Mail call: A haunted highway
Today’s letter is seasonally appropriate and comes from David F. Spangler of York Township.
David writes, “During this Halloween season, I thought it appropriate to mention a ghost story I came across some time ago, regarding the Lincoln Highway. This tale has been mentioned int he book titled ‘Pennsylvania Myths and Legends’ that is available in most libraries. The story involves a nighttime sighting along the Lincoln Highway, somewhere west of York.”
He continues, “It seems that more than one traveler on the highway has had a ghostly encounter with a freight wagon hauling a load of Hessian prisoners of war that crossed the highway in front of their auto while traveling west. So the story goes, the wagon crossed in front of them, from the left side of the road, this would seem to indicate that the ghostly specter was heading to Carlisle, that happened to be an internment camp for Hessian POWs during the Revolutionary War. (Hessian POWs built the stone powder magazine at Carlisle Barracks).”
And he concludes with this note: “The Colonial army captured the Hessians at the battle of Trenton on Christmas Eve. This leads me to believe the sightings mentioned above took place during the first month of the year.”
David, that’s really interesting! Jim McClure has blogged occasionally on the Hessians in York County, and I’m not surprised to hear there’s a matching ghost story!
