Heckscherville
December 1889
Sometimes a house, decrepit and withered over time, gives off a menacing look, but in reality is filled with comfort. And sometimes a house that takes on a reputation and look of being spirited lives up to its reputation.
So what exactly makes a house “haunted?” Some would argue ghosts obviously need to be within. Others may say the house needs paranormal activity. Odds are, it is a combination of both. However, perhaps the house just needs to be inhabited by both the living and in this case the non-living.
In the fall of 1879, the owner of a large, three-story house in New Castle considered razing the structure. It had laid vacant for quite a time, and no prospective renters seemed to be on the horizon. The house, in its infancy, was grand in structure. It had a pleasant appearance and more than enough room for any family to make it their comfort zone. However, the time of lying unoccupied took its toll. The wood became weathered and shingles began to fall from the roof. Although housing in New Castle had a tendency to be difficult to find during this time, this particular house was vacant for months, slowly and methodically turning into years. The reason for its vacancy? People believed it was already occupied, just not be a living presence. The house took on the reputation of being haunted by a former owner who died within. Over time, its reputation grew as well as claims of otherworldly experiences.
The owner, before leveling the structure, came up with a plan. Instead of destroying the structure and taking a loss financially, he opted for a change of scenery. This may be the cure for the stories of the haunting,. The house was disassembled board by board and relocated to the Heckscherville Valley in hopes of a rebirth.
A location was selected, and the house was reconstructed to its full three stories. And so began a series of experiences over the next decade that defies logic.
The house stood vacant for a bit. However, over time, an older area woman by the name of Lynch took up residence. Although she still went by, Mrs. her husband had passed years before. The spacious house gave her much more space than necessary. Yet there was something about the structure that drew her to it. She wanted and perhaps needed to live there.
The rent was paid and Mrs. Lynch went about making this house her new home.
People in the area noticed a change in the woman as she spent time in the location. Normally jovial, Mrs. Lynch seemed to become more withdrawn and looked tired and disheveled. When asked if all was alright, Mrs. Lynch would only look on with distant eyes and nod yes.
Late one night, several months after moving into the house, a neighbor of the elderly woman was awoken from his sleep. A pounding on his front door disrupted the once-quiet night. Quickly descending the steps, the man reached the front door and threw it open. Standing there in her stocking feet and nightgown was Mrs. Lynch. Her eyes were wide and terrified, as if she had been through some sort of traumatic ordeal. The neighbor, sensing her discomfort, asked the disheveled woman into his home. Sitting by the fire, the man and woman of the house attempted to calm down the elderly woman as she rocked back and forth. They questioned what had happened. Mrs. Lynch, trying to calm her breath as she spoke, refused to tell the concerned man what she had experienced within the house. She just stared ahead mumbling and shivered in front of the warm fire.
Neighbors looked on during the nights that followed and more than a few times witnessed Mrs. Lynch running from the structure as if for her life. What caused her frantic path? The elderly woman refused to tell.
Over time, the woman sadly continued her downfall. She became disengaged with neighbors and seemed to age more quickly than nature intended.
Oddly though, neighbors noticed Lynch’s late-night terror runs became less frequent and eventually subsided. This also included sightings of the woman altogether. Concerned, the same male neighbor Mrs. Lynch frantically visited that first night entered Lynch’s home. He searched downstairs. Finding no sign of the old woman, he made his way to the second floor. The neighbor entered each bedroom. Entering the last room, lying upon her bed, was the cold corpse of Mrs. Lynch. Still in her nightgown, securely covered with a blanket, the woman’s face frozen for all eternity with a look of terror.
Word circulated about the well-regarded woman’s death. Word also circulated about the cause - fear. Fear believed to originate from the experiences she had within the house.
Neighbors traded stories of the spooks within the home in hushed tones. Locals refused to move into the large house. Surprisingly, the house lie vacant for only a short amount of time after the older woman’s demise. A few weeks after Mrs. Lynch’s untimely death, a new occupant moved in.
