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Overview
Rosemary Ellen Guiley is a renowned expert on paranormal, visionary, and spiritual topics. She puts her expertise to use in this guide to the scariest sites in the Keystone State. Each destination includes a detailed description and photographs so readers may test their own ghosthunting skills or visit from the safety of their armchairs. Firsthand accounts of otherworldly encounters bring the spooks into view, while a Ghostly Resources section points ghosthunters to further information.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781578603534 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Clerisy Press |
| Publication date: | 09/29/2009 |
| Series: | America's Haunted Road Trip |
| Pages: | 224 |
| Sales rank: | 1,047,814 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.50(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Chapter 1
Hotel Bethlehem
Bethlehem
One of the biggest paranormal hot spots in Pennsylvania is in the Bethlehem area in the Lehigh Valley, and Hotel Bethlehem ranks as the number one ghost destination. Large, stately and elegant, the hotel anchors the town’s historic district, steeped in the culture of the founding Moravians. It is full of ghostly activity.
The hotel’s site was originally occupied by Bethlehem’s very first house, built by the founding Moravians in 1741. As commerce grew, the Moravian Church tore down the house and built the Eagle Hotel on the site. The Eagle served as an adjunct to the nearby Sun Inn, which could overflow with guests. In the early twentieth century, the Eagle was demolished, and in 1920 financial businessman Charles Schwab built Hotel Bethlehem on the site. Schwab wanted an elegant place to impress all his high-profile clients.
Since then, the hotel has changed ownership three more times. The present owners are still doing extensive renovating to restore it to its original grandeur. Hotel Bethlehem is one of only 213 hotels and resorts that are members of the National Trust Historic Hotels of America, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
The hotel teems with ghosts. Numerous guests report the same or similar experiences in certain rooms and areas. The hotel also is popular with paranormal investigators.
Natalie Bock, the hotel’s special events manager and historian, took me on an extensive tour to acquaint me with the range of activity. Every hotel has its “most haunted” room or rooms, and at the Hotel Bethlehem the winner is Room 932. An apparition of a man appears at the bedside in the middle of the night. One couple described him as wearing an undershirt and boxer shorts. He vanished when they turned on the light. The couple was so unnerved that they checked out that night.
Another couple was awakened by the ghostly man, who asked them why they were in his room. He also vanished when the light was turned on.
A woman staying in Room 932 went into the bathroom, turned on the light, and saw an entirely different room, one with pink wallpaper. Perhaps, she saw a glimpse of the room as it had been in the past.
Other guests have reported that they saw papers fly off the desk and lights blink on and off. There are photos of the room in which orbs appear.
Room 932 may be the hotel’s most famous haunted guest room, but Bock says many of the other rooms also have ghostly activity. Plumbing turns off and on without explanation, other apparitions are seen, phantom voices are heard, and objects are moved about.
Among the ghostly residents are several that stand out for their frequent appearances and details:
– Francis “Daddy” Thomas welcomed and attended to visitors who came to Bethlehem. He was known for his kindness and humor. His ghost has been sighted in the boiler room area.
– Mrs. Brong was an innkeeper of the old Eagle Hotel with her husband until they were fired by the Moravian Church in 1833. The Church officials were mortified by their unacceptable and outrageous behavior. Mr. Brong liked to get so drunk that he had to be laid out on a bench. Mrs. Brong shocked guests by going barefoot while she worked. Mr. Brong has not lingered, but Mrs. Brong is seen by staff and guests in the restaurant and kitchen, dressed in attire of the 1800s. Still defiant of the propriety of her era, she wears no shoes or stockings.
– Mary “May” Yohe was born at the old Eagle Hotel in 1866 and was still a child when she danced and sang for the hotel guests in the lobby. The Moravians sent her to Paris to learn opera. By 1888, she was famous on stage for her singing and dancing, and off stage for her torrid romances. During the 1890s, she went to England and fell in love with Lord Francis Clinton Hope, whom she married. Hope owned the infamous Hope Diamond, a large and rare blue diamond that was named for the family and reputed to be cursed. Mary often wore the gem. Did it doom her marriage? Something did, for May left Hope for an American soldier, who later turned the tables and left her. May’s ghost sings, and the player piano in the lounge frequently plays on its own.
May is thought to be the ghost of a little girl seen in the exercise room on the third floor, and also in the lobby.
The exercise room on the third floor has mysterious activity in addition to May. No one is in it late at night, but guests on the fourth floor will complain of noises coming from below, as though someone is working the equipment. The figure of a little girl, believed to be May, has been seen in the window by an engineer who was closing up for the night. Another guest wandered up from an evening wedding party and saw a little girl on the equipment. He warned her to get off, not realizing he was talking to a ghost.
