HauntBound Press Fact Sheet · Updated September 2026
The Most Haunted Places in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania has 245 documented haunted locations in the HauntBound index.
Top 10 identified after source-level analysis of the 23 strongest Pennsylvania candidates.
By the numbers
- Total documented
- 245
- Museum / Historical Site
- 54
- Cemetery / Burial Ground
- 36
- Outdoor / Natural Site
- 31
- Family-friendly
- 227
- Bookable
- 83
- Oldest documented site
- King George II Inn (1681)
- Most-reported phenomenon
- apparitions
Ranked
- 1. Baker Mansion Baker Mansion is an 1849 Greek Revival stone home built in Altoona by ironmaster Elias Baker, co-owner of the Allegheny Furnace ironworks, now operated as a museum by the Blair County Historical Society. Accounts center on Baker's daughter Anna, whose father broke off her engagement to a steelworker; she kept the wedding dress she never wore until her death in 1914, and tour guides also recount a family patriarch who reportedly collapsed and died of a stroke while calling for tea. Visitors report the dress moving inside its display case, phantom screams from the basement, and a solo overnight visitor's account of an echoing sound near the piano. 8 original accounts · documented across 5 decades, 1852-1989 · retold in 4 later publications
- 2. Saint Vincent Archabbey, Basilica and College Saint Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe was founded in 1846 by the Bavarian Benedictine monk Boniface Wimmer, the oldest Benedictine monastery in the United States, and grew to include a seminary, college and basilica before Wimmer's death in 1887. Campus tradition attaches a returning presence to Wimmer around the anniversary of his death, and to a monk killed in an 1862 gristmill accident in the mill where he died. Students report a Ouija board session that ended when a floor-length mirror flew off a door and shattered against the opposite wall, along with a recurring presence in a prop room and a hooded figure glimpsed in a dormitory and identified as a former staff member. 6 original accounts · documented across 7 decades, 1846-1996 · retold in 3 later publications
- 3. Baleroy Mansion Baleroy Mansion in Chestnut Hill belonged to the Easby family from 1926 until George Meade Easby died in 2005, and he spent his life there building the property's reputation as a haunted house. His younger brother Steven died in 1931 at age six. Easby described sightings of his mother on the staircase and a robed figure in the dining room, and pointed to a chair in the Blue Room he claimed had caused four deaths. 8 original accounts · documented in 1961 · retold in 7 later publications
- 4. Historic Rock Ford Historic Rock Ford is the preserved 1794 Georgian brick mansion of Revolutionary War General Edward Hand, adjutant general to George Washington, run today as a historic house museum by the Rock Ford Foundation and listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976. The lore centers on a Yuletide candlelight tour tradition in which visitors reported a tall bald man with a prominent nose seated in a darkened corner, later identified from his portrait as General Hand. Other reports describe footsteps in empty rooms, knocking sounds, and cold spots in the Unrestored Room. 6 original accounts · documented across 2 decades, 1807-1990 · retold in 6 later publications
- 5. Cambria County Jail Cambria County built the Gothic Revival Old Stone Jail in Ebensburg in 1872, its 27 original cells eventually crowded past 120 inmates, and closed the building in 1997 before new owner David Davis reopened it for historic and paranormal tours in September 2024. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Visitors and investigation teams report disembodied voices and cold spots throughout the cell blocks, and one visiting group describes a member touched by icy hands and a figure glimpsed on the catwalk before it vanished. 4 original accounts · documented across 7 decades, 1870-2026 · retold in 6 later publications
- 6. Gettysburg National Military Park The July 1-3, 1863 Battle of Gettysburg produced roughly 51,000 casualties and marked the war's turning point after Lee's army retreated to Virginia; the site became a national park in 1895. Visitors to Devil's Den report figures in period dress among the boulders, camera malfunctions, and drum rolls carrying across the fields at dusk. Two Pennsylvania Hall administrators once described stepping off an elevator into what they took for an operating Civil War surgical ward. Documented since 1863 · 5 independent sources · 9 media mentions
- 7. Logan Inn The Logan Inn began in 1727 as the Ferry Tavern on the Delaware and was renamed in 1828 for Chief Logan of the Lenni-Lenape. Emily Lutz, mother of a former owner, spent her final years in Room 6 and died there. Guests report blankets pulled from the bed and a man's reflection behind them in the mirror, while phantom footsteps are heard running through the upstairs corridors and a Revolutionary War soldier in period dress has been seen in the common areas. 4 original accounts · documented across 9 decades, 1722-2021 · retold in 5 later publications
- 8. Mansfield University, North Hall North Hall at what is now Commonwealth University-Mansfield was built in the 1870s and expanded around 1908 with a six-story interior atrium called the Well, sealed for fire safety in 1930; the building closed in the 1970s before reopening as the North Hall Library in 1996. University archives trace the building's ghost lore to an unconfirmed student death in the atrium around 1928 or 1930, a figure the archives themselves refer to as Sarah, though her identity and the circumstances have never been documented. Staff and alumni report an elevator opening after being addressed by name, footsteps on an empty floor heard independently by two people, and an archives worker's description of a partial, body-shaped figure that vanished from view. 3 original accounts · documented across 4 decades, 1908-2017 · retold in 3 later publications
