HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
A Bethlehem whiskey bar on the site where the Marquis de Lafayette recovered from his Brandywine wound; the owner ties a self-extinguishing 2024 fire to the woman who nursed him.
534 Main St, Bethlehem, PA 18018
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
No admission charge; standard pub and restaurant pricing for food and drink. Reservations are not required for the dining room.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Storefront restaurant on Bethlehem's Main Street with sidewalk access.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1777 · Site associated with the Marquis de Lafayette's recovery after the 1777 Battle of Brandywine · Part of Bethlehem's Revolutionary War history as a Moravian hospital town · A recurring stop on downtown Bethlehem ghost tours
Bethlehem was founded by the Moravians in 1741 and became a hospital town for the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. The block of Main Street where McCarthy's Red Stag Pub now stands carries one of the city's recovery stories: the Marquis de Lafayette, the young French officer who joined the American cause, was wounded in the leg at the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777, and is said to have convalesced at a house on this site before returning to George Washington's army at Valley Forge.
The pub keeps that connection in a dining space called the Lafayette Room. According to owner Neville Gardner, local tradition holds that a young woman of the household nursed Lafayette during his stay, and Gardner attributes the building's long-running unexplained activity to her.
The present business grew out of an earlier bakery and tea room and reopened as McCarthy's Red Stag Pub & Whiskey Bar in 2013. In early February 2024, a fire broke out around 4 a.m. in a utility room when materials left against the water heater ignited a container of rags. Lehigh Valley News and WFMZ reported that the fire was discovered after it had largely extinguished itself, with relatively limited damage, and the pub reopened about two weeks later. Gardner publicly framed the outcome as the work of the house's resident spirit, a claim that turned the reopening into a regional news story and reinforced the building's place on downtown Bethlehem ghost walks.
Sources
The Red Stag's ghost story centers on a single figure: the young woman said to have cared for the wounded Lafayette at the house that once stood on this site. Owner Neville Gardner has told local reporters that over roughly twenty years he and his staff have logged the kinds of small disturbances often grouped under the word poltergeist, and he connects them to her.
The story that carried the building into regional news came in February 2024. A fire started in the early morning in a utility room near the water heater, in a container of rags and other materials. When it was discovered, the fire had largely put itself out, and damage was limited enough that the pub reopened about two weeks later. Gardner told Lehigh Valley News that he considered it close to a miracle that water from above had doused the fire with no one present, and he attributed the lucky outcome to the resident spirit.
The building appears on downtown Bethlehem ghost walks, where the Donegal Square and Red Stag site is presented with the Lafayette caretaker legend. The reports here are anecdotal and come mainly from the owner; they are offered as local lore tied to a documented piece of Revolutionary War history rather than as verified paranormal events.
Notable Entities
Eat or drink at McCarthy's Red Stag Pub and ask about the Lafayette Room, named for the Revolutionary War general who is said to have recovered at the house that once stood here. The poltergeist stories are part of the room's lore; this is a free, walk-in pub visit, not a ticketed ghost event.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Bethlehem, PA
The Hanoverville Roadhouse occupies a building dating to 1825, originally a stagecoach stop on the route through what is now the Bethlehem area. Over two centuries it has served as a post office, general store, inn, and bar, and it operates today as an American bar and grill.
Erie, PA
Union Station in Erie was built by the New York Central Railroad and opened December 3, 1927 at a cost of over three million dollars. The building anchored downtown rail traffic for decades before passenger service declined. In 2006 it reopened in part as The Brewerie at Union Station, Erie's only brewpub at the time, as part of a downtown revitalization effort.
Reno, NV
The Brewer's Cabinet is a craft brewpub at 475 South Arlington Avenue in Reno's Riverwalk District, operating in a building that dates to 1930. It is included on the Riverwalk District's ghost-walk route as a haunted stop.