Phoenixville, with all its rich history, is quickly becoming a hot spot for paranormal investigations, and on Thursday, the Mansion House on Bridge Street will open its doors for the first time to host a ghost hunt.

The Mansion House, which was licensed in 1850 as an inn for food, drink and lodging for travelers and townspeople, has several interesting features which will be highlighted throughout the evening.

Beneath the building is a sub-basement with a large dirt-floor tunnel that is believed to have been part of the Underground Railroad. The Mansion House has also housed some interesting guests, like the Sundance Kid, who is said to have lived in a Mont Clare house which burned down several years ago.

But perhaps the most intriguing part of the tour will be the exploration of two sealed rooms discovered after a fire caused severe damage to the building in 2003.

Jodie Rooney, co-owner of the Mansion House, said the rooms are on the second floor of the building, and have been sealed for so long they don't even have electricity.

When the post-fire renovations were taking place, construction workers were fixing two bathrooms that were side-by-side. Breaking through one of the walls to renovate, they discovered the sealed-off rooms that, oddly enough, appeared to have been damaged by a long-ago fire.

The rooms, Rooney said, were full of antique furniture that had been scattered around.

"There were old seats, bedroom furniture, pictures of ... George Washington, Abe Lincoln, some other pictures that are scenery, some old vases, and there's an old bed" Rooney said. "It's beautiful stuff, armoires and different old pieces."
Although the contents of the room were covered in dust, Rooney said she found it strange that there were no cobwebs.
Shortly after the restaurant closed down to rehab from the fire, Rooney said workmen began reporting other strange things, and some even refused to come back.

"When we were refinishing, things started flying off the