Est. 1912 · Lackawanna Historical Society Headquarters · Tudor Revival Architecture by Edward Langley · Catlin Family Residence · Scranton Hill Section Landmark
George Henry Catlin was a Scranton attorney, bank founder, and financier, and a charter member of the Lackawanna Historical Society. In 1912 he commissioned architect Edward Langley to build a Tudor Revival home for himself and his wife, Helen, in Scranton's Hill Section, near what is now the University of Scranton campus. The sixteen-room house featured walnut woodwork, molded plaster ceilings, six fireplaces, and a three-paneled stained-glass window.
Catlin, a lifetime member of the Historical Society, bequeathed the property to the organization. He died in 1935 at age 90; the Society received the house in trust after Helen Catlin's death in 1942. Since the early 1940s the former Catlin residence has housed the Lackawanna Historical Society's offices along with its collection of manuscripts, maps, atlases, documents, and artifacts documenting the region's history.
Today the Catlin House operates as the Society's museum and research center and as the starting point for the organization's seasonal 'Scranton After Dark' walking tours, which interpret the darker corners of the city's history for ticketed groups.
Sources
- https://theclio.com/entry/17441
- https://www.visitnepa.org/things-to-do/tours-and-sightseeing/haunted-trail/
- https://www.lackawannahistory.org/ScrantonAfterDarkWalkingTours.html
ApparitionsCold spotsMoving objectsPhantom soundsSense of being watched
The Catlin House's ghost stories come mostly from the people who work in it. Volunteers for the Lackawanna Historical Society have described unexplained shadows in the second-floor room used to display historic fashion, a sensation of being watched on multiple floors, and cold spots in the basement. One volunteer reported hearing a train whistle from a closet; another described an antique gown that appeared to move.
Because the house holds the Society's collection of period clothing and artifacts, the reports tend to attach to those objects and rooms. Paranormal coverage and the regional tourism office's Lackawanna Haunted Trail repeat the accounts, which are consistently low-key in tone.
The Catlin House leans into its reputation in a measured way: it is the official starting point for the Society's 'Scranton After Dark' walking tours, which use the house as a base to tell the city's documented and folkloric dark history. The stories tied to the house itself are presented as part of that interpretive program rather than as claims the Society endorses.
