Pennsylvania's Most Haunted Places: Haunted Pennsylvania

By Tony Urban

Ghosts and ghouls. Spooky sounds in the night. Whispering voices in dark rooms. Items moved by unseen forces. Shadowy figures vanishing into thin air.

East to west, north to south, Pennsylvania is filled with unexplainable phenomena. Best-selling author Tony Urban has researched more than 50 purportedly haunted locations from all corners of the keystone state and is here to tell the tales.

From the Pennhurst Asylum to the old Allegheny County Jail. From haunted houses to cursed cemeteries. Phantom founding fathers, fallen Civil War soldiers, and much more. Read their haunted histories and hear from eyewitnesses whose encounters with ghosts are impossible to forget.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tony Urban
• Release date: Oct 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215101254

Book preview

A WORD ON TRESPASSING

Legend Tripping. Urban Exploration. Undercover Ghost Hunting.

Call it whatever you want, but if you’re going onto private property without permission, you are trespassing. Trespassing is a crime in all parts of Pennsylvania. You could end up with a hefty fine, a night in jail, and a criminal record - at best. At worst you could run into a shotgun toting property owner and, believe me, that’s far scarier than any ghost.

Good news - most of the places written about in this book are open to the public. If it’s a restaurant, hotel, or inn you want to see call ahead to clear your visit or make a reservation. If it’s a museum, go during business hours. If it’s a cemetery, go during the daytime and check for signage indicating the rules.

If you’re interested in seeing one of the private residences written about in this book, then do it from the sidewalk and be respectful to the people who live there. They might live in a haunted house, but that doesn’t mean they want to deal with curious ghost hunters too.

Visiting these sites can be an extremely fun hobby if you do it legally.

Respect.

It’s not just a song title, it should be a way of life. Treat every place you visit as if it belongs to someone you love. Don’t break and enter. Don’t steal mementos. Don’t damage property. Don’t be a jerk.

That’s easy enough, right?

You’ve been warned!

(cue evil laugh)

EASTERN STATE PENITENTIARY

Eastern State Penitentiary

2027 Fairmount Ave, Philadelphia

---

Oftentimes referred to as the world’s first true penitentiary, Eastern State was reportedly the largest and most expensive building ever built in the United States upon its opening in 1829. The construction, featuring a unique hub and spoke design, took seven full years. The prison’s intricate layout was intended to keep prisoners separate and unable to communicate with one another, giving them quiet solitude in which to show penitence.

A skylight or window at the top of each cell allowed the guards to keep constant watch on the men, while the inmates themselves were kept in perpetual solitary confinement. They received no visitors, no letters, and couldn’t even access newspapers.

Even when being transported throughout the prison, prisoners would be forced to wear hoods over their heads so that they couldn’t be recognized or make contact with fellow inmates. The hood also served a dual purpose as it kept the men from seeing any part of the prison aside from their own cell, making any possible escape attempts borderline impossible.

Conditions inside the prison were, in a word, awful. The building bordered on freezing cold in the winter and suffocatingly hot in the summer. Inmates were taken to bathe once or twice a month at a maximum. Each cell had its own toilet, which could only be flushed remotely. The guards in charge of flushing the toilets did so twice a week. As a result, diseases ran rampant.

Prisoners were subject to barbaric torture. In the mad chair, men would be strapped in so tightly and for so long that their circulation would be cut off, which was rumored to have led to some men losing arms and legs. Another means of punishment was the iron gag, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. If a man spoke without permission, his hands would be tied behind his back, and a rigid metal band would be placed around his head and in his mouth. This sharp device would cause deep lacerations to his tongue and lips. One man died after choking to death on his own blood.

It seems that the words cruel and unusual weren’t given much merit back then.

Despite, or maybe because of, the inhumane treatment of its inmates, Eastern State became a model for hundreds of prisons built across the world, being copied in places like Russia and China. But not everyone found it inspirational.

Upon visiting the prison, Charles Dickens wrote, I believe that very few men are capable of estimating the immense amount of torture and agony which this dreadful punishment, prolonged for years, inflicts upon the sufferers… I am only the more convinced that there is a depth of terrible endurance in which none but the sufferers themselves can fathom and which no man has a right to inflict upon his fellow creature.

The solitary confinement aspect, which made Eastern State so famous, would fall by the wayside as the 1900s emerged, but not because anyone cared about the inmates. Rather, the system was abandoned because there were simply too many criminals to be housed in single-occupant cells. The penitentiary, which was built to house 300 men, was bursting at the seams, holding over 2,000 by the 1920s.

With the rapid expansion came plenty of growing pains. New cells were shoddily slapped together. Basement cells were added, cramped space with no light of any kind. One observer noted that the men were crammed in like sardines in a can.

Eastern would go on to house infamous criminals such as Al Capone and Willie Sutton, the latter of whom led a massive escape in which twelve inmates spent nearly a year digging a 97-foot tunnel to freedom (maybe that’s where Andy Dufresnse got the idea).

