Hauntings of Whitefield House

As a lead-up to Halloween, the Express-Times included an article teasing ghost stories of The Whitefield House in Nazareth.

The spookiest tale comes from Kelly Givens, business manager at the Whitefield House, who is the only person to have actually seen a ghost.
Givens said that about two years ago she was alone at the house during the afternoon and walked up the stairs into the museum and passed a woman who she initially thought was a visitor. Then she realized the woman was dressed as a Moravian nurse of the period from when the children were at the nursery.

The Whitefield House Museum, 214 East Center St., is open to the public 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday through Saturday. The cost is $5 for adults and $3 for students and children to visit. For information, call 610-759-5070.

Nazareth Historical Treasures

The Express Times has a new feature called Historical Treasures that spotlights local artifacts found in local museums. It appears every Sunday in the Connect section of the The Express-Times. There are several cool Nazareth landmarks that have been highlighted thus far, the most recent being the Indian Tower. Here are links to the Nazareth pieces:

• Indian Tower
• Stone cenotaph at MHS Historical Area
• Tannenberg Organ

Old Car at Jacobsburg

Here is a fairly well-known Jacobsburg oddity that we haven't been able to find a lot of back story on. Not too far from the creek, in the Eastern most part of the park, there is a very old decaying automobile in the middle of the woods. I first discovered this in the early '90's when I first started coming to the park and haven't seen it since. So I decided to take a trip over there to snap some photos.

I surprised myself by finding the car so quickly after all these years. It's not difficult to find. In fact, on a sunny day you can see it from the main trail (Blue blazed; Henry's Woods Trail; just past the bridge) because the sun reflects off of the chrome bumper. It has decomposed quite a bit since I remember and has become covered in etchings from various visitors over the years. I didn't notice any that were older than the late '90's but it may be that the older ones have rusted over.

I wanted to try and get some clues as to the kind of vehicle it is, how long its been there, and how it got there. There was a marking on the engine block that said "Firing Order 18736542." From the little I know about cars I knew that this only told me it is an 8 cylinder (it had eight digits) and told me noting about the model or age. On the front bumper, there was a hand painted code that read "N4046.614W07517.189." At first I thought this may be something like the magic numbers in the TV show LOST. But after I stared at it long enough I realized that these might be coordinates. After a quick Google search I confirmed that Jacobsburg park is located at N4046 and that these are the waypoints for the vehicle and that geocachers may be using this as a stash point. Based on what I had gathered I found nothing to suggest the model or year of the car. Best guess is 1950's or early 1960's model.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

As far as how it got there, it clearly made its way down the embankment from the main trail area and smashed into a tree. The front bumper is bent around the tree. I saw no clear path from the main trail to the resting spot; it was littered with old growth trees. Also, the forest floor was pretty deep around the wheels. This suggests that the car has been there quite a long time. I might guess 30 or 40 years...maybe 50.

It's a pretty interesting juxtaposition of nature and machine to see a car in the middle of the woods. So if you have the means go check it out. Surely, there is someone reading this that has more information about this automobile and what its story is. So drop us a line at weirdnazareth@hotmail.com

An Interview with author Scott Morro

In 2006, local author Scott Morro took a little local history, a dash of The Goonies, and a bit of Back to the Future and blended it all together into a clever young adults book called The Cross Over. In the book, our beloved Indian Tower becomes a time machine, shooting a group of kids back to Nazareth 1746 where they befriend a young Whitefield House resident and try to get back home. We caught up with Scott and he humored us with an e-mail interview and shared some cool pictures of The Tower.




Weird Nazareth: What inspired you to choose Nazareth, and in particular the Indian Tower, as the setting for this book?