The name of the occupant has been lost to history. Not because the individual was forgettable, but instead because his occupancy was so brief. Without warning, after only a few days, the house was vacant again. The reason why was never discovered. The man seemingly left in the dead of the night and never returned, even to collect his belongings.
A succession of brave, non-ghost fearing men named Moran, Dempsey, and Pender, attempted to call the house their home. And all those non-ghost fearing men only resided within for a small amount of time.
Most former residents refused to explain exactly why they left. However, each had one similar characteristic to their rationale: there was indeed a ghost within.
Next came James Phillips. Phillips staunchly did not believe in ghosts. His goal was to enjoy his new home with his family, but also disprove all the paranormal claims once and for all. Into the house his family moved.
All was quiet for the first few days. Undoubtedly reassurance engulfed the man that he was correct in his scrutiny: the ghostly claims were hogwash. This changed late one night.
One cool evening, Philips wanted some fresh air. He opened his door, took a few steps out before closing the door behind him. The proud homeowner stood on his front porch looking out towards the street. Suddenly, Philips noticed a creaking sound and movement in front of him. Peering down, Philips noticed his front gate unlatch and swing as if being opened. Confused, Philips approached the gate. He was sure he had closed it before so it would not swing open. As he walked towards it, the gate viciously slammed shut. Philips froze. He would normally blame the breeze, however, it was a perfectly still evening. The stunned home owner cautiously approached the gate, took the metal latch in his hand and locked the gate securely. He turned and began walking towards his front door. Frozen in step, Philip’s mouth fell open. His front door was wide open.
Philips entered his home and stood taking in the quiet environment. For the first time since he lived there, Philips felt an odd uneasiness. Luckily, the night turned into day, with no otherworldly events to account for.
The next evening the homeowners mind raced as he attempted to rest. His logical mind could not rationalize the experience from the previous night. Philips waited for his family to fall into a peaceful sleep. Then, ever so slowly and gracefully, he slid out of bed, took hold of his loaded revolver, and proceeded downstairs.
In the family’s living room, Philips took a seat, revolver in hand. There he waited for the otherworldly inhabitant to make its presence known. Perhaps the spirit knew Philips awaited a spectacle. The night remained still as the armed homeowner slowly drifted off to sleep while cradling his loaded revolver.
As the night waned on, Philips eyes shot open. He stood in the darkness and listened. Silence engulfed him. Satisfied, Philips walked to a window near the front of the house. He looked out into the still darkness of the patch town. All was quiet. His eyes shifted towards the front gate. With no justifiable reason, the front gate seemed to unlatch, open, remained that way for several seconds, and slowly returned to its closed position and re-latched itself. Eyes wide, Philips stared on in shock. Something appeared to be coming home.
Philips and his family were God-fearing people. They took thier religious beliefs seriously and knew they would be protected. Philips and his wife eagerly looked forward to their youngest child’s christening. The family could not be more proud. A celebration was planned for afterwards. The preparation for family and friends begun. Two female neighbors came to the Philips household to help prepare food for the guests the next day.
The women were focused on the task at hand, prepping delicious morsels, readying the family’s best china, and tiding up. Philips and his wife tended to various responsibilities within the home.
One helpful neighbor took the prized plates out of the cabinets and wiped them down for the next morning. As she turned to take hold of several plates, the neighbor was startled by the loud clanging of metal right behind her. Turning, she spotted a pot had fallen from the counter. The second helper must have had placed the pot too near to the edge and off it had tumbled. A little irritated, the woman laid the plates down and walked over to the fallen pot. The second woman, tending to readying the adjoining room, walked to the doorway as she too had heard the commotion. The irritated woman bent down to retrieve the fallen object. She began to chastise the younger woman to be more careful as her helpful hand gripped the pot. From behind, both women heard glass striking glass. Standing straight and turning, the helpful neighbor shrieked as she witnessed the prized China she had just carefully placed on the counter rose into the air. Invisible hands lifted the plates a foot off the counter.
Stunned, both women stood motionless, watching the plates, pots, and utensils begin moving on their own. They seemed to dance in the air guided by invisible sets of hands. The horrified women fled the home. Upon realizing the women had abruptly left, he questioned why. The women told of their experience and refused to reenter the home.
