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Overview
At the heart of the Lackawanna Valley, Scranton is haunted by those who once walked its streets and worked its mines and rail lines. From the woman in white who lingers in Courthouse Square to the passenger of trolley car #46 who never reached her destination, the specters of Scranton make their presence known.
Supernatural investigator A.C. Bernardi chronicles chilling tales of the city’s landmarks, from the mysterious happenings on the sixth floor of the Lackawanna Station Hotel to stories of the angry spirits of victims of the Spanish influenza epidemic who lurk in the basement of the Banshee Pub. Join him as he traverses the dark side of Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781614236924 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Arcadia Publishing SC |
| Publication date: | 10/20/2018 |
| Series: | Haunted America |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 112 |
| File size: | 2 MB |
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Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
The Catlin House
DID THE CATLINS EVER LEAVE?
At 232 Monroe Avenue, within the heart of the University of Scranton campus, sits an exquisitely preserved and beautifully decorated slice of local history. This stately three-story antique gem of a building presently stands enveloped by the looming modernized university — offices, lecture halls and recreation centers — like a hidden treasure waiting to be discovered. The home is presently one of the few remaining estates in that area of the city that formerly consisted of a neighborhood containing the most prominent and important names in the region, such as Scranton and Archbald. This picturesque structure with its peaked roofs and striped awnings was designed by the architect Edward Langley in the English Tudor Revival style and constructed in 1912 as the private sixteen-room home of the once successful Scranton lawyer and banker George Catlin and his second wife, Helen.
George Catlin was born on August 26, 1845, in Shoreham, Vermont, to Lynde Catlin and Amelia Harriet Moore. He graduated from Union College in 1866 with an undergraduate degree in law but soon afterward, in 1867, received a master's degree from Lafayette College. George was then admitted to the New York state bar in Albany and later worked for the law firm of Pope, Thompson and Catlin at 17 Nassau Street in New York City. He married his first wife, Mary Woodrow Archbald, in the same year he joined the law firm, and the couple lived in New York City for several years before relocating to Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1870 for unknown reasons. George may have been enticed into moving to Scranton because it was a fairly new and rapidly growing city where one had great potential to become successful and make a name for himself by his own ingenuity. Perhaps for this reason, soon after reaching Scranton, George decided to end his short-stemmed law career to pursue the matter of finances. This new endeavor may have been influenced by the economic boom occurring in Scranton at this time due to the start of some very successful coal-mining and iron-manufacturing businesses that were generating great sums of money and prompted the need for local banks. However, the couple may have simply relocated to Scranton because his wife had family in the city, with whom the Catlins decided to make their home after arriving.
In 1872, George Catlin became the organizer and founder of the Third National Bank in Scranton. He served as vice-president for a number of years and as director for an astounding sixty-three years up until the time of his death. The ambitious Mr. Catlin also served as director of the Scranton Savings Bank, the Scranton Street Railway Company, the Erie & Wyoming Valley Railroad and the Crown Point Iron Company. However, George's ambition and passion also was channeled into other interests, such as the importance of preserving local history. This interest eventually prompted him to join the Lackawanna Institute of History and Science in 1886. The group's main focus was to preserve the local history of Lackawanna County, which is the youngest in the state. Mary Archbald Catlin passed away in 1902, and George was remarried on January 10, 1904, to Helen Walsh of Carbondale, Pennsylvania. The new couple built their home at 232 Monroe Avenue in 1912, which still stands today in its full splendor. Throughout the years they spent within the home, the Catlins held regular events. They even had some servants, but unfortunately neither marriage provided any offspring for George Catlin. However, the Catlins did have many nieces and nephews who visited and stayed with them often.
The Lackawanna Institute of History and Science later became known as the Lackawanna Historical Society (LHS) in 1921 and was designated as the official historical society of Lackawanna County in 1965. George Catlin died in his home on June 8, 1935, after suffering a short illness at the age of ninety. Interestingly enough, his will directed that the Catlin family home be given to the Lackawanna Historical Society, along with all its interior furnishings and belongings, upon the death of his wife so that it could benefit the people of Scranton and permanently be known as the George H. Catlin Memorial. Mrs. Helen Catlin died in 1942 after suffering a long illness at the home of her sister. Her former house at 232 Monroe Avenue was bequeathed to the LHS in that year and has served as the organization's headquarters since that time. In the following years, the George H. Catlin Memorial has remained true to its original purpose and the wish of George Catlin to serve as a cultural center for the people of the city. Today, the staff and volunteers of the Catlin House accommodate exhibits, lectures, events and research activities with the focus of educating people of all ages about the history of Lackawanna County and keeping that history alive for generations to come. The LHS is not only a valuable source of historical information and references for the entire local community, but the building itself also serves as a literal window to the past and contains countless artifacts, relics, books, photographs and other documents from Pennsylvania's history that date back as far as the 1700s. The majority of these artifacts were once the personal belongings of the Catlins and others from the area or are linked to important historical events such as the Civil War.
