1908 Scranton museum where founder Isaiah Everhart died after a fall on its own floor
1901 Mulberry St, Scranton, PA 18510
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
General museum admission; see the museum's website for current rates and free-admission days.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Museum building set in Nay Aug Park; paved approach with interior floors and stairs
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1908 · Largest General Museum in Northeastern Pennsylvania · Founded by Isaiah Fawkes Everhart (1908) · Nay Aug Park Landmark
Dr. Isaiah Fawkes Everhart was a Scranton physician and an accomplished taxidermist whose personal collections formed the core of the museum he founded. The Everhart Museum of Natural History, Science & Art opened to the public in Nay Aug Park in 1908, built and endowed by Everhart as a gift to the city. Its holdings combine natural history, taxidermy, and fine art.
Everhart's connection to the building did not end with its construction. On April 14, 1911, the elderly founder slipped and fell on the museum's floor, fracturing his hip. He died of complications from the injury on May 26, 1911. The detail that the museum's founder was fatally injured inside his own institution is the historical kernel behind its haunted reputation.
The Everhart has operated continuously for more than a century and remains the largest general museum in the region. It is included on the Lackawanna Haunted Trail, and a 2019 paranormal investigation by Wyoming Valley Ghost Tours brought a round of public attention to the stories that staff and visitors had long reported.
Sources
The haunting at the Everhart is tied directly to its founder. Because Isaiah Everhart was fatally injured inside the building in 1911, the reported activity is usually attributed to him. Staff and visitors describe sudden temperature drops, faint whispers, and objects that appear to move without explanation.
Some of the more specific accounts include knocking sounds said to increase when Everhart's name is mentioned and odd behavior from electronics. These reports were drawn together by a 2019 paranormal investigation conducted by John and Keriann Balucha of Wyoming Valley Ghost Tours, who later presented their findings in the museum's basement as part of a public program.
The museum does not market itself as a haunted attraction. The stories circulate through staff accounts, the regional Lackawanna Haunted Trail, and the work of the visiting investigators, and they remain folkloric: there is no documented incident beyond the founder's death to anchor them. The verified history is that the man who built the museum died of a fall inside it; the rest is the lore that followed.
Notable Entities
The Everhart Museum of Natural History, Science & Art sits in Nay Aug Park and holds taxidermy, natural-history, and art collections assembled since 1908. Staff and visitors have reported temperature drops, faint whispers, and objects moving, often attributed to founder Isaiah Everhart, who died after a fall inside the museum in 1911. Buy general admission and explore the galleries.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Scranton, PA
The Catlin House, formally the George H. Catlin Memorial House, was built in 1912 by architect Edward Langley as the Tudor Revival residence of Scranton financier George Henry Catlin and his wife, Helen. Catlin, an attorney, bank founder, and charter member of the Lackawanna Historical Society, left the house to the Society; it has served as the organization's headquarters and museum since the 1940s.
.jpg)
Scranton, PA
The Albright Memorial Building, the main branch of the Scranton Public Library, opened in May 1893. Designed by the Buffalo firm Green and Wicks, its exterior was modeled on the Musee de Cluny in Paris at the request of donor John Albright. It remains a working public library and a stop on the Lackawanna Haunted Trail.
Jim Thorpe, PA
The Mauch Chunk Museum and Cultural Center occupies a former church on West Broadway in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania (called Mauch Chunk until 1954). It documents Carbon County history, including the Switchback Gravity Railroad and the Molly Maguires, the labor secret society whose members were tried and executed in the county during the 1870s.