Pennhurst Asylum Hauntings
Pennhurst Asylum still haunts Spring City, Pennsylvania. It opened as a home to mentally disabled children, but a reporter’s story in 1968 unearthed its true nature, and led to its closing twenty years later.
Today, paranormal researchers consider it one of the most haunted places in America.
Ghost Hunting at Pennhurst Asylum
You would think that this asylum had hundreds of identified ghosts, but that’s not the case. Only one building has a documented sighting, Quaker Hall, where researchers captured a shadowy figure of a little girl.
Investigators have experienced poltergeist-like and demonic activity. Spirits touched and shoved ghost hunters, and they threw objects at the research team. An entity even scratched an investigator during one of the more active evenings, which indicates demonic activity or a specter manifestation.
You can capture ghostly activities like hot spots, cold spots, EMF surges and Class A EVP in Quaker Hall. It should be the focus of any paranormal investigation.
Ghost hunters found good evidence at the Limerick Building. Evidence includes EVP, apparitions, shadow people and an occasional ghostly touch. The Limerick Building should be the second area to investigate.
Researchers also say you can capture EVP, EMF surges and shadowy figures in many of the other buildings, especially the Philadelphia Building.
Before You Go to Pennhurst Asylum
Today, the owners offer tours, a haunted house attraction and more for a fee. You can find more info at http://www.pennhurstasylum.com.
To get the full story of its reprehensible history, please watch the video report below.
And, use this handy map to find the most haunted buildings on the campus.
Below, directions from Philadelphia International Airport to Pennhurst Asylum in Spring City.
Jacob Rice began investigating and writing about the paranormal in 2007. He has published 3 books on ghost hunting, ghost stories and paranormal protection. His podcast, Ghostly Activities, dives into these topics even more. You can also watch his ghost hunts on the Ghostly Activities YouTube channel. He lives in Olympia, Washington.
2 thoughts on “Pennhurst Asylum Hauntings”
Hi K., thanks for your thoughtful response. You’re right that the paranormal community (me included) focuses too much on the legend of Pennhurst, instead of its reality. The Supreme Court case is here: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/465/89/. This article is filled with legalese, so readers would find the Opinion/Case tab easier to read, or you can listen to the audio files of the hearing.
Could be worth saying that Quaker Hall was for the most high functioning cases and that more care should be taken to understanding the type of abuse that occurred at this site. Neglect occurred by the lack of trained staff and staff in general. Additionally it was not an asylum, the criminally insane where not kept here and I would think you would not call a person who is deficient insane? To often we ignore that it was called Pennhurst State School and Hospital to just Referring to it as Pennhurst State Hospital, which is a place for the insane not a place for the deficient. However the haunted attraction is displayed as an asylum. However thousands of individuals that the world was not equip to aid were placed here as an effort by the state. The 1910-50s was a very different time , it was until the 60’s that a disability act was put into the works to provide people who were deficient with the right to basic needs.
It would also be helpful to link to the actual court case that closed Pennhurst. Pennhurst State Sch. v. Halderman, 465 U.S. 89 (1984). This will help people understand that if ghost are in fact here what kind of poor souls are trapped here.
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