Scott Morro: Well, Nazareth is a hotbed of paranormal activity, so it made perfect sense to… Actually, I grew up in Nazareth [on Spring Street] near Pep’s Place and Santo’s Market. I went to Nazareth High School and lived there my whole life until I got married and moved to Bethlehem. The Indian Tower is a place my friends and I used to visit as kids. We’d climb the tower and watch the races [at the Nazareth Speedway] with binoculars. You could only see 3 turns, but it was free and we liked it. Plus, I always thought the place was creepy [&] cool. Just something about it, ya know… The idea for the book came about when my family and I were visiting the Holy Family cemetery on Father’s Day a few years back. My youngest son, Ryan, who was 4 at the time, pointed up to the tower from the cemetery and said, “What’s that, daddy?” He and my oldest son sprinted for the tower and we began to look around. I explained what it was and some of the history I knew. My family got back in the car, but I stayed and began taking a closer look at the tower, the monument and the plaques nearby. The idea for the book formed as I was standing there. I went to the library and did some research and I spent time at the Whitefield House reading and researching as well. A former curator there, Mark Turdo, photo-copied a diary written by a girl who stayed at the [Whitefiled House] during the time period I was going to write about and that was a big help. After reading the diary and going over my notes, I sat with my laptop and wrote. About 7 weeks later I was finished with the initial draft. Then it was on to edit and make some changes before sending it off to my publisher.

WN: It seems you had been aware of the existence of time travel for some time. Why did it take you so long to reveal it to the world?

SM: Drunken stupor from too many cans of Guinness…Abducted by aliens at Potts Doggie Shop on Broad Street…I seriously don’t know. I’ve used time travel in two other young adult novels, one out now (What’s Brewing in Boston) and one currently being shopped to publishers (The Moravian Enigma). [What’s Brewing in Boston] takes two brothers back in time to assist with the Boston Tea Party, while [The Moravian Enigma] is a scavenger hunt/National Treasure/DaVinci Code type book set in Nazareth and Bethlehem, where the main character and his best friend search for treasure buried by George Washington during the American Revolution. How’d ya like the shameless plug for my other stuff??? I love the idea of time travel and would love to experience it myself. As much as I’m a sports freak (Go Yankees), I love history too. There’s something cool about how you can weave fact and fiction and, in essence, take that journey just like your characters have in the books.

WN: If the Indian Tower were still a functioning time machine, where and when would you travel to, given the chance?

SM: Wow…good question! Do I have to choose just one place? I’d go back to New York and Nazareth of the 1930’s, 1940’s, and 1950’s to see Yankees greats of the past play and to see what life was like for my parents and grandparents. I’d travel to Baltimore of the 1830’s and 1840’s so I could meet Edgar Allan Poe, one of my favorite writers. Maybe we could hook up and write a creepy time travel story together…I’d go to Iowa and do that “Field of Dreams” corn-thing and see where the ball-players go…I’d go to Ford’s Theater and sit in the crowd with Abe Lincoln the night he was shot. Maybe stop John Wilkes Booth if I was feeling brave enough…Too many more to mention…

WN: Our readers are interested in the unusual and quirky side of the Nazareth. Having grown up there, what are some of the odd things that you remember about the town?

SM: I remember hearing about ghosts and creepy shit going on at Black Rock near the pool. I remember hearing scary stories about ghosts at Gracedale…AND I actually experienced some “stuff” while I worked there a few years when I was going to college. I also remember hearing about a murder of two kids, twins I think, in the 1950’s. I’ve actually started to do research for a book on that event. Other than that, not much…But I’d loved to hear what you and your readers have to share…

WN: Are you doing any writing right now?

SM: Aside from the answers to these questions, ya mean??? I’m working on three projects at the moment: I’m working on a young adult book about bullying in a middle school. Originally it was titled ECLIPSE, but since that Stephanie Meyer chick, ya know, the one who wrote the TWILIGHT series, stole that title already, I re-named it RAY OF SUNSHINE, based on a character’s nickname. I’m working on another [young adult] novel about a young man who goes off to Iraq and writes letters back and forth with a cousin of his here in America. There’s still LOTS to do with that one. My wife’s been after me to do an A to Z book about Nazareth and, as I said above, I’m really interested in doing an adult book about the murder of those twins…I mean adult as in “for adults,” not with porn and that type of “adult.” So far, though, the internet has been a bust when it comes to unearthing info on the case. I think I’m headed back to the library and to search micro film. I think it took place in the 1950’s and the kids were named Schaffer or Shafer…something like that. I believe they were abducted near Mitchell Avenue, by high school and their bodies were found in Black Rock. Again, I could have my facts jumbled, but I remember it being a bid deal. My dad, who works at the Post Office, brought it up to me recently and talked about it as a book idea. I loved it! I just need to get the research stared and start writing. Who knows, maybe I’ll solve the thing and CSI: Nazareth will be born…

WN: Thanks, Scott!

