public

Reported

A Victorian spa where the wealthy took the waters, then a hospital where people died, then a séance hall where a medium pulled a Native girl out of ectoplasm — and after all of that, the place just sat, rotting and watched. Locals gave it the expected nickname. Those who slipped past the fences after dark reported cold spots, shadows drifting past the observatory windows, and the particular feeling of being observed by something that had learned the building's rhythms long before you arrived.

Built in 1848 by Pennsylvania senator Joseph Konigmacher on Ephrata Ridge, the hotel grew into a 400-room resort around a natural mineral spring — Presidents visited; the wealthy took the waters; the observatory stood 60 feet tall. It became a hospital in 1937, then Camp Silver Belle, home to spiritualist medium Ethel Post-Parrish and her séances, until her death in 1960. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, mostly demolished by 2004. A Hampton Inn stands there now — progress or an insult, depending on your disposition.