Strange creatures and tales of the supernatural thrive in Pennsylvania, from ghostly children who linger by their graves to werewolves that ambush nighttime travelers. Passed down over generations, Keystone State legends and lore provide both thrilling stories and dire warnings. A headless ghost has been seen for over two hundred years searching for her killer in Beaver County, while ghostly soldiers walk the site of their demise at Paoli Battlefield. Phantom trains chug down the now removed rails of the P&LE Railroad line on the Great Allegheny Passage. A wild ape boy is said to roam the Chester swamps, while apparitions comfort coal miners trapped underground. On dark nights, the ghosts of Betty Knox and her love, a Union soldier, still search for each other at Dunbar Creek. Join author and historian Thomas White as he explores the meaning behind these and other ghosts, monsters, and miracles of Pennsylvania.
About the Speaker: Thomas White is the university archivist and curator of special collections in the Gumberg Library at Duquesne University. He is also an adjunct lecturer in Duquesne’s History Department and an adjunct professor of history at La Roche University. White received a master’s degree in public history from Duquesne University. Besides the folklore and history of Pennsylvania, his areas of interest include public history, American cultural history and the occult. He is the award-winning author of eleven books, including Legends and Lore of Western Pennsylvania, Forgotten Tales of Pennsylvania, Ghosts of Southwestern Pennsylvania, Forgotten Tales of Philadelphia (coauthored with Edward White), Gangs and Outlaws of Western Pennsylvania (coauthored with Michael Hassett), Witches of Pennsylvania: Occult History and Lore, and The Witch of the Monongahela: Folk Magic in Early Western Pennsylvania.
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Presentation is via Zoom, and will be recorded and available for 7 days for all registered participants. We will email out a Zoom link the day of the presentation, and email a link to the recording within 24 hours. Note: the Zoom link emailed out the day of the presentation only takes you to the live presentation; the link emailed out the day after will contain the recorded version.
This presentation is made possible by the generous support of The Haverford Trust Company.
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