A really scary pa ghost story is about a bridge. Legend has it that if you cross the bridge at midnight, a ghostly hand will reach out from the water and try to pull you in. People have claimed to see a pale face just below the surface of the water too.
There is a pa ghost story about a lighthouse. The lighthouse keeper had mysteriously disappeared one night. Ever since then, people sailing by would see a strange light in the lighthouse that wasn't the normal lighthouse beam. And if you got too close to the lighthouse, you could hear the faint cries of the missing keeper as if his spirit was trapped there.
One of the scariest pa ghost stories involves an old theater. Theaters have a certain charm, but this one was haunted. Actors would often feel a cold breeze when they were on stage, even when the air - conditioning was off. There were also reports of seeing a figure in the balcony that looked like an old actor who had died during a performance there. It was as if his spirit was still drawn to the stage.
Perhaps the story of the phantom train is among the scariest. Locals claim that on foggy nights, a train that doesn't exist in the real railway schedules can be heard and sometimes seen. It is said to be the ghost of a train that had a horrible accident years ago, and the souls of the passengers are still on board, doomed to ride the tracks forever.
The Erie PA ghost story about the old prison is very scary. There were many violent deaths in that prison over the years. Now, it's said that the ghosts of the inmates and guards haunt the place. Visitors have reported being touched by unseen hands and hearing the clanking of chains. And then there's the story of a haunted forest near Erie. People who enter it claim to see strange lights and hear whispers, as if the forest itself is alive with the spirits of the dead.
The scariest part of the York PA ghost stories could be the sense of the unknown. For example, in the stories about the Golden Plough Tavern, not knowing who those apparitions are or what they want can be terrifying.
There was a story about a family that moved to a house in Pa. Their daughter started acting strangely, saying she was seeing a little boy who was always sad. The family soon realized that the house was built on an old burial ground. The 'little boy' was the spirit of a child who was buried there and was unhappy with the house being on his resting place.
A really scary anonymous ghost story involves a bridge. It was said that a young girl had jumped off the bridge to her death many years ago. Since then, drivers at night would sometimes see a girl in a white dress standing on the edge of the bridge. When they stopped to help, she would disappear.
A really scary one is about a hotel room. Guests would wake up in the middle of the night feeling a cold presence. They would see the imprint of a body on the bed next to them, as if someone was lying there. It was said to be an entity that met a tragic end in that room.
A student in a dorm once woke up in the middle of the night to see a white figure floating above his roommate's bed. He was so scared that he couldn't move or make a sound. When he finally managed to turn on the light, the figure was gone and his roommate was still sound asleep.
The scariest I know is of a teacher who hanged herself in the school attic. Ever since, people would hear strange sobbing sounds coming from there. If you go near the attic during the night, you can sometimes see a faint silhouette of a woman swinging slightly, as if still in the act of her final moments.
In a particular mine, there were reports of a ghostly miner who would push people. Workers would suddenly feel a shove when they were alone in the tunnels. It was thought to be the angry spirit of a miner who had been mistreated during his life. The atmosphere in that mine was always filled with fear, and many miners refused to work there in the end.
The scariest I know is of a pup in an old, abandoned house. A group of kids exploring the house heard the sound of a pup crying. When they followed the sound, they saw a shadowy figure of a pup. But when they got closer, it disappeared. They later learned that a pup had died in that house decades ago and its spirit still haunts the place. It's terrifying because it makes you wonder what else might be in that abandoned house.