Scott’s author website is http://www.publishedauthors.net/scottmorro/index.html. You can see photos, read samples of his books, and find lots of information. He says he is available for school visits and lectures and says you can e-mail him at morro23@rcn.com

You can buy Scott’s books at Amazon.com or check the “links” section of his website. You can also check the Nazareth Memorial Library.

The Spirit in the Spring at Christian Spring

Christian Spring, outside Nazareth near the intersection of Rte. 248 and Daniels Road, was one of the original outlier communities of Nazareth. In that time it was common for Moravian communities to have separate residences for single men (brethren) and single women (sisters), but Christian Spring, also known as Christiansbrunn, was the only community that consisted almost entirely of single brethren.

The spring was named after Christian Renatus von Zinzendorf, much-beloved son of Ludwig Graf von Zinzendorf, patron and leader of the Moravian Church or the Unitas Fratrum as they preferred to be known at the time. Christian, or Christel as some who loved him called him, was by all accounts a joyous and flamboyant character, whose holy celebrations and pageants delighted many at the Moravian community of Hernhaag in Germany. He was even thought by some to be the embodiment of the spirit of Jesus Christ. When he died at the very young age of 24, many of his closest associates came to live at Christian Spring.

So what's weird? Some of those old friends came to believe that their beloved Christel's spirit lived in the spring after his death. Among other things they pointed out how tame the trout were. The spring is said to remain to this day in the general area of the Christian Spring Hotel.

An old shed nearby

Today the community of Christian Spring is remembered by people interested in the history of gun-making in America, and also by another male demographic, so much so that an intentional community modeled on Christian Spring, the Hermitage (whose original members call themselves Johannes and Christian Zinzendorf) exists in Schuylkill County.

If the spring were cleared and marked and opened to tourists, local people might be surprised to find how many people would come from far and wide to visit the spirit of Christian Renatus and the single brothers, who are better known in some circles than they are in Nazareth.

A note: Along the Christian Spring Road (there are 3) that runs from the Christian Spring Hotel to Route 248, there is at least one white mulberry tree. This kind of mulberry was imported for silk production. There is a very good chance that that white mulberry is a direct descendant of the mulberries planted by the single brethren in the 1700's in an effort to start a silk industry, so the tree may be another piece of their legacy that has survived until today.

The Skull in the Rocks at Jacobsburg

A few miles from Nazareth, in Henry's Woods at the Jacobsburg Environmental Education Center, this skull in the rocks can be seen if you stand in one certain spot in the Bushkill Creek. No one knows whether it is a natural formation or if it was carved out by people in the distant or recent past. The most curious thing about it is that from any other angle, the image isn't noticeable. There is also a small rectangular window in a wall-like stone on the same side of the creek

Note: the skull has been deteriorating. When we first saw it, the lower jaw was more complete than it is in this photo. This was taken several years ago and we have not been back to check whether deterioration has continued. [Photo by Earl Dundore]

Weird House in Upper Nazareth

We found this interesting home in upper part of town. From the street, we saw many lawn ornaments arranged in a very deliberate and artistic fashion. Some were from Halloween, some from Christmas. The house itself has paintings (a cat in a window) and other items dressing it.

Parked in the driveway was a van adorned with various chotchkies (troll dolls, toys, reflectors, etc.). I've seen this van around town before and am pleased to know that its home is as eclectic as the van is.

Without speaking to the owners of the house we are unable to determine the back story around all of the objects and decorations. However it is safe to say that the house is a work of weird art.

If anyone has information about this house, the van, or knows the people who live there please e-mail us or post a comment below. We would love to know more about it.

Hopefully, to be continued...

Thanks to Weird Nazareth reader Jim W. for the idea for this post.

The Tunnel Question--???

stairs from a basement on the west side of Main Street to a lower level

Are there tunnels in Nazareth? The Moravian Historical Society gives a tour called Tunnels and Other Tales: Walking Tours of Phantoms and Fables of Nazareth every October, so we wrote to them asking where to get a picture of one of the archways that were supposed by many to be tunnel entrances. We received this reply:

The Moravian Historical Society has done an extensive study of the "supposed tunnels" I can tell you that there are no, and were no tunnels in Nazareth. as far a picture goes, what you are thinking of are often arch chimney supports.

