Carlisle Barracks

The Carlisle barracks started out as a temporary encampment for Colonel John Stanwix's British troops in 1757. It was fought over in the Civil War, lost out to West Point for the honor of becoming the nation's military academy, shared some facilities with the Carlisle Indian School, and now hosts the Army's War College.

It's got quite a few tales associated with it from the past, from military encounters to the children of the Indian school. Here's its haunted history:

Ashburn Guest House: The spooks reported here are Charlie, a young Confederate soldier, and a Native American girl. The basement is said to be especially filled with spirits. It served as a morgue in its' past.

Bandstand: It's said that you can still hear the Carlisle Indian School band performing there on some summer evenings.

Coren Apartments: Once the teacher's housing for the Carlisle Indian School and now officer apartments, two ghosts are reported from here. One is the spirit of Lucy Pretty Eagle, a young Indian girl who was the first child to die at the school. Some people dispute that, and believe the ghost is that of an unnamed Indian girl who was a live-in maid for the teachers. Whichever tale you accept, Lucy has been reportedly seen on the grounds and in the cemetery.

The other spook is of Civil War era Brigadier General Philip St. George Cooke. His daughter married reb raider Jeb Stuart while he was assigned to Carlisle before the war, while he was still a Union officer. Stuart flipped sides and actually helped torch Carlisle the day before the Gettysburg battle. It's said that Cooke's ghost keeps tearing Stuart's portrait off the wall and shattering it. He still holds a grudge after all these years.

Flower Road Houses: The spirit of a lady in a green gown walks in and out of the houses. She may be the same woman seen in the Letort View Community Center.

Hessian Powder Magazine: Built in 1777 by Hessian POWs, the building is now a museum of military artifacts. But in its day, it served as not only a powder magazine, but guardhouse and later as a detention cell for Native Americans that didn't toe the line at Carlisle Indian School. It's said to also be haunted by the spirits of the Hessian prisoners that built it.

Letort View Community Center: The ghosts alleged to be roaming the Center are those of Jim Thorpe, a lady in a ball gown - maybe she's the Flower Road spook - and a farmer, along with several Native American spirits from the Indian School. The basement is alleged to be filled with ghosts.

They call it Purgatory because of all the spirits it hosts that are trapped between the here and the hereafter. In fact, one visitor claimed to see a lady spook down there, wielding a bloody butcher's knife!

Old Gym: The spirits reported here are those of Jim Thorpe, a young Native American boy, and a basketball team (well, where else would they haunt?)

Washington Hall Guest House: It's said that people have been awakened in the middle of the night by babies crying while sleeping in the Guest House.

The Inn At Jim Thorpe

Inn at Jim Thorpe from Travel Hero

The Inn at Jim Thorpe in Carbon County is a New Orleans style hotel that dates back to 1849, when the ritzy New American Hotel was erected on the ashes of the burned out White Swan Hotel, built in 1833. It became the Inn in 1988.

And like most old hotels, some of its' guest checked in but never bothered to check out. There are various paranormal activities associated with many of the rooms, from shadow figures to upturned chairs, objects on the move, cold spots, and being able to catch a whiff of smoke, a remnant of the White Swan days.

It's thought that 310 is haunted by a nurse that's still tending to her patient and gets annoyed when people get into the same bed where presumably her spectral patient lies. Her icy grip has been felt by guests by the bed and her white figure seen there. Another spook was spotted there, too, a tall man with slicked back hair.

Room 211 has a problem with the TV going on and off by itself. Men are especially targeted - items disappear then reappear in different spots. One man left his boots by the door, and awoke to find them in the hallway outside. Towels are found shoved in the toilet. Cigar and cigarette smoke is smelled when no one is around, and the noises of laughing children are heard when there are no children around.

Room 315 has chairs that are turned upside down. Down the hall at Room 303, there are unexplainable shadows and orbs. In Room 203, a guest claimed that a ghost put his cell phone in the refrigerator.

A faceless lady in Victorian attire has disappeared into closed doors. Guests have supposedly seen many spirit shadows in the downstairs foyer and lobby, and have orb and mist photographs to bolster their claims. The Innkeeper has even set up a little disclaimer about spooks in the house.

Not too surprisingly, spook seekers from coast-to-coast visit the Inn. It host ghost hunter weekends for the curious. Paranormal societies can't get enough of the Inn. Hey, the help will gladly put you up in a haunted room if you request one.

One of our readers stopped in, and reports "Both myself and my parents stayed at the Inn and experienced shadow figures and knocking within the room at different locations. Neat place. NEPA ghost hunters got some great EVP evidence."

So if you want to visit the Jim Thorpe jail and see if you can spot the Molly Maguire handprint, this is the perfect place to spend the night. You'll get two haunts with one stone.