Star Hotel
By Discover Lehigh Valley, PA - <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lehighvalleypa/45847637952/">https://www.flickr.com/photos/lehighvalleypa/45847637952/</a>, CC BY 2.0, Link
History
The Hotel Bethlehem that stands today was built in 1922 but the land it stands on has a long history in the city of Bethlehem.
In 1741 a group of Moravian Missionaries built a log cabin here they called the First House of Bethlehem with the intention of building up the town and converting the German farmers in the area. Within 20 years they had built more than 50 buildings in the town.
The log cabin they originally built was replaced with a General Store in 1794.
The general store was gradually built up until in 1820 it changed it’s name to the Golden Eagle Hotel which it would remain until 1919. Many famous guests stayed at the Golden Eagle including Mark Twain and the 18th US President Ulysses S Grant.
In 1921 Charles M Schwab, President of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, decided to built a new modern hotel with his fire-proof I-beams.
The Golden Eagle – which last use was to house soldier convalescing from World War I – was demolished so the new hotel could be built.
When the new modern hotel was opened in 1922 a number of famous people came to visit it including Amelia Earhart, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford; even Winston Churchill – a close friend of Schwab’s – came and stayed.
President Eisenhower stayed here while mediating the Bethlehem Steel Strike in the 1950’s. Soon-to-be President Kennedy stayed in a suite here running for the White House in 1960.
The hotel is now a popular vacation spot and has a Hall of History in it’s lower lobby with pictures and objects from it’s long and distinguished past.
Paranormal Activity
The hotel is very open to their hauntings and ghosts.
There are 3 famous ghosts and one very haunted room in the hotel:
May Yohe: who danced and sang in the hotel lobby. She is said to be responsible for the lobby piano playing on it’s own; some even say she can be heard singing as she plays with the keys of the piano. She is usually seen both in the lobby and third floor exercise room.
Mrs Brong was a landlord in the Golden Eagle hotel with her husband. They weren’t employed for long as Mr Brong was a bit of a drunk and Mrs Brong greeted guests with no shoes or stockings; which was very shocking in the 19th century.
An apparition of a woman in Victorian attire but no shoes or stockings is seen by both staff and guests in the kitchen and dining room. Who could it be but Mrs Brong.
Francis “Daddy” Thomas who had a reputation as caring, respectful man but also was utterly fearless – apparently he rode a horse over thin ice and broke through but he survived – is said to haunt the boiler room in the hotel.
The famous Room 932 is the hotel’s recognized “haunted room”. Its also one of their most booked rooms.
According to the hotel itself one couple was woken up by a man at the foot of their bed asking why they were in his room. When they turned on the light the room was empty.
Numerous photos have been taken in the room showing unexplained light anomalies.
There are reports of: the bathroom wallpaper turning pink - which is a very unique phenomena; lights flashing and turning on and off on their own; papers standing up or flying off desks and numerous captured EVP’s.
LILY
CRESSON SANATORIUM
(Lawrence Flick State Hospital)(State Correctional Institution – Cresson)
251 Correctional Road
Status: Former Tuberculosis Sanatorium; Former Mental Hospital; Former Medium-Security Prison; Hydroponics Facility; Tourist Attraction
All Photos Courtesy of Melissa K
History
In 1910 the cottage of Mrs BF Jones was donated to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the story of the Cresson Sanatorium began.
In 1911 Andrew Carnegie – yes that Andrew Carnegie - sold 2 tracts of land surrounding the cottage to the Commonwealth for the bargain price of $1.
In 1913 the Cresson Sanatorium – called “The San” by both employees and staff – opens and the chapel is built.
The San was built for both individuals and entire families suffering from tuberculosis – the White Plague; The White Death – which was incurable and responsible for tens of thousands of deaths at the time. The San was designed more like a college campus than a hospital in order to help the patients acclimatize and not have to live out – in many cases their last – days in an institutional setting.
During the 1950’s the newly discovered antibiotic streptomycin began to used on tuberculosis patients and for the first time the terrible disease was no longer a death sentence.
