Urban Legend Haunted Horror Location

Urban Legend

The Haunting at Graeme Park

Philadelphia has a rich and varied history dating back to its founding in 1682. Since then, there have been many urban legends created and passed down through generations. While there are various sorts of urban legends, some of the most fascinating are those meant to scare people. Located approximately 17 miles north of Philadelphia lies Graeme Park, the former estate of Sir William Keith, the former lieutenant governor of colonial Pennsylvania and Delaware. Keith's estate at Graeme Park was built in 1722 and was renamed Graeme Park after Supreme Court Justice Dr. Thomas Graeme bought the property in 1739. There are many stories surrounding Graeme Park. Some people contend poet Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson, Dr. Graeme's daughter, haunts the property while others believe that a servant who was brutally murdered during the American Revolution also haunts the house.

There are many reasons why Graeme Park is considered to be haunted. For one, the house has long been associated with death and heartbreak within the Graeme family. Historically, Elizabeth, one of the purported ghosts of the house, secretly married Henry Hugh Fergusson, a Scotsman with Tory affiliations, after a failed and unfulfilled relationship with Benjamin Franklin's son, William. Before Elizabeth had the chance to tell her father of her marriage to Fergusson, he died from a sudden heart attack. Because she was Graeme's sole heir, she inherited the estate, however, the law prevented the home's title to be put in her name and thus it was put under her husband's name. Because the house was legally her husband's because he owned the title, the government attempted to seize the house based on Fergusson's political affiliations, however, Elizabeth refused to let the house get taken from her without a fight. Elizabeth was finally able to reclaim ownership of Graeme Park in 1781. Elizabeth ended up selling the property in 1795 and died in 1801 at the home of a friend who lived near Graeme Park.

According to legend, Elizabeth has been seen roaming the halls of Graeme Park on nights where there is a full moon and the security alarms that were installed in her own room have been known to go off when there is no one in the room. Additionally, the spontaneous and random scent of lilacs throughout the property has often been associated with her presence. While ghost sightings and hauntings are sometimes associated in a negative and terrifying manner, Elizabeth's presence seems to be connected with a refusal to give up the home, as demonstrated by her legal fight twenty years before her death.