RSS
Home
Nemacolin Castle in Brownsville, Pennsylvania is historic, old and… haunted
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
As you cross the U.S. Route 40 Lane Bane Bridge, from the west, into Brownsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, look slightly to your right. Sitting on a hill above the town is Nemacolin Castle, a local landmark and historic treasure. The castle is open to the public throughout the year, but two of the biggest months to visit it are in October and December.
October brings about fall events at the castle that really attracts the crowds. The biggest drawing card during this time of year is the tales of the unexplained. Personally, I have been on site to study the historic architecture, physically worked on the castle grounds and toured the castle a few times, and have never once noticed anything out of the ordinary. But other people, and some I personally know, who have worked at or visited the place, swear that they have felt, smelled, heard and even seen things that were, well, not normal.
Let’s take a brief trip back in time to understand where some of the castle’s tales of the unexplainable came from… Construction on Nemacolin Castle was started, somewhere around 1790’s, by Jacob Bowman. It was built in what was then known as Redstone or Redstone Old Fort on a hill above the Monongahela River, close to the Nemacolin Trail trade route. The castle, also known as Bowman’s Castle, was expanded several times during the mid 1800’s. The Bowman Family was the only family to have live at the castle. One of Jacob’s nine children, Nelson, inherited the castle upon his death. Nelson and his wife Elizabeth had six children, of which only two made it to adulthood. The last family members to call Nemacolin Castle home was their son, Charles, and his wife Lelia. After Lelia’s death, in 1959, her wish to the have the castle turned into a museum was fulfilled.
Many of the unexplained ghostly sightings at the castle are believed to be of Elizabeth as well as various children. Are they Nelson’s and Elizabeth’s children that died during childhood? It is said that as many as ten different, albeit friendly, apparitions have been seen in the castle at one time or another. Photographs have been taken of the castle, from the outside, showing children looking out the windows, when supposedly nobody was inside the place! A lady, maybe Elizabeth, has been heard whispering and shushing people, from within the castle’s nursery, as people passed by the room. One tour guide said she heard screaming, then saw Elizabeth run pass the doorway of the room she was in. Another freakish tale was told of people witnessing baby dolls in the nursery opening and closing their eyes at will!
A tour guide, of one of the castle tours that I had the pleasure of taking part of, stated that she personally has felt the cold chill of the presence of somebody standing next to and passing by her while she was working inside the castle… but she swears there was nobody in the room with her! She added that it literally made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end! The tour guide continued by saying that she has heard doors opening and closing while she was there alone and on occasions heard footsteps following behind her.
Tour guides and visitors alike have been said to have smelled and felt a presence in the historic structure while others have heard kids laughing and playing in the nursery. Then again, there have been some that have even heard dogs barking from with in the castle.
(I personally can relate to the dog barking thing and hearing doors opening and closing. When my dog is not at my house, I, as well as other family members, have heard, at different times, a dog barking from within the house. My wife and I are always hearing doors opening and closing or the doorbell ringing, but when we check, no one is there! Maybe I had brought a few unwanted friends home from one of my visits to Nemacolin Castle!)
If you want a neat as well as an informative experience (with no guarantees of seeing, smelling, feeling or hearing anything) get out and about to Nemacolin Castle one day this fall season, or any time of the year as far as that goes, and hear the ghost tales for yourself!
For more information: Click on Nemacolin Castle.
Nemacolin Castle is located about 40 minutes south of Pittsburgh. Take Route 43 South off Route 51 in Large, Pa. (Toll Road). Then exit Route 43 at the Brownsville exit (Route 40 East). Cross the Monongahela River on the Lane Bane Bridge. Make the first right after the gas station (4th Ave.) Make another first right onto Brashear St. You will find the Nemacolin Castle parking lot is at end of Second St.
Read "Cars mysteriously roll uphill in Bedford County, Pennsylvania" for another unique mystery!
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
