Image from Friends of Bolton Mansion
The 500 acre Pemberton estate dates back to 1683 (they called it Bolton in memory of their English home in Bouton, Lancashire. We guess with the accent it came out as Bolton.) The Mansion was built in 1687 in what is now Levittown, Bucks County.
The home itself is sort of a hodge-podge of design. It was added to and modernized at least four times up to the 1860s. It lasted as a working estate until 1938 when it was given to the University of Penn. It quickly changed hands, going to U.S. Steel as a guest house ten years later and then to suburban innovator William Levitt in 1952.
He in turn gave it to Bristol Township, which used it as a municipal building until 1966. It sat vacant for decades, and now it's a National Historic Landmark being renovated by the Bucks County Conservancy. And it does have its' ghosts.
One spirit that roams the grounds is a lady in a long dress and cloak. She's seen at night and is surrounded by a soft aura. Another woman also walks the grounds, crying to herself as she searches the area. A little girl has been spotted on the second floor of the Mansion running from window to window and peering out each one. Patty Wilson in Haunted PA thinks the pair may be a separated mother and child looking for each other. One reader wrote and said that he and his friend saw the shadow of a woman in red go by; sounds a lot like one of the girls to us.
But the most famous ghosties are those of the rebel soldier and his girl. It was said that the owner of the estate disowned his son for enlisting to fight for the South during the Civil War. When the war ended, the son returned home.
But his father refused to forgive him. Distraught, the young man hung himself from the second floor stairwell. His body was found by his childhood sweetheart Mary, a house servant, who shot herself after making the gruesome discovery.
But this tragic tale seems to have a happy ending. A visiting psychic investigator sensed some activity on the stairs and shot a series of photographs. When the pictures developed, the images shown were of a soldier dressed in a Confederate uniform posing with a lady in a Civil War era dress at the top of the steps. It seems as if the star crossed pair that couldn't lay claim to home and happiness in life managed to do so in death.
12 comments:
Wowwee What a happily ever afterlife story, although I hope it doesn't take ALL star crossed lovers that long to find happiness with each other
Every story can't be Lady and the Tramp. Romeo and Juliet demand equal billing!
Thanks for the write up about Bolton Mansion! Please visit our web site:
Bolton Mansion....
boltonmansion.bbnow.org
You're welcome. If the readers want the lowdown, go visit the site at
boltonmansion.bbnow.org
In 1975 i skipped a day of school with a friend.we lived in hollyhillaaa' and got in one of the windows of the manion. as we climed the stairs and reached the top" i looked towerd the front of the house. a Shadow went pass the doorway to the right that looked like a woman in a red dress. we never went back.
Back in 1975 all my friends went to the Bolton Mansion I was only 15 years old at the time. All of us approached the side of the building and looked inside . We dared each other to clime through the window as soon as we got one foot on the window sill organ music started to play . Well that was it we ran so fast we must have set a world record. Frank Lombardi Delhass Class of 1978
I remember back in Halloween of 1978 the area high schools and Bucks County Comm Coll. did a charity haunted house inside of the mansion. I was with Bishop Egan and we did two rooms in the mansion. The only time I was ever in the building, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I saw no ghosts other than the ones the schools made to frighten the guests!
I remember those haunted houses in the Bolton Mansion as well. They were great fun and kids from all around would take part.
I'm 30 and 16 years ago at night I was sitting on the Front porch and I was facing the salivation Army and I seen a ghostly figure under the street light. It looked like a soldier and I didn't know one had passed away in that house until now. I had been in that house a few times when the caretaker there. But now that makes sense. I hope they never demolish it.
I heard this story from two different groups of friends unknown to each other.In 1980 both guys from different groups were dared to spend the night alone.When they woke up in the morning a ring of chairs surrounded the bed,nothing was heard,as the chairs floated in and around the bed. Scary and creepy.Thanks Levittown Pa.
I was the "Visiting Psychical researcher mentioned. I was attending College and did a Psychology Experiment at Bolton Mansion and myself and several other researchers from Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, Drexel, also did adjunct research. Was a unique series of experiment and much was learned.
Post a Comment