The natural beauty of Hawk Mountain belies a sinister side to it; a dark side that over the years has manifested itself in paranormal experiences and even murder.
As mentioned in Part 1, Hawk Mountain in Albany Township, Berks County, is considered one of the most haunted places in the U.S.
Given the history of Schambacher’s Tavern, it’s no surprise that this 227-year-old building is a hotbed of hauntings; so much so, that in the late 1970s famous psychic investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (The Amityville Horror, The Conjuring) visited and deemed it so haunted that no one should ever allow anyone to conduct a séance on the premises.
In the tavern, located on the northeast side of Hawk Mountain, people have reported hearing the sounds of a small girl softly crying; reportedly the ghost of a small girl who was deaf and mute, whose mother died unexpectedly and being alone, couldn’t survive and died a tragic death, possibly from starvation.
On one occasion, a former resident of the tavern, Seth Benz, and several witnesses heard the sound of someone coming up on the back porch. They all heard the sound of heavy footsteps and dragging noises, as if someone was holding a man under his arms and dragging him along the porch.
“Then I could hear sharpening sounds, and it was like–these things are vivid!” Benz recalled. “And then it was like I could hear the whoosh of the axe, hear it hit the wooden block, and then something hit the porch and rolled a couple of times, like they had chopped the head off. Then I heard footsteps again and the dragging sound.”
The family who owned the tavern after Matthias Schambacher, the Turners, had a young daughter who was blowing her whistle, fell down the steep basement stairs and died. People talk of hearing a ghostly musical whistle.
The tavern is not the only haunted spot, either. Witnesses have reported seeing phantom lights and hearing ghostly voices in the woods. Drivers along the road to the mountaintop report seeing a luminous 10-foot-tall man, possibly associated with the Lenni Lenape tribe, and thought to be the guardian of an ancient ceremonial ring. They describe feeling an overwhelming sense of evil in association with this specter. The ghosts of the massacred Gerhardt family are also believed to roam the valley at night.
Hawk Mountain is as beautiful as it is spooky. Enjoy a day (or night, if you dare) there. It really is Mother Nature at her best.