In 1956 the facility’s name changed to the Lawrence Flick State Hospital and treatment moved rapidly toward the treatment of the mentally ill.
In 1964 the name was changed yet again to the Cresson State School as the focus became developmentally challenged children.
In January of 1983 then Governor Dick Thornburgh issued an executive order transferring the facility to the Bureau of Corrections. They were given $20.6 million to renovate the facility into a medium security correctional facility. The prison opened in 1987.
Joseph Kallinger – the serial murder and rapist – died at the facility in 1996.
In January of 2013 it was announced the prison would be closed as it was outdated and the maintenance costs were too high. In June of that same year the facility was closed and put up for sale.
The facility is now used by a hydroponics company who grow hemp and other materials in hopes of creating a greener more sustainable future. The site also functions as a tourist attraction allowing access to many buildings and the tunnel system beneath.
Paranormal Activity
Paranormal tours are available from time to time including overnight investigations. They are offered through Ghost Hunts USA.
Reported Activity: apparitions of patients, inmates and staff from all eras of the complex; shadow figures; disembodied voices; unexplained mists; light anomalies; unexplained sounds from loud bangs to knocks and a feeling of being watched all the time everywhere on the campus.
HARRISBURG
HARRISBURG STATE HOSPITAL
(Pennsylvania State Lunatic Asylum)
Surrounded by South Circle Drive and North Circle Drive
Status: Former Psychiatric Hospital; Partially Repurposed; Partially Abandoned; Private Property
By <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Navy2004" title="User:Navy2004">Navy2004</a> - <span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>, CC BY 3.0, Link
History
The main “Kirkbride” building was constructed between 1848 and 1851 after an influx of $50,000 from the Commonwealth. It was the first public building to house the mentally ill in Pennsylvania and originally designed to hold 250 patients.
The dining rooms were removed from the main building and 2 more buildings – North and South Branch buildings – were added quickly to increase the number of patients. A 130 acre (53 hectare) farm was added to the campus providing self-sufficiency as well as work therapy for the patients.
The poor patients were charged $2.00 per week for care and between $3.00 to $10.00 a week for private care depending on the patient’s ability to pay.
As the 19th Century came to a close the hospital and State reached their goal of removing the mentally ill from the almhouses – poorhouses – and into the asylums.
As the 20th Century began – with the main building needing expensive repairs and upgrades – the hospital changed its name to Harrisburg State Hospital and adopted the Cottage Plan housing patients in many smaller buildings on a campus. The campus peaked at 1,000 acres (400 hectares) with over 70 buildings.
There was room for 2, 019 patients but at its top population the institute was caring for 2,441 with a further 440 on parole and off site. The campus was known as the “City on the Hill” on one of the city’s largest employers.
As the 1980’s – 90’s began the population of the hospital began to fall with the invention of the first anti-psychotic drugs and the beginnings of deinstitutionalization to group homes in the community. In 2006 the hospital was closed down completely.
Much of the former campus is now used by different government agencies with the entire campus up for sale. Apparently, Amazon almost reached a deal to buy it but the deal fell apart.
Entrance to the buildings – even the unused ones – is trespassing but tours have been given in the past. There were available on the hospital’s Facebook Page but the last one in June of 2021 was billed as the last one ever.
The movie "Girl Interrupted" was filmed here.
Paranormal Activity
The underground tunnel system and former morgue are said to be the 2 most active sites on the former campus.
Reported Activity:
Apparitions of former staff and patients; shadow figures, disembodied voices and loud screams; phantom footsteps; phantom sounds including crying, laughing and loud bangs, doors opening and closing on their own; electrical disturbances; unexplained mists; light anomalies; objects moving on their own; objects appearing out of nowhere; lights turning on and off on their own; shadows that follow you in the tunnels; unexplained blood stains appearing and disappearing in the former morgue and feelings of being watched and not being alone.
spring city
PENNHURST STATE SCHOOL AND ASYLUM
1205 Commonwealth Drive
Status: Former State Institution for the Developmentally Challenged; Partially Demolished; Partially Repurposed; Private Property
Available for Paranormal Investigations
/wiki/Special:ListFiles/Smccphotog" class="extiw" title="w:Special:ListFiles/Smccphotog">Uploads</a>) - <span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>, Public Domain, Link
This article contains stories of adults and children unable to defend themselves being abused on all levels. Please exercise discretion in reading it.