Odd experiences and noises continued to the point they strained Philips’ nerves. He would sit in his chair each night, loaded revolver in hand, investigating every sound. There was no doubt in his mind the home was spirited. The safety of Philips’ family outweighed the convenience of the large, stately home. After several weeks of compounding experience, the family moved, never to reenter their former home. Once again, the house was vacant, at least from those of the realm of the living.
Upon hearing why the family moved, a collection of eight brawny men of Hungarian decent had enough of these superstitions stories. They decided they would go to the house and prove nothing was there. Surely, superstitions and overactive imaginations were the true cause of the experiences. The men moved into the house.
What transpired over the next 48 hours is not fully known. However, the eight Hungarians moved out of the home as quickly as they had moved in. When questioned why they left so quickly, the men’s color left their faces and a concerned look overtook them. One man uttered about not being able to sleep in the home due to noises. A second Hungarian approached, looked deep into their interrogator’s eyes, the man uttered one word, “szellem”. Translated, this Hungarian word means ghost.
People entered the home after the collection of men left the area. There they found the home, mostly seemingly untouched. That is, until entering the bedrooms on the second floor. Upon entering, the visitors found a most peculiar sight. There, lying on the floor, was an ax. The bed had been hacked into small broken pieces. Each bedroom the visitors entered, the splintered remains of a bed were found. Seemingly, the true home owner had made its presence known by moving the beds through all hours of the night. Much to the dismay of the horrified Hungarians trying to rest.
People came and people left the house more quickly. One family relocating from Hazleton lasted one night. They refused to reenter the home out of fear for their safety. The family claimed to have experienced hollow-sounding groans and wailings originating from the cellar and proceeding to move from room to room.
Upon lighting a coal oil lamp, the man of the house walked through the home, following the wailing and moans. Closing the door to one bedroom, the brave man seemed to have enclosed the otherworldly spirit. He heard low rappings on the walls and ceiling in the room that intensified into loud booms. Holding the coal oil lamp, the man noticed the room had started to darken. He looked towards the flame and witnessed it becoming smaller until it was completely extinguished. Standing motionless, the new homeowner was engulfed in darkness. Seconds seemed liked an eternity as the man stood in the quiet. His eyes adjusted to a light. Looking down, the man witnessed the coal lamp had ignited itself. The flame began as a spark and was slowly growing, lighting the room again.
The sounds began again as loud as before. Horrified, the man ran out of the room and stayed awake, guarding his family from what was within the home. The next morning, the family left for good.
Every once in a while, an individual claiming heroic courage said he or she would take up residence, yet it never happened. The house was empty.
There is one last documented account of a person attempting to prove the haunting to be nonsense. An Irishman named “Darkey” Bergan anointed himself up to the challenge of coming face to face with the otherworldly occupant. Known for his courage, Darkey arrived at the home just before midnight. In his right hand, he gripped a loaded pistol. In his left hand, a glass of spirits, not of the otherworldly kind. It is said the eager Irishman sat within the house loudly, summoning the spirits to show themselves. Now whether the spirits did indeed make their presences known, only Bergan could answer. However, if any neighbors planned to question Darkey, hopefully they were fleet of foot. The Irishman was last seen running from the house at a high rate of speed a short amount of time after entering. The pistol was said to glisten in the moonlight as Darkey continued running out of the vicinity, never to be seen in the area again.
What came of the spirited home is now anyone’s guess. Sadly, as so often happens, the location and fate of the home have been lost to history. To this day, a three-storied house in the Heckscherville Valley may still be the comfortable home of those of the otherworld. One thing is for sure, those who witnessed the presences within the home surely are not there.
If you are interested in in finding the house, odds are it may still be standing. Look for a three floored structure, which has stood for well over 140 years. And If you would like to be certain you indeed found the house, watch the front gate on a still day. If you see the gate unlatch, open just long enough for an owner to walk through, and then slowly close and lock itself, odds are you found the Haunted House of the Heckscherville Valley.