The sounds of weights being dropped may be due to another ghost reported on the third floor, that of a former employee named Frank Smith. Smith had some financial dealings that went bad. One day his secretary came in and found his suit jacket neatly folded over his office chair. Smith was nowhere to be seen, nor did he turn up as the day went on. Finally, the secretary had to make a photocopy, and went to the restroom where the copy machine stood. The door refused to budge. She summoned help, and soon a grisly discovery was made—Smith’s body had fallen against the inside of the door. From appearances, he had committed suicide by shooting himself twice with a .357 magnum, once in the leg and once in the head. According to forensics expert Katherine Ramsland, it is unusual for suicide victims to shoot themselves twice, but not unheard of. Smith may have shot himself in the leg hoping to bleed to death, and then decided to do the job once and for all.
Smith’s widow went to court to try to collect on his insurance policy, but lost, because his death was ruled a suicide, not an accident or crime. His ghost appears as a man in a suit and has startled the hotel staff.
Stand in the lobby late at night, and you might notice the elevators coming to the first floor uncalled. You might also feel watched or see shadowy figures walking about, especially along the railing of the balcony above the lobby.
In the kitchen, a previous chef found himself kicked by an invisible presence—perhaps the ghost wanted a meal!
Down in the basement, massive boilers heat the hotel. A dark shadowy figure of a man wearing a triangular hat is frequently seen flitting about by staff, especially in the wee hours of the night. The figure is spooky and moves very fast, some- times tapping people on the shoulder. He makes many employees uncomfortable. The ghost never leaves the basement. He is believed to be a man from colonial times, possibly one of the early Moravian settlers.
In administrative office areas, staff have heard whistling and seen the window blinds move by themselves as though someone is walking rapidly by. Objects on desks have been seen moving by themselves. Shadowy figures show up on the screens.
Other phenomena can be experienced throughout the hotel. The third floor has cold spots and unaccountable breezes. On the mezzanine, a guest once felt the presence of a sad girl about three years old, dressed in white peering through the mezzanine’s railing. Others heard a child playing in halls and sighted a young girl dressed in white.
Hotel Bethlehem is proud of its heritage, both historical and ghostly. Add to that its elegant ambience, finely appointed rooms, and superb dining, and you have an all-in-one haunted vacation.
Table of Contents
Welcome to America’s Haunted Road TripIntroduction
EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA
Chapter 1:
- Hotel Bethlehem, Bethlehem
- Spotlight on Ghosts: Do Not Disturb the Dead at God’s Acre
Chapter 2:
- Bolton Mansion, Levittown
Chapter 3:
- Logan Inn, New Hope
- Spotlight on Ghosts: Porches
Chapter 4:
- Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia
- Spotlight on Ghosts: The Hexenkopf: Misery Mountain
Chapter 5:
- Fort Mifflin, Philadelphia
Chapter 6:
- Riegelsville Inn, Riegelsville
- Spotlight on Ghosts: Washington’s Bogus Vision
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA
Chapter 7:
- Baker Mansion, Altoona
- Spotlight on Ghosts: The Phantom Hitchhiker of Wopsy Lookout
Chapter 8:
- U.S. Hotel, Hollidaysburg
- Spotlight on Ghosts: Ectoplasmic Ghosts?
Chapter 9:
- Jean Bonnet Tavern, Bedford
Chapter 10:
- The Inn at Jim Thorpe, Jim Thorpe
Chapter 11:
- The Old Jail Museum, Jim Thorpe
Chapter 12:
- Greater Johnstown/Cambria County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Johnstown
SOUTHERN PENNSYLVANIA
Chapter 13:
- Gettysburg Battlefield and Environs, Gettysburg
Chapter 14:
- Cashtown Inn, Cashtown
Chapter 15:
- Fulton Opera House, Lancaster
Chapter 16:
- General Sutter Inn, Lititz
Chapter 17:
- Alfred’s Victorian Restaurant, Middletown
- Spotlight on Ghosts: Mirrors: Do You Know What’s Looking Back At You?
Chapter 18:
- Bube’s Brewery and Central Hotel, Mt. Joy
Chapter 19:
- Accomac Inn, Wrightsville
- Spotlight on Ghosts: Rethinking Orbs
Chapter 20:
- Chickie’s Rock, York County
Chapter 21:
- Cordorus Furnace, York County
Chapter 22:
- The Railroad House, Marietta
- Spotlight on Ghosts: The Ghost Dogs of Colebrook Furnace
Chapter 23:
- The Grave of Mad Anthony Wayne, Wayne
- Spotlight on Ghosts: Valley Forge
WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
Chapter 24:
- McConnell’s Mill State Park, Lawrence County
- Spotlight on Ghosts: The Black Cross
Chapter 25:
- Pittsburgh Playhouse, Pittsburgh
- Spotlight on Ghosts: Phone Calls from the Dead
Chapter 26:
- National Aviary, Pittsburgh
Chapter 27:
- Old Stone House, Slippery Rock
- Spotlight on Ghosts: Ghost Ships and Lake Spirits of Erie
Chapter 28:
- Nemacolin Castle, Brownsville
NORTHERN PENNSYLVANIA
Chapter 29:
- Hotel Conneaut, Conneaut Lake
Chapter 30:
- Old Bull State Park and Black Forest, Potter County
- Spotlight on Ghosts: Thunderbirds
Visiting Haunted Sites
Additional Haunted Sites
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
About the Author