Mummified Cat, Paw Prints, and a Century of Railroad Memory
1 Brickyard Road, Mars, PA 16046
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Donation-based admission; no set ticket price. Train rides on the Mars Shortline Railroad available May through October.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Ground-level campus; all main buildings are at grade or have ramp access. Handicap-accessible restrooms available.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1897 · Pittsburgh and Western Railroad History · Butler County Industrial Heritage · Railroad Preservation
The Pittsburgh and Western Railroad laid track through Butler County in 1877, and two decades later the Mars station was built to serve the community positioned roughly halfway between Pittsburgh and Butler. Constructed in 1897, the station provided passenger and freight service for the area's growing population throughout the early twentieth century.
Notable events marked its operational years. During the 1920s, a freight train derailment damaged the original structure and knocked it off its foundation; the building was repaired and service continued. Residents gathered at the tracks to watch President Warren G. Harding's funeral train pass through en route to Washington, D.C., a civic occasion that tied the station to national history.
Service declined as the automobile industry expanded. The station closed in the early 1960s, reopened briefly in the late 1970s under agent J.T. Scott, and permanently closed in the early 1980s. The building sat vacant for nearly two decades.
In 1999, through fundraising and community donations, the station was purchased and relocated approximately 150 yards south to its current address at 1 Brickyard Road. Workers cut the building into sections, moved them by crane and flatbed, and installed a new foundation. The original lead and tin roof had not leaked, which significantly aided preservation.
In 2000, the Mars Historical Society — now the Mars Area History and Landmarks Society — purchased the station and established it as a museum. The organization maintains additional artifacts on the campus: a 1926 B&O caboose, a 1928 Plymouth Gasoline Switch Engine, a functioning hand car, and the operational Mars Shortline Railroad.
The station is the only surviving station from the Pittsburgh and Western Railroad. The society was founded in 1980 with the stated mission of preserving the region's development from pioneer settlement in the late 1790s through the industrial era.
Sources
The story begins before the move. During the station's operational years, a small cat accompanied its owner to work each day and became an informal mascot of the station. Then, one day, the cat stopped appearing. No explanation was recorded. The cat was simply gone.
When crews dismantled and relocated the station in 2000, workers found what had become of it: a preserved body, sealed inside the original foundation, where the cat had apparently died. The mummification was likely aided by the same dry conditions that had kept the station's roof leak-free for over a century.
The Mars Historical Society gave the cat a name: Chessie, after the Chessie System — the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's beloved trademark image of a sleeping kitten, itself a piece of American railroad folklore from the 1930s. The mummified cat is now displayed in a clear glass case inside the station.
What happened next is harder to explain. During restoration work on the relocated station, volunteers began finding paw prints — in the sawdust of freshly cut boards. Staff described locking up for the night and returning in the morning to find the marks there, with no cat in the building. Multiple people have reported hearing the sounds of a cat vocalizing in rooms where no animal is present. Some have described seeing a small cat moving through the station's interior before losing sight of it entirely.
The Mars Historical Society has named this presence Chessie and treats the story as part of the station's documented lore rather than suppressing it. Several accounts describe the spirit as continuing to search for its original owner — a detail the society has incorporated into the station's interpretive narrative.
The original location of the station, at the intersection of Marshall Way and West Railroad Avenue, is said to be where Chessie's movements were first observed post-relocation — as though the cat crosses the CSX tracks from the old site to the new one.
Notable Entities
Tour the 1897 Pittsburgh and Western Railroad station — the only surviving station from the P&W line — along with a 1926 B&O caboose, 1928 Plymouth switch engine, and exhibits on Mars's oil, commerce, and railroad heritage. Chessie, the mummified cat discovered in the station's foundation during the 2000 relocation, is displayed in a glass case. Volunteers are on-site Fridays 10am–2pm.
Ride the operational miniature shortline railroad around the museum campus, May through October on open Fridays. Weather permitting.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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