When we spoke with almost anyone else in town over a certain age, however, we heard a different story. One of our more demonstrative informants said, with much emphasis, "Tell the historical society this man wants to know why they're spreading misinformation!" Everyone said go look for yourself, so we did.

What we've found so far is intriguing. One credible person says he has been in the tunnels. Others have seen pictures of people standing in the tunnels and gave us names of people who know more. We were shown enough arches and doorways in basements to make us wonder. From the Dominion Mortgage building on the circle to Nazareth Furniture, the basements of many of the buildings along the east side of Main Street seem to have been linked by doors, at least, if not tunnels.

In the basement of Nazareth Furniture, there is a large arch form very low on the wall facing east, as if there may have been something below basement level. In the basement of a building on the west side of Main Street there is a door (See the top picture in this post) that opens to stairs to a narrow lower level room with an arched ceiling and cemented-in archways at either end. It felt very much like a section of a tunnel. (Unfortunately, the camera failed us down there--hmmm . . .)
We also saw one place where it looks as if a tunnel may cross Main Street.

The two pictures above are from two different basements. It's difficult to see here, but at the top left of the fill-in stones there is a crack behind which there is darkness, as if there is empty space.

People we spoke to gave us various stories, including that the tunnels start in the basement of the Manor House (Zinzendorf's mansion, sometimes called Nazareth Hall) and run down Main Street, then along or under Belvidere toward Whitefield House or old Nazareth south of Whitefield House. Some said the tunnels were built to provide safety from Indians, others said the Moravians hid Indians and other races in them, although why was not known.

Weird, huh? For now we would like to thank the Moravian Historical Society, Sue Dreydoppel, Doris Laurito, Bruce Beltz, Donald Koehler, Daniel Thierry, Seth Young, Jim Sakasits and one person who wished just to be known as Bill. I'll be gone for a couple of weeks, but will continue to pursue this. To be continued . . .

Adding the latest email from the Moravian Historical Society--see latest comment.

Bowling Balls at Center Square

The center square at Center and Main Streets is an interesting place. Flanking each of the entrances are white cement posts with a black spherical cap. If you were to look closely, you would notice that the sphere is actually a bowling ball. According to the Moravian Historical Society these balls were taken from the Holy Family Club and mounted on each post. On some of the balls you can make out markings and finger holes. The ball in the photo to the left is a 16 lb ball marked with the words "Blue Eagle." Next time you walk through the square, pause a moment to take a look.

Thanks to Ross for the idea for this post.

A CD, a Video, and a Book--The Indian Tower Depicted

The album Indian Tower, by Pearls and Brass

Not everyone knows that Nazareth's Josh Martin, Randy Huth and Joel Winter formed a musical group called Pearls and Brass that is known internationally among fans of metal music. The boys named their first album Indian Tower and tracks include The Tower and Black Rock Man.

Possibly most interesting to us are the interviews they have given. See one here: Death Becomes Them. In more than one interview, they muse upon the strange and supernatural feel of the Nazareth area.

They are not the only ones, and the Indian Tower is often the focus of that regard. Have a look at this video (it says it's Emmaus, but we all know that tower when we see it!), and of course there is the children's book The Cross Over, by Scott Morro, in which children sheltering from a storm in the Indian Tower find themselves back in time.

Many people seem to feel something there at the tower. Have you had an experience there or at Black Rock? Tell us your story and we'll add it to the chronicles of Weird Nazareth.

[A story on the tunnels or tunnel rumors is being prepared, hopefully for late next week, so stay tuned!]

Ghost of a Driver--the VIA Thrift Store in Nazareth

We received this from reader Debra Borgo:

. . . about the ghost of the thrift store: I used to work there in 1996-1997 and at that time it was Good Shepherd. There would be lights going on and off, things would fall off the racks with no reason or rhyme. So me being the ever-asking 18 year old asked some of the old timers. Apparently there was a race car driver that was killed on the old track.... and his spirit still haunted the section where he passed. Now how true this is I have no clue just was told by more a one person who worked there and it did have a really spooky feeling.

