General Mad Anthony Wayne's Ghost

Revolutionary War Hero’s Phantom Said to Haunt Five Different Places

May 24, 2009

Wayne is remembered as an accomplished United States Army Officer and for his courage. Not many people know about his burial, reburial and what was done to his body.

Mad Anthony began his military career at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. His feats and fiery personality earned him his nickname and a promotion to the rank of Brigadier General.

Wayne died of complications from gout during a 1796 trip to Pennsylvania from a military post in Detroit. The hero was buried at Fort Presqu’Isle, by the foot of the flag pole, per his request.

Mad Anthony’s Two Graves and a Legend

Wayne’s daughter, Margaretta, asked her brother, Isaac, to bring their father’s body home to be buried in the Radnor family plot in St. David’s Cemetery. When Dr Wallace opened Wayne's coffin, he found Wayne's corpse almost perfectly preserved. Isaac had only space to transport his father's bones in his sulky, so the doctor used an AmerIndian custom. He dismembered the body, then boiled it in a kettle until the flesh dropped off the bones. They were packed them into a trunk.

There are two versions to a legend. The first is that the trunk kept falling off the buggy and breaking open. The second is that Isaac was in a rush and didn’t notice bones falling out of their container. Some claim that on New Year’s Day, Wayne’s birthday, his ghost rises from his Radnor grave and rides a horse to Presqu’Isle looking for his bones.

Wayne’s Ghost at Fort Ticonderoga

He was commandant in 1771. Wayne was attracted to two women, Penelope Haynes, whose father was wealthy and Nancy Coates, a local woman. He and Nancy had an affair and she wanted to marry him, but he didn’t.

The British were making military advances, so General Washington ordered Wayne to take the women to the fort for protection. While he was on this mission, some people at the fort, cruelly, told Nancy that he went to get his bride. When he arrived at the fort, Nancy touched his boot, but he didn’t feel it. Penelope was among the women.

Nancy was distraught and sat by the lake until dawn, then drowned herself. Her ghost has been seen on the grounds and in the lake, sometimes the ghost's appearance is accompanied by the sound of sobbing.

Wayne’s ghost has been seen in the dining room and by a fireplace, smoking a pipe and drinking from a pewter mug.

Lake Memphremagog Sightings of Mad Anthony’s Ghost

Wayne and two Canadian guides searched for bald eaglets because, if caught while young, they were kept captive for their good hunting skills. He found two, trained them and he kept them with him for the rest of their lives. His specter has been seen walking on the shore with an eagle on each outstretched wrist.

Wayne’s Phantom at Storm King Pass

Washington ordered Wayne to warn troops of an impending attack. He and Nab, went through a violent storm to warn the men, then they made a successful attack on the British. Witnesses have seen the ghostly pair ride through storms, blue sparks flying from Nab’s hooves as his shoes hit flint rock. Locals have seen the two before impending storms.

Mad Anthony Said to Haunt Virginia House

Wayne was sent to join General Burgoyne in Virginia. He enjoyed visiting his friend, Philip Nolan. The Georgian home is reportedly haunted by two Hessian prisoners who escaped and hid there. They were found and killed. Their ghosts stalk the cellar and hit and scratch walls. Some believe Mad Anthony is a third haunter.

General Wayne the Haunter

Hauntings can be seen, heard, smelled, felt by touch or bodily sensation, tasted and sensed. They, unlike apparitions, have no intelligence, but are similar to a video tape, imprinted on time and space.

Theoretically, hauntings are created by strong emotions; sometimes, those emotions are traumatic. The ghost of Mad Anthony reflects pride, pleasant memories and some trauma.

Some find it interesting that he didn’t haunt the General Wayne Inn when it was still open. In 1795, he was there for a three-day celebration of his successful campaign against the AmerIndians. The establishment was then named in his honor.

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