The Baker Mansion

The Baker mansion from Blair County Historical Society

Built in 1849 by iron mogul Elias Baker, the 28-room, Greek Revival Baker Mansion is now a museum and the offices of the Blair County Historical Society. The ghosts of both Elias and his daughter Anna, among others, have reportedly been spotted in the house by startled staffers and visitors.

It's said that Anna was forbidden to marry her socially inferior fiancé (he was a steelworker) by the domineering and apparently snobby Elias. She never did wed and died an old maid in 1914. A wedding dress was eventually put on exhibit in the museum (not hers, but one belonging to another prominent Altoona deb, Elizabeth Bell).

On nights with a full moon the dress quakes violently in its' second floor glass case, sometimes threatening to shatter the display. It's supposed to be Anna shaking the exhibit, still enraged at the sight of a wedding gown like the one she never got to wear. To add insult to injury, the dress is shown in her old bedroom. Even ghosts get Freudian, we suppose.

Anna's brother Sylvester, who like her never left the mansion, is also supposed to be roaming the halls of Baker Mansion. Elias himself is alleged to haunt the Mansion's dining room. A woman in black has reportedly been seen roving the third floor. There have been other stories of ghostly figures seen reflected in mirrors and orbs floating about the old stone house.

There's even a tale of screams coming from the basement ice room where the body of David, one of Baker's sons who had been killed in a steamboat accident in 1852, was stored until the frozen ground thawed enough for a proper burial.

Geez, you'd think at least one of the Bakers would rest in peace. Then again, what fun would the building tour be without them?

The Spirits of the Railroaders Memorial Museum

image from the Railroaders Memorial Museum
In 1882, the Pennsylvania RR built the Master Mechanics Building in Altoona to use as an office. It later became an infirmary and HQ for the railroad police, and today it's the Railroader's Museum.

Hauntings and weird events are an everyday happening there. In the guest shop, toys and models will be taken from their shelves and left in neat stacks on the floor. Frank the spook is often seen clambering on the train engine that sits in the lobby by the entrance to the museum. Frank's picture is hung in the hall – from the 1920s, when he was a flesh and blood member of the train crew. He's also been seen roaming the lobby and spotted in the elevator.

Big band music can be heard on the second floor coming from Kelly's Bar, where the old railroaders would stop after their shift and wash down the track dust with a cold brew or three.

One museum staffer rips the filters off of his cigarettes and leaves them for the spooks whenever he visits there (they smoked unfiltered Camels back in the day.) When he returns, the cigarettes are either moved or gone, and the smell of tobacco smoke fills the room, even though it's now a strictly no-smoking building. They really should break that habit. Maybe the staff should leave them nicotine patches instead of butts.

A spirit by the name of “Big Boss” hangs out on the fourth floor. Two men in flannel shirts have been seen walking the halls, looking disorientated. The building's new layout must have them confused. Orbs have been photographed many times throughout the museum. Old railroaders must have a hard time giving up the ghost - and the good times at Kelly's Bar.