By the 1960s, Eastern State was crumbling. Repairs would have cost more than the decaying structure was worth. After 142 years and housing over 75,000 men and women, the prison was shut down in 1971. These days, the only residents are of the spectral kind.

With a history soaked in blood and misery, it’s little wonder that Eastern State Penitentiary is said to be one of the scariest places in not only Pennsylvania but the whole of the United States.

Reports of hauntings date back to when the prison was still operational. A former nurse at the facility reported being chased down a hallway by a vengeful spirit that slashed at her back. Several witnesses saw her running for her life, but no one else saw the ghost. What they did see were the scratches on her back, several of which were deep enough to draw blood.

Many guards saw objects move on their own, along with doors opening and closing for no reason. One rookie guard found himself locked in a supply closet for hours, during which he heard an angry ghost screaming into his ears. When a colleague eventually found and freed the young man, he was experiencing such a severe nervous breakdown that he was taken to the hospital.

And remember when I told you that Al Capone was once an inmate at Eastern? Guards reported that, during his first night in the prison, Capone screamed for hours on end after a ghost appeared in his cell. Not such a tough guy after all, apparently.

In the years since its closure, Eastern State has been turned into a museum and tourist attraction. Several visitors have seen ghostly guards standing watch in towers that have been empty for decades and are inaccessible due to the building’s crumbling architecture.

Another frequent sighting is the Soap Lady, who roams the women’s cellblock. She’s often spied in the last cell on the second floor, still wearing her inmate uniform. Supposedly, if you have the misfortune of making eye contact with her, she’ll hurl a bar of soap your way. Or maybe she just does that to people who stink. Either way, take a shower before your tour.

In cellblock four, visitors and staff often experience an oppressive sadness, a feeling so strong that they feel like weeping. But, when they turn to leave, an unseen force grabs them and holds them immobile. During these encounters, many report seeing ghoulish faces appear on the brick walls.

Not to be outdone, in cellblock twelve, people are bombarded with the voices and sounds of the inmates who once suffered in that space. Weeping, moans of pain, cackling laughter, and incoherent whispering are all regularly heard.

Fortunately for weirdos like me (and you, you weirdo), we can experience all of this in person without trespassing. In addition to giving tours, Eastern State has leaned into its haunted history and put on regular haunted house (do you call it a haunted house when it’s a prison?) attractions called Terror Behind the Walls every October.

What are you waiting for? In the words of Monopoly, go to jail. Go directly to jail.

THE AARON BURR HOUSE

Aaron Burr House

80 W Bridge St, New Hope

---

Son of a minister, Revolutionary War veteran, successful lawyer, political heavyweight, and third Vice President of the United States… To say Aaron Burr led an interesting life is an understatement.

And I haven’t even come to the part where he mortally wounded Alexander Hamilton in a duel. Or the part where his daughter was killed by pirates. Or the part where he tried to start his own rogue country comprising parts of the western United States and Mexico. Or the part where he was tried for treason and exiled from the U.S. by Thomas Jefferson. Or the part where he was later kicked out of England and refused entry to France by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Or the part where he returned to America and resumed practicing law under a fake name to avoid creditors. Or the part where, at the age of 77, he married a 19-year-old widow who had been charged with murdering her first husband. Or the part where said young widow divorced Burr, and he died penniless and living in a boarding house.

Now there’s a guy whose life should be the subject of a musical!

But you’re not here for an Aaron Burr biography. You’re here for ghosts, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the guy who did/endured all of the above also stuck around to cause shenanigans from the great hereafter.

You might be wondering why a guy who lived all over the U.S. and Europe also owned a house in New Hope, Pennsylvania. Well, I hate to break it to you, but… he didn’t. Nope. The Aaron Burr House was never owned by Aaron Burr.

Talk about false advertising. He did, however, live there with some friends during one of his many times of duress. Apparently, he liked the place enough to stick around. And if you’ve seen the house, you’d understand why. A charming Victorian house that now operates as a Bed and Breakfast with food to die for (I’m going to make bad jokes like this a lot in this book, so be prepared). You’ll find the moderately misleadingly named Aaron Burr House on West Bridge Street in the heart of New Hope’s historic district.

For centuries, visitors and guests have reported odd occurrences and strange sightings, including encounters with Little Burr (I didn’t make up the nickname, I’m just reporting the facts) himself. Burr can frequently be seen on the second floor and in the stairwells. Many have reported the feeling of being watched and, upon trying to leave, the sense that some unseen force is trying to keep them within the walls of the house. Occasionally, he tugs on the guests’ clothing. Or, considering Burr’s reputation as a grifter and deadbeat, maybe he’s trying to pick their pockets… Do ghosts need money? That’s the real mystery.

---

Eyewitness report:

"I stayed at the Burr House a few years ago. I had no idea it was supposedly haunted and decided to stay there because of the historical aspect. The first night was uneventful, but the second and third days both had odd experiences. Around three in the morning, long after my husband and I had fallen asleep, we were both awoken by someone coughing right next to our bed. We practically jumped out of bed