One possible reason for the paranormal activity experienced in the building may be the result of spirit connection to some of the hundreds of historical artifacts contained here. This phenomenon is believed to occur when an artifact holds a particularly strong and profound significance to a person in life and his or her spirit becomes linked to it in death. The artifact could be anything ranging from a beloved personal belonging, such as a wedding ring or an entire home, to a military-issued rifle that a soldier used during combat in a bloody historic battle. Recent stories regarding spirit connection throughout the world have suggested that it can also exist with some strange items, including a bed that a specific person died in or a brick from a dismantled church that was used in the construction of a new apartment building. In the years following that particular person's death, the spirit-linked item may be relocated or become the property of someone else. At this time, the new owners and/or others close to them can experience evidence of a haunting resulting from the spirit of the item's original possessor.
In recent years, the Catlin House has been known to be active with spiritual energy and host to a number of strange and possibly supernatural occurrences. The recent reported paranormal encounters experienced by the members of the Lackawanna Historical Society (LHS) staff and volunteers within the building include everything from uneasy feelings to sightings of full-bodied apparitions. These encounters have been experienced throughout the entire building, from the basement to the third floor. Many LHS workers and volunteers have reported some apprehension about descending into the bowels of the basement when the need arises to obtain some extra chairs for an event upstairs or something else along those lines. This feeling is not so uncommon with people in general, since most do not welcome being underground in a dimly lit and damp enclosed space with few windows to the outside. These conditions, combined with an overactive imagination, can often make the mind mistakenly see things that are not really there — such as shadows moving in one's peripheral vision. Add in the suggestion of a haunting and people could formulate false explanations for mundane noises within the building that have very rational and non-paranormal sources. Suddenly, the creaking of the house settling becomes disembodied footsteps on the wooden staircase as the individual experiencing the sound becomes increasingly more frightened.
These explanations could simply be the case with the basement of the old Catlin House, or it could be something entirely more mysterious. In this space, people often feel sudden drafts or cold spots that appear and vanish without warning or explanation, hear disembodied voices, experience feelings of dread and sense unseen eyes on them. While visiting the basement, people sensitive to spirits have also explained that the presence of the workers who constructed the house still lingers down there, but there is really no definitive reason why. For example, there were no tragic accidents documented or known to have occurred during the construction of the house, and no one is believed to be buried beneath the foundation. Perhaps the original builders took so much pride in the construction of this masterpiece that a part of them has been written into the very wood and stone of the structure.
In addition, workers and visitors in the building often report a "heaviness" on the second floor, where the old servants' quarters once existed. This area now houses a small office and rooms that contain costumes and mannequins for the exhibits displayed throughout the old home. However, it is still evident today that the furnishings and design of the rooms in the servants' area of the house are far less grand than where the members of the actual Catlin family spent their time, and by stepping through the threshold into this area, one can literally feel the distinct separation. These were the rooms where the house servants to the Catlin family performed some of their duties. The strange aura here could possibly represent a residual uneasiness or tension between employee and employer that remains to the present day.
Similarly, an adjacent room on the second floor, called the "fashion room" since it contains numerous displays of some antique dresses and clothing, has also been a hot spot in the building for uncomfortable feelings, which seem to be oddly centered within a large closet located in the room. While placing boxes in the closet, one volunteer had the sudden feeling that he was not alone in the room. The man was on his hands and knees at the time, carefully sliding boxes into the bottom shelves of the closet below numerous hanging garments. He turned around to look behind him and saw no one there, so he simply shrugged off the feeling and quietly returned to his work. After several moments, the man could sense the eyes of someone watching him again. However, this time he did not have to turn around because he felt that whoever was responsible was inside the closet with him. Sure enough, and to his utter shock, the man's gaze was directed upward, and he saw that one of the antique gowns hanging nearby suddenly appeared as though it were filled out by the form of a body without legs or feet. The volunteer was so scared that he ran out of the room without finishing his work or staying to find out who — or what — was wearing the gown.
