Est. 1775 · One of the oldest Susquehanna River ferry-and-inn sites in York County (ferry from 1742; hotel c.1775) · Site of the 1881 murder of Emily Myers by John Coyle Jr., a regionally famous 19th-century criminal case · Coyle's 1884 Gettysburg hanging and 'insanity defense' fueled a major public debate · Longtime landmark fine-dining restaurant until its 2018 closure
The site of the Accomac Inn has carried travelers across the Susquehanna River in York County, Pennsylvania, since the colonial era. It began as Anderson's Ferry in 1742, with a hotel added around 1771-1775. Over the following century the crossing was known successively as Keesey's Ferry and Coyle's Ferry, and by 1875 it was operating as the Accomac Inn. The original building was destroyed by fire in 1935 and rebuilt.
The inn's most enduring story is a true crime. The Coyle family came to own the ferry and inn in 1864. A young domestic servant named Emily Myers began working there, and John Coyle Jr., the owner's son, became infatuated with her. After she repeatedly rejected his marriage proposals, Coyle shot and killed the 16-year-old Emily in the barn on May 30, 1881 -- Decoration Day -- then turned the gun on himself but survived. He hid in the surrounding hills for about ten days before being captured.
Coyle's case became a regional sensation. He was convicted of first-degree murder; after appeals and a second trial (with a guilty verdict reported March 5, 1883), the public debate over his 'insanity' defense was intense. He was hanged in Gettysburg on April 22, 1884, before a crowd of more than 300. The Marietta Cemetery association refused to allow him to be buried near Emily, so his family buried him on the ferry property, roughly fifty feet from the inn. Emily Myers is believed to lie in an unmarked grave at Marietta Cemetery near her great-aunt Sarah Myers.
The rebuilt Accomac Inn went on to a long second life as one of the area's best-known fine-dining restaurants before it closed to the public in 2018. The historic building still stands along River Drive in Hellam Township, near Wrightsville across the river.
Sources
- https://unchartedlancaster.com/2024/05/30/haunted-memories-of-the-accomac-inn/
- https://lancasteronline.com/features/dinner-paired-with-the-paranormal/article_8a922031-dffa-5d27-90d2-6528ed37960e.html
- https://the-line-up.com/haunted-accomac-inn
Soft music and a woman's voice at nightFurniture and dishes moved on their ownDoors opening and closingBroken glasswareApparitions in an upstairs room
The Accomac Inn is one of the best-documented haunted sites in the York-Lancaster area, with its lore tied directly to the 1881 murder. Both the victim, Emily Myers, and her killer, John Coyle Jr., are said to remain at the inn. Staff have reported hearing soft music and a woman's voice late at night, and returning to a dining room they had just cleaned to find dishes, chairs, and tables rearranged. Doors are said to open and close on their own and glassware to move or break -- mischief frequently blamed on the 'prankish' Coyle. One inn employee reported seeing the apparitions of both Emily and Coyle in an upstairs storage room.
The haunting has been covered by LancasterOnline, Uncharted Lancaster, and regional paranormal author Rick Fisher (Ghosts of the River Towns), giving the tradition multiple independent sources beyond any single online retelling. Note that an anonymous Shadowlands submission misidentifies the victim as 'Molly'; the documented victim was Emily Myers, a detail corrected here from contemporary newspaper accounts and local histories. Coyle's epitaph is sometimes quoted as 'Weep not mother, for I am not dead, but merely sleeping.'
As the building has been closed since 2018, these reports describe its decades as an operating restaurant; the site is presented here as a real, historically grounded haunted landmark rather than a currently visitable attraction.
Notable Entities
Emily Myers (murder victim, 1881)John Coyle Jr. (executed 1884)
