Haunted Pennsylvania Hawk Mountain Sanctuary
Ghostly Activity Believed Caused by Serial Killers, the Schambachers
Located in east-central Pennsylvania, Hawk Mountain is the unlikely site of ghostly phenomena. It’s the world’s first refuge for raptors and birds of prey, serving as a home to hawks, eagles, falcons, vultures and other raptors. The sanctuary offers picturesque vistas, a garden of native plans and eight miles of scenic trials. In autumn, visitors can watch large numbers of raptors migrate.
Hawk Mountain Sanctuary
Albany Township’s raptor sanctuary, on Kittatinny Ridge, rests on land that was sacred to the Lenni-Lenape AmerIndian tribe. In 1929, the Pennsylvania Game Commission placed a $5 bounty on goshawks.
Amateur ornithologist Richard Pough was opposed to the mass slaughter of the raptors. He visited Hawk Mountain and was repulsed when he saw “hunters” shooting hundreds of hawks for their own selfish pleasure. He took pictures of the carnage to try to stop the outrageous “sport.”
Conservation activist Rosalie Edge saw the pictures, leased 1,400 acres on the mountain in 1934 and hired a warden to guard the property. The brutal killings stopped. The following year, she purchased the land and deeded it to the newly created non-profit Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Association.
Glowing Specter of Haunted Hawk Mountain
People, including those driving on the roads, have seen and sensed a ten foot tall phantom that dates back to the times prior to the European settlers immigrating to Lenni-Lenape sacred grounds, Kittatinny Ridge and other parts of the mountain. The spirit is said to radiate powerful evil that frightens experients by its mere presence.
Hawk Mountain Gerhadrt Massacre
In February 1756, AmerIndians killed five family members in their family cabin while an eleven year old son, the only survivor, watched. He returned to the property as an adult and built a larger home. Their ghosts have been seen roaming in the area at night.
The Gerhadrt family homestead was sold to Margaret and Matthias Schambacher who turned the house into a roadside tavern in the mid 1800s.
The Schambachers - Hawk Mountain’s Notorious Killers
Most of tavern’s patrons were peddlers and deliverymen who had a few drinks before they left, then the travelers began to disappear. Schambacher was seen selling surplus and used Civil War uniforms weeks after a peddler vending the items was reported missing.
Rumors that the Schambachers were killing people began to spread. Locals shunned the establishment because their horses bolted as they neared the building, eerie flashing lights were seen and piercing wailing sounds were heard. Schambacher confessed to killing more than ten men. His excuse was that he was compelled to kill them by a voice whispering in his ear and that the area was home to immense evil. Could this have been the glowing specter’s influence? As Schambacher’s body was lowered into the ground, there was a storm and several lightning bolts struck his grave.
Hawk Mountain Ghostly Phenomena Believed Caused by Schambachers
There are many paranormal incidents that have been attributed to the Schambachers, including:
- Glowing lights are seen by Schambacher's tombstone
- A farmer driving past the grave saw a man on the road who suddenly vanished.
- Ghost tour bus drivers found their batteries died mysteriously
- A bus driver said a phantom car hit his bumper
- Spectral flute music, voices, footsteps, wailing, whistles and screams are heard
- Lights and water turn on and off
- Floating lights are sighted
Young Girl Ghost of Hawk Mountain
The specter of a deaf-mute girl who fell down the stairs and broke her neck has been seen in the Schambacher place. People have heard her blowing on a pennywhistle. Witnesses have also heard the apparitions of her grief-stricken parents conversing in the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect of low German. It’s unknown whether the family lived in the building or were visiting.
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- Eerie Pennsylvania Restaurant discusses the ghosts of the General Wayne Inn, named for Mad Anthony.
Source:
Haunted Places, Dennis William Hauck, (Penguin Books, 2002).
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