While organizing articles of clothing within this same closet sometime later, a female volunteer was overcome by the feeling that she had actually been transported back in time for several moments. She recalled hearing the whistle of a steam locomotive engine while she was working in the closet and was literally surrounded by tangible bits of history. This type of phenomenon is known as a warp or vortex in the field of the paranormal and is not uncommon at haunted locations that have, or have experienced, a great deal of history. Within a warp or vortex, the fabric of the past and present can overlap for a short period of time, and those individuals caught inside it will see the location as it was years or sometimes centuries before. There is a famous story from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, that originated in the 1980s and regards the oldest building on the Gettysburg College campus, Pennsylvania Hall, which was utilized as a makeshift hospital for wounded soldiers during the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863. One night, while working late in the building, two administrators meant to take the elevator from their upper-floor offices to the exit on the first floor, but instead the elevator doors opened in the basement, which was used for storage. Instead of finding a dark storage room devoid of life, the men were shocked to see a full-fledged Civil War hospital, complete with doctors, orderlies and patients. The two frightened men never left the elevator and pounded frantically on the buttons to escape the horrifying scene. Suddenly, the elevator doors closed and took them to the first floor, where they exited and ran to find a security guard, to whom they explained the horrific event. The administrators returned to the basement of the building several minutes later with the security guard and were very surprised and embarrassed to see it was empty, with the exception of items stored there by the college.
Some of the staff members and volunteers strongly believe that the Catlin family and possibly their servants may have never left the beloved home, and their spiritual presence is still rooted within the building. This belief can be taken quite seriously when the strange experiences in the house are taken into consideration. One LHS member and volunteer related a chilling event that occurred several years ago during the annual LHS Holiday Open House. During this Christmas-inspired event, the Catlin House is beautifully decorated in traditional holiday fashion and boasts time-honored holiday fare, along with live entertainment for all the guests. It is a two-day event that hosts the LHS members and volunteers exclusively on the first night and is open to the public on the second evening. On the members-only night that particular year, one woman who openly admitted to being sensitive to spirits witnessed something shocking and unexpected. She was sitting at a table in the rear room on the first floor, which serves as the working office for LHS staff workers. The woman was intensely engaged in conversation with a few friends and fellow LHS volunteers also sitting at the table and was facing the rear entrance door to the house when something odd caught her attention. Two women clothed in elaborate early 1900s period gowns suddenly appeared near the rear doorway within her line of sight. These figures walked right past the table where she was sitting through a short corridor and vanished into a closed door, beyond which leads straight into the library room for the historical references used by the LHS. The woman remarked that she did not remember hearing the door to the outside open before the figures appeared and also did not feel the cold draft of air that would have occurred when the winter air wafted in following the opening of the door. Stranger still was the fact that the closed door through which the figures stepped is totally blocked on the other side by a bookcase in the library room. Although no one else present witnessed the event, which lasted only several seconds, the woman was convinced that she had seen a pair of ghosts that were tied to the history of the old home. Perhaps some of the original Catlin family decided to attend the holiday party as well that year.
Another LHS volunteer related a strange event that occurred in the second-floor bathroom and is immediately adjacent to the fashion room closet that was previously mentioned. This bathroom is decorated to look as it did when the Catlin family was living in the home and is not presently operational. This room is used only as a historical exhibit and contains a female mannequin dressed in period bedtime clothing, which is strangely involved with the encounter. While visiting the second floor of the house, a female volunteer passed by the small bathroom and suddenly felt as though someone were looking at her from inside that room. She halted in mid-stride and reluctantly peered into the bathroom, hoping that it was just her imagination. The woman was chilled to the bone when the mannequin's head appeared to rise slowly, as if to look at her. Needless to say, the volunteer screamed and ran out of the building. To this day, she is convinced that the mannequin moved on its own and that the event was not merely her imagination or an optical illusion.
Who knows, the mannequin may have been momentarily animated by the spirit of a former Catlin servant to let her know that they are still present in the house and going about their daily routines. In reality, that possibility certainly exists considering the amount of use the building has endured during the one hundred years since it was constructed and the large amount of history contained within.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Haunted Scranton"
by .
Copyright © 2012 A.C. Bernardi.
Excerpted by permission of The History Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements,
Introduction: How I Got Started/Once an Industrial Epicenter,
1. The Catlin House: Did the Catlins Ever Leave?,
2. The Lackawanna Station Hotel: Terror on the Sixth Floor,
3. Courthouse Square: The Lady in White and Other Macabre Tales,
4. The Hotel Jermyn: Leave the Ghost Light On for Eleanor,
5. The Banshee Pub: Beware of the Basement,
6. Andy Gavin's Eatery and Pub: A Ghost Named George,
7. The Scranton Cultural Center at the Masonic Temple: Masonic Ghosts,
8. The Colonnade: Boys Will Be Boys, Even After Death,
9. The Electric City Trolley Museum: Haunted Car #46,
Conclusion,
Bibliography,
About the Author,