She also sent a link to a page about the driver, Jackie McLaughlin, the driver who may never have left Nazareth. Thank you, Debra. Readers are encouraged to contribute!

P.S.: Not ghost-related, but did you know that there's a song on the album Sailing to Philadelphia by Mark Knopfler with the title Speedway at Nazareth?

Swastikas at the Library

On the floor of what used to be the front portico of Nazareth's library, there are a number of symbols including several swastikas. However, it is important to note that the home that became the library was built long before the rise of Nazism and that these swastikas are left-facing instead of right-facing, unlike those used by Hitler. Before it became a symbol of that evil, the swastika was used by many world cultures (and still is, in many cases) to represent positive qualities and even sacredness. No doubt the owners meant it as a cosmopolitan gesture.

Nevertheless, it is probably good that this door into the library is no longer used, because the first reaction of many people upon seeing the symbols is shock. In the same vein, it is also probably good that the library abandoned the use of its old mascot, which had the well-meaning but unfortunate name of--Nazzy!

Black Rock Cave and the Blow-Downs

Far back from the borough park, in the woods at Black Rock, there was once a cave or rock shelter. It had been used by the Indians (possibly for vision quests?). When Nazareth Borough Park was constructed, the cave was "filled in with rock in fear of a potential cave-in."* Some say that people who had played there in their youths realized that had been unsafe and filled it so that there children would not do as they did.

Whether part of the fill was garbage or if it was used as a dump after that is not clear, but the site is now frequented by people digging for old stuff (legally? We're not sure), and the walker can find bits of bottles and pottery here and there disturbed by diggers.

Rumors about the cave still fly , one being that it was a limestone cave that, if followed, came out at what is now Jacobsburg State Park. As far as we know, however, it was shallow and little more than a rock shelter.

Curiously, across the trail from the cave is a section of the wood where the trees appear to have been knocked down while young, yet continued to grow, resulting in a group of trees whose trunks lie along the ground and whose branches grow up like trunks. Several kinds of trees are included. If anyone knows the history of this blow-down phenomenon, please leave a comment or get in touch with us by email. It's all part of weird old Nazareth!
*from the Native Americans of Nazareth booklet, in the Nazareth Keepsakes series, 2001.

Smokestack Demolition

200 ft. stacks at Nazareth 3 plant demolition

Indian Tower

At the edge of the borough lies a weird treasue, The Indian Tower. This is the site of Nazareth’s first Moravian graveyard, called “God’s Acre” in use from 1744 to 1762. Wrongly thought to be a burial ground for the Indians from a nearby village, there are actually only 4 Indians buried here. Robert Haas created an American marble monument on site, dedicated by the Moravian Historical Society in 1867 at the same time the original pavilion was constructed. The monument was inscribed with the names of the 67 Moravians including 4 Indians, which are buried here.

Sadly, the Tower has been decimated with graffiti. If any credit can be given to the vandals, none of it is particularly vulgar. So there should be no worries when bringing children. But it is pathetic nonetheless.


While I was there snapping photos, I found a geo-caching package hidden, semi-cleverly I suppose, near the Tower. Geo-caching is a hobby where people hide packages at particular coordinates, post the coordinates on online message boards, and use satellite GPS systems to find the packages. The packages usually contain a logbook and pen and various trinkets that the geo-cache crowd exchange. The packages are supposed to be hidden in such a way that they are invisible to the naked eye and can only be found by dialing up the coordinates on a GPS unit. Average Joes’ like me shouldn’t be able to find them. However, I found the box, by accident, within two minutes of my visit. I looked in the box and returned it exactly where I found it although I positioned it so it would be less likely to be stumbled upon by another non-geo-cacher. In the package, I found a logbook that was extremely wet and unreadable and had, what appeared to be, dozens of entries. I also found some plastic army men, a toy dinosaur, a beverage cozy, a sticker, a small box of crayons, some dimes, and a bunch of other things. On a subsequent visit to the Tower, I brought a new notebook and a ziplock bag to keep it dry. This is the least I could do to apologize to the geo-caching gods for disturbing their territory.