Ghost Stories of the Lehigh Valley by Loren Keim

The Lehigh Valley is an area filled with historical significance.   Much of the architecture, the homes, farms and downtown areas are hundreds of years old.   One of the specialties of my team is selling unique and historic property.

In all the years I’ve worked selling homes in the Lehigh Valley, I’ve heard some strange tales about haunted homes and restless spirits.   Below you'll find lots of these stories about Lehigh Valley Ghosts and Spirits.   Some take place in your favorite taverns and restaurants.  Some may take place in your own neighborhood! 

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* The Bethlehem Bargain *

One of my competitors (we'll call him "E") told me a story a few weeks ago of a home that he purchased and lived in for some time.   He's a very religious person and not one to make up stories. He bought a home from a friend of his, thinking bought the home for a good price.    His friend had gone through a divorce and needed to sell the property.

The first day E and his family were living in the house, E's son came into the bedroom and told E that there was a young girl, probably one of the neighbor's kids, walking around the house.  He saw the little girl in the bathroom.  E went into the bathroom to confront the girl and she was gone.

The next day E ran into his friend who sold him the house.  E told the previous owner that he really loved the house, but the neighbors apparently feel free to wonder in and out of the home.  E's friend asked him to describe the little girl.  After a description, E's friend explained that the little girl was E's daughter. 

After the divorce, the mother had moved herself and her daughter to Indiana.  The daughter wanted to live with the father and she was so distraught from the move that she killed herself.

Since the time that E was told the story, he's had many experiences with the ghost, ranging from the sound of walking back and forth in the hallway to slamming doors.  At one time, when E was leaving for vacation, he turned on the living room light.  As he was getting in his car, the light turned out.  He went back in the house and switched the living room light back on.  As he left, the light went back out.  He came back and said "Please, I will be back.  Leave the light on!"  and turned it back on.  It stayed on. 

New Construction in Bethlehem

We had a home built years ago in West Bethlehem.  During the construction, the painter passed away while painting the living room.  

The couple who owns the home today report that during certain times of the year, there is a very strong smell of flowers in the living room.  You can't find this smell in any other part of the home.

They don't entertain in the living room!

Restless in Whitehall

My favorite story is about a house in Whitehall that I lived in a few years ago with my wife, Theresa. 

I have never believed in Ghosts. Not when I was a child listening to stories around the campfire and not when I was an adult selling Real Estate and listening to the stories of home and businesses owners about their strange experiences. I’ve been one of the top Real Estate agents in the country for Century 21 for 16 years, and I specialize in unique and historic property. As you can imagine, I’ve heard plenty of stories and tall tales.

As a matter of fact, I was so sure there were no such things as apparitions, ghosts or restless spirits that I bought a "stigmatized" property in 1992. A local banker came home one night and shot his wife in the back. He then killed himself in the family room. The rumor was that he had been caught embezzling and tried to end it all before going to jail. I got a steal on buying the property because no one wanted it!

In the years that I lived in that home, I never (I repeat NEVER) saw anything unusual, out of the ordinary or spirit-like. That was about to change in 1995!

I purchase a home in Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania in the early 1990's as an investment. In 1995, after renting the home out to tenants, I decided to move into the property. That was the beginning of my change of opinion!

I purchased the property from an older German woman who had lived in the home for over 40 years. She had a picture of herself as a small child with Adolph Hitler because she had met him during training for the Olympics. I don’t recall if she had been training for some event, or had simply met him. When I purchased the property, she had not mentioned the ghost.

When I first moved into the home, I started experiencing strange occurrences. For the first few months, the lamp in my bedroom would turn on and off by itself. Within a few weeks, the chandelier in the Dining Room began turning on and off by itself. I thought I had an electrical problem, so I called in an electrician to check out the home. After complete rewiring, I still had the same problem!

Shortly after that the television in the bedroom began turning itself on by itself in the middle of the night. I could understand electrical problems causing a television to turn OFF, but on??? 

Then one day my wife and I came home from work to find that all the medicine in the medicine cabinet was out of the cabinet and on the counter. In the living room, all the toys were out of the toybox and all over the floor. No one had been in the home all day. At first I thought I was robbed!

A week later, while my wife was cooking in the kitchen, the cookbook fell off the shelf.  She put it back, and it fell back off.  She put it back again, and watched as first the cookbook fell, and then 3 other books fell one at a time.  She yelled at the Ghost to "knock it off".  She put the books back and nothing happened!

True? Or just a scary Halloween tale? You be the judge! 

The Jim Thorpe area is filled with historic significance and gorgeous old world Victorian property displaying character and charm. In the woods outside Jim Thorpe is a beautiful old home built 150 years ago that was once home to a Civil War hero. The home can be found in a private setting at the end of a long driveway, across a small stream. From the road, you can barely make out lights in the windows late on a clear night. You’ll find no street lights along the road.

One late night a few years ago, the current owner of the home came home down from her bedroom to find an old man kneeling in front of the fireplace. He was wrinkled and scarred as he looked up at her from his position on the floor. As his image began to slowly fade, she realized that he wasn’t kneeling, he was actually missing his legs.

When she researched the history of the home, she found that this Civil War Veteran, while fighting in the 1860's lost his legs in battle, and yet returned home for the remainder of his years.

Like most ghosts, this is a friendly apparition who simply makes his presence known.

The Bed & Breakfast

One of our specialties is in selling unique and historic property.  We've had the opportunity to represent several gorgeous Bed & Breakfasts throughout Eastern Pennsylvania (and as far away as Maryland!)  One of these gorgeous Bed & Breakfasts was once the home of a wealthy coal mining executive.  An incredible Victorian edifice, it stands at the top of a hill overlooking the town.  A turret room stands above the home and it's said that the original owner would stand in the 3rd floor turret and look out over the people's homes who worked in his mine.

A grand staircase of carved oak leads up to the 7 beautifully adorned and appointed bedrooms, and a back staircase leads back down the other side.  During the Christmas season, the owners would place a large tree in the glass turret for everyone to see.

A lovely couple opened this lovely home to the public as a Bed & Breakfast. After a few years of operating the home, they began to hear stories from the people who stayed . They’d tell stories of a ghost coming through the wall of the middle bedroom at night. A spirit that would float over them.

Many customers would come back again and again hoping to catch a glimpse of this restless apparition. 

The Cleanest Ghost in Town

A few years ago one of our Mortgage Broker's lived in an old home in South Whitehall Township that had been converted to a 2 unit. 

He says he didn't believe in spirits until he moved into this home.  Being a confirmed bachelor at the time, he would make himself a quick dinner after work and leave the dishes out on the sink or counter. 

After a few months of living in the home, the dishes started disappearing from the counter, and in the morning, they would be back in the cabinet.  They hadn't been cleaned, just simply put back in the cabinets.  The Mortgage Broker began to panic.   He wasn't sure if he was sleep walking, if he was imagining this happening, or if someone was coming in the house late at night and playing tricks on him.

He tested what was going on over a few days, carefully leaving dishes out all over the counter and going to bed.  Each morning, the dishes would be in the cabinets.   He changed the locks, and the dishes still made it into the cabinets.

So one night he invited several of his friends over.  They locked the house up tightly and taped all the doors to make sure no one was getting in or out.  They put out dishes on the sink and quietly went upstairs to his room.  They played cards for several hours.  And when they came down... the dishes were in the cabinets!