PENNSYLVANIA FACTS – Part 2

WEIRD & FUN

Philadelphia is home to the world’s

largest clothespin!

Click here to find out who invented the clothespin.

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Check out the Philadelphia Zoo here!

Click here to watch a video to learn more about Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin started the country’s first zoo in Philadelphia.

The Farnsworth House Inn on Baltimore St, Gettysburg, was 53 years old when it was riddled with bullets from the famous Civil War battle that takes its name from the town. It displays the hundred bullet holes from that battle proudly, and its staff is well versed in lore and legend of the era. The staff also has a spirited way of promoting the place as one of the top ten most haunted inns in America. Whether it’s the Mourning Theatre, the candlelit ghost tours, or the ghostly dinner theater presentation, the hostelry has a knack for turning occult happenings into palatable entertainment. But it’s not all fun and games at the Farnsworth House Inn. One of the rooms, the Garrett, is closed and padlocked because things used to get too hairy there. The lock on that door sometimes rattles of its own accord, and meanwhile, up in the garret’s ensuite bathroom, a bloody mess that’s almost impossible to clean sometimes appears. The room was apparently a post for three Confederate sharpshooters during the conflict, and presumably at least one of them was seriously injured or killed there. In another upstairs room, a bereaved man is heard sobbing inconsolably, and seen carrying a child wrapped in a quilt. The door to the cellar often opens to an apparition carrying a wounded comrade down to the catacombs, where a voice is heard singing quietly. And in true Sixth Sense mode, the temperature suddenly plummets inexplicably. Other rooms feature less frightening occurrences. The McFarland Room often contains strange sounds, including unusually heavy breathing (and close-up, not from neighboring rooms). The Schultz Room is supposedly often visited by a solicitous midwife who tucks you in, and a little boy. Both are considered very benign presences, but apparently one of them smokes cigars. The smell of particularly acrid cheroot often pervades the room in the wee hours of the night.With all the media attention paid to the Farnsworth House, it’s amazing they can fit any paying guests into the place. Carol Kirkpatrick the psychic, Ghost Hunters International, the Sci-Fi Channel, Unsolved Mysteries, and The History Channel have all visited and reported on the place. None of them reported getting tucked in for the night, but one can only assume that they just attracted a different ghost.

Haunted GettysburgFarnsworth House

Take a virtual tour of the Farnsworth House Inn

Weird PA LawsOperators of bingo games may not

advertise the prizes offered.

In Philadelphia there's an abandoned prison called Eastern State Penitentiary. The first part was built in the early 1800s, shutting down in 1970. Apparently at night ghostly orbs and lights appear. It was the first prison that had solitary confinement in the states, and executions were also held there. So you can imagine all the souls that may still be there. Tours are given to the public, but you have to wear hard hats. In high school my sociology teacher took us there on a field trip. I stepped in there and got the eeriest feeling. It looked like all the prisoners had just left. Cell doors were left standing open, and remnants of beds and chairs were left in some of the cells. The cell doorways looked like they were made for dwarves. You had to bend over to get inside. I felt like someone was going to walk out of one of the cells at any moment. We all huddled together, whispering. The silence was deafening. I didn't even hear any birds. It was dank, dreary, and crumbling. We eventually made our way to the prison's prime exhibit, Al Capone's cell! Apparently he had served time there at one point. His cell was huge with carpet and a nice bed––the only cell of its kind in the whole prison. He got the "special treatment," so to speak. If you guys haven't been there already I definitely recommend seeing it, especially on their Halloween Tour!  –Jenn

Ghosts and Gangsters at Eastern State Penitentiary

Watch a video about Eastern State Penitentiary here

The Steagles70 years ago things were much different when for one season in 1943 the Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers merged to form one team-The Steagles

Read more about the Steagles here!

UFO Sighting in Harrisburg?A Harrisburg woman claims she captured a ufo on her cell

phone camera. See below for details!

Unidentified flying object?

As you head west down Route 30 through York County, around the small town of Hallam, you’ll catch sight of a building that’s enough to make you swerve out of your lane. It’s enough to make you wonder what on earth was going through the mind of the person who built it. It’s a giant shoe with three levels of ornate windows, standing next to a tiny doghouse, also shaped like a shoe. This is the Haines Shoe House, the brainchild of the most single-minded shoe salesman in Pennsylvania —Mahlon Haines.

Haines Shoe HouseSee a video about the famous shoe house!

This is just plain weird! In which city is there a law that prohibits a person from sipping a carbonated drink while lecturing students in a school auditorium?

Now it’s YOUR turn! See if you can find the answers to these PA Trivia questions…

Which city is home to the cheesesteak sandwich, water ice, soft pretzels and TastyKakes?