- 9. The Knickerbocker Hotel The Knickerbocker Hotel opened on January 12, 1882, in Linesville, built by Milo and Clara Arnold as a combined hotel, restaurant, lounge, and family home. Clara died of tuberculosis in 1885 at age 37 and remains the most-named figure in the building's folklore. Investigators and visitors report her apparition on the staircase and in upstairs rooms, along with a phantom cat and shadow figures in the basement and second-floor corridor. Documented since 1882 · 5 independent sources · 4 media mentions
- 10. USS Olympia USS Olympia was commissioned in 1895 and served as Commodore George Dewey's flagship during the May 1898 Battle of Manila Bay, where the Asiatic Squadron destroyed the Spanish fleet without a single American combat death; in November 1921 she carried the remains of the Unknown Soldier from France to Washington, D.C., and she is now preserved at Penn's Landing as part of the Independence Seaport Museum. The most-cited figure in her ghost lore is Coxswain John Johnson, who died in an 1895 gun-barrel accident aboard the ship and was memorialized in a poem written by a fellow crew member. A 2010 Philadelphia Inquirer investigation documented volunteers and visitors reporting a cold-touch grab, a full-body figure in the engine room, a figure at the ship's wheel, and a child's account of a sighting in a locked stateroom. 4 original accounts · documented in 2008 · retold in 4 later publications
By city
- Philadelphia: 20 documented sites
- Pittsburgh: 14 documented sites
- Gettysburg: 11 documented sites
- Lancaster: 9 documented sites
- Bethlehem: 9 documented sites
- Scranton: 8 documented sites
- Jim Thorpe: 6 documented sites
- Altoona: 5 documented sites
- Erie: 5 documented sites
- Johnstown: 5 documented sites
- 151 more across the rest of Pennsylvania
Press images
- Baker Mansion Pubdog hauntbound.com/images/locations/pennsylvania/baker-mansion/hero.jpg
- Saint Vincent Archabbey, Basilica and College Jcs7708, CC BY-SA 3.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Vincent_Archabbey_Basilica.jpg hauntbound.com/images/locations/pennsylvania/st-vincent-archabbey/hero.jpg
- Baleroy Mansion Jim.henderson, CC BY-SA 4.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baleroy_Mansion_2026_jeh.jpg hauntbound.com/images/locations/pennsylvania/baleroy-mansion/hero.jpg
- Historic Rock Ford Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress hauntbound.com/images/locations/pennsylvania/lancaster-historic-rock-ford/hero.jpg
- Cambria County Jail Cromdog, CC BY-SA 3.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cambria_County_Jail_original_and_1910_extension.JPG hauntbound.com/images/locations/pennsylvania/cambria-county-jail/hero.jpg
- Gettysburg National Military Park KirasView, CC BY-SA 4.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cannon_overlooking_Gettysburg_Battlefield.jpg hauntbound.com/images/locations/pennsylvania/gettysburg-national-military-park/hero.jpg
- Logan Inn Dough4872, CC BY-SA 4.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PA_32_NB_past_Ferry_Street_New_Hope.jpeg hauntbound.com/images/locations/pennsylvania/logan-inn/hero.jpg
- Mansfield University, North Hall J. Passepartout, CC BY-SA 4.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mansfield_Univ._library.jpg hauntbound.com/images/locations/pennsylvania/mansfield-university/hero.jpg
- USS Olympia 颐园居 (yiyuanju), CC BY-SA 4.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:OLYMPIA_(C-6)_in_Philadelphia_20240529.jpg hauntbound.com/images/locations/pennsylvania/uss-olympia/hero.jpg
Images listed here may be republished with the credit shown; all other HauntBound images are not offered for press use.
Superlatives
- Oldest documented site: King George II Inn Documented since 1681.
- Most documented: Baker Mansion 8 distinct published accounts.
- Top haunted stay: Logan Inn Overnight stays bookable.
- Most family-friendly: Elfreth's Alley Family Comfort rating: High.
Methodology
For purposes of the HauntBound Index, "most haunted" means the location with the strongest documented record of reported haunting phenomena. We evaluate the quantity, independence, persistence, and documentary quality of published reports. We do not attempt to determine whether paranormal phenomena are real, and we never count a source that only establishes a building's history as evidence of haunting claims. Repetitive coverage is subject to diminishing returns, so a story retold many times does not outrank a story independently documented. Rankings never consider commercial relationships.
The 2026 Index reflects sources identified and classified as of September 15, 2026.
Updated September 29, 2026: documented totals now exclude the private homes, operating hospitals and venues with nothing left to visit that were withdrawn on September 25 and 26. The ranked ten are unchanged.
Updated October 19, 2026: listings that could not be sourced, or that are private or have no public access, were withdrawn after an October review, so some of the state's town counts are lower. The documented total stays as published until the November update.
Updated October 23, 2026: more listings were withdrawn after a dignity and sourcing review, so some of the state's town counts are lower. The documented total stays as published until the November update.
This is a documentation ranking, not a visitation guide; sites not open to visitors are marked on their entries.