Our goal is not to shock or disturb but rather to give reason for the high level of paranormal activity at this location.
History
In 1903 the State recognized that there were developmentally challenged people in asylums, poor houses and prisons who desperately needed an institution devoted to care for them. They wanted to create a facility with 2 branches: education and industrial or custodial and asylum.
Between 1903 and 1908 the first buildings were constructed. The first patient was admitted in 1908. Within 4 years the facility was overcrowded and put under pressure to house the criminally insane, orphans and criminals.
In 1913 the State formed a committee for the “care” of the feeble minded stating they were unfit for citizenship, posed a menace to the peace and were all potential criminals. They also labelled all classified as feeble minded should not mix with the general population and should be institutionalized – meaning their genes needed to be removed from the general population.
In 1916 they made sure women could not be housed with men to prevent any pregnancies. And we thought Eugenics was a Nazi invention.
Stripping the patients of citizenship also stripped them of their rights. And so, a downward spiral began.
Patients who “misbehaved” were strapped to their beds or drugged into a catatonic state. If a patient bit a staff member once they punished; if they did it twice, they taken to an on site dentist and all of their teeth were pulled out.
In 1968 a reporter from a Philadelphia TV station did a 5 part series exposing the truth of Pennhurst. It is said his cameraman immediately vomited after going into the first building – due to the stench. To say the patients were being mistreated is a vast understatement.
In 1981 Time magazine did another expose revealing the facility was vastly overcrowded, under staffed, unsanitary and violent.
In 1983 the lawsuits began and 9 employees were indicted on charges of beating the patients and arranging them so they could assault one another. They were even accused of beating patients in wheel chairs.
The school would ultimately close in 1987 under a court order begun in 1978. There were numerous lawsuits at the time alleging physical, psychological and sexual abuse. The United States accused the school of violating both the eighth and fourteenth amendments of the US Constitution.
The site is now known as the Shame of Pennsylvania.
In the last year before full closure and until now the US Dept of Veteran Affairs took over part of the campus as a Veteran’s Center.
Thankfully due, in part, to the Veteran’s Center and the National Guard patrols this facility did not suffer as much mistreatment and vandalism by humans as its contemporaries did elsewhere.
In 2001 Pennhurst was declared one of the States most vulnerable historic properties and actions needed to be taken to save it.
In 2010 a “haunted house” attraction opened in the refurbished Administration Building. There has been some controversary with this, with accusations of not treating the facility’s past with enough respect.
IN 2016 some of the most damaged buildings were demolished. In 2017 the site was opened for historical tours and overnight paranormal investigations in the Mayflower Building.
In 2020 three more buildings were declared unsafe and demolished.
Paranormal Activity
It is difficult to imagine any paranormal activity that has not be reported here. Uncountable people died here and those alive suffered constant mistreatment that bordered on torture. At least 10,000 patients were housed here over the years.
Here is some of the activity that has been recorded by paranormal investigators:
Apparitions of former patients and staff – some of whom are visibly agitated.
Shadow figures – some of who have acted aggressively toward the living
Hundreds of hours of EVP has been recorded from the benign to actively threatening. The ghosts have also responded to questions by the living
Disembodied voices, unexplained noises from scratching to excessively loud bangs
Touches, pokes and prods by unseen entities. Some investigators have been scratched, pushed or had their hair pulled.
Poltergeist activity including objects moving on their own, doors opening and closing on their own and objects being thrown at investigators
A dark entity in the Quaker Building
Empathic feelings so overwhelming people became physically ill or had to leave the property. Feelings of fear, terror, despondence, hopelessness, anger, hatred and more.
Feelings of being watched, not being wanted, being followed and not being alone
Light anomalies, unexplained mists, cold and warm spots, electrical disturbances