Halloween Special: A List of Spooky Places Near Philadelphia That Doesn’t Include Eastern State

Photo of New Hope’s haunted Logan Inn by Laura Kicey

Halloween is just a day away and ‘scariest places’ lists have been appearing everywhere. The most mentioned site in the Philly area? Eastern State Penitentiary, course.

Although Eastern State has certainly earned the honor, we thought it best to bring lesser known, but just as equally spooky, ‘haunted’ locations to the foreground.

Pennhurst Asylum
Address: 100 Commonwealth Drive, Spring City, PA [Church Street & Bridge Road on their Website]

What’s spooky about it: Pennhurst opened its doors 1908 as an institution for the disabled and mentally challenged and quickly became overcrowded. Torture and vicious abuses of inpatients occurred, including a murder. The campus got extremely eerie when it was abandoned in the 1980s, with patients’ belongings left behind. Ghost hunters believe the place is definitely haunted, and it is appropriately featured in Weird New Jersey.

Van Sant Covered Bridge
Address: Solebury Township, PA

What’s spooky about it: Its nickname should say it all: “Cry Baby Bridge.” People claim they feel sinister vibes when nearing the bridge, whose creepy reputation comes from a variety of urban legends. urban legends Some say the bridge is haunted by a man who murdered a woman and her child and was subsequently hanged from the bridge’s rafters. Others say the woman killed the baby herself, and the cries of the baby are what avid ghost hunters hear. Either way, it’s spooky. Message boards such as this one prove the point.

Lemon Hill Mansion
Address: Lemon Hill Drive,  Philadelphia, PA 19130

What’s spooky about it: Built in 1800, it’s really no surprise the former home of Henry Pratt acquired some ghostly visitors along the way. Over the years, there have been sightings of spirits still roaming the grounds in order to keep an eye on their gardens.

Logan Inn
Address: 10 West Ferry Street New Hope, PA 18938

What’s spooky about it: Well, if you keep up with Property, you already know the story behind the Logan Inn. Eerie sounds and alleged poltergeist-like incidents have, for obvious reasons, long earned the Logan Inn a spot on the New Hope Ghost Hunting Tour.

General Wayne Inn
Address: 625 Montgomery Ave, Merion Station, Pennsylvania

What’s spooky about it: In operation since 1704, General Wayne Inn landed on a list of the world’s most haunted places. Apparently ghostly apparitions make an appearance from time to time, as does the occasional invisible weeping child. George Washington and Edgar Allan Poe are a few famous figures who are said to have stopped by the inn. Today, it’s a Chabad Center for Jewish Life.
Frick’s Lock Historic District
Address: Frick’s Lock, East Coventry Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania

What’s spooky about it: Our very own modern day ghost town, Frick’s Lock’s spooky atmosphere may be a result of the deteriorating abandoned buildings whose dark windows quietly stare back. PECO Energy’s construction of a nuclear reactor in the area forced denizens to migrate since they were “within the 1-mile exclusion zone of the reactors.” 

Baleroy Mansion
Address: 111 W. Mermaid Lane, Chestnut Hill, PA

What’s spooky about it: Perhaps the most cliche haunted house on the list, (on-and-off lights, cursed furniture, past seances), Baleroy Mansion could understandably be written off. Don’t be so quick to do so, though. The reported ghosts in this exquisite building have been identified as past residents, except for a mysterious spirit who emits a bluish fog. There’s a lot of legend around a “death chair,” and the ghost of Thomas Jefferson has allegedly been spotted.