HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
1861 railroad magnate's Italianate mansion in Jim Thorpe, said to be haunted by daughter Mary Packer
Packer Hill Ave, Jim Thorpe, PA 18229
Research updated August 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Guided mansion tour admission set by the museum; see the website for current rates and the seasonal schedule.
Access
Limited Access
Hillside Victorian mansion with original staircases; sits at the top of Packer Hill
Equipment
No Photos
Est. 1861 · Italianate Architecture · Lehigh Valley Railroad History · National Register of Historic Places
The Asa Packer Mansion sits at the top of Packer Hill overlooking the borough of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, which was called Mauch Chunk when the house was completed in 1861. It was built for Asa Packer, a Connecticut-born carpenter who became one of the wealthiest men in the state as founder of the Lehigh Valley Railroad and benefactor of Lehigh University.
The three-story Italianate house was constructed on a prefabricated iron frame and finished with elaborate interior woodwork, ornamental plaster, and imported furnishings. Much of what the Packers installed remains in place, making the mansion an unusually intact example of a mid-nineteenth-century industrialist's home.
Asa Packer died in 1879. The house stayed in the family and was eventually left to the borough by his daughter Mary Packer Cummings, who died in 1912. After decades of caretaking, the mansion opened to the public as a museum in 1956, operated under the auspices of the Jim Thorpe Lions Club.
The museum offers guided tours during its seasonal operating months and is a centerpiece of the Jim Thorpe historic district, which draws visitors for its preserved Victorian streetscape, the neighboring Harry Packer Mansion, and the restored downtown. The Asa Packer Mansion is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Sources
The haunting attached to the Asa Packer Mansion centers on Mary Packer Cummings, the youngest daughter of Asa and Sarah Packer. Mary spent much of her life connected to the house, outlived her siblings, and left the mansion and its contents to the borough on her death in 1912. Because the home is preserved almost exactly as the family kept it, local lore frames her as a lingering caretaker still watching over the rooms.
The most repeated claim is of a face or pair of eyes seen at the upstairs windows after closing, when the building is empty. Guests on Jim Thorpe's evening ghost walks also describe indistinct, smoky shapes glimpsed through the glass and a general sense of being observed from inside.
The museum presents the home as a history site rather than a paranormal attraction, and the ghost stories circulate mainly through independent Jim Thorpe ghost tours and regional folklore. The district's concentration of intact Victorian buildings, including the nearby Harry Packer Mansion, has made the whole hilltop a fixture of local haunted-tour itineraries.
Notable Entities
A guided walk through the period-furnished rooms of Asa Packer's 1861 Italianate mansion, preserved with the Packer family's original furnishings, art, and fixtures. Guides cover the family's Lehigh Valley Railroad fortune and the home's nineteenth-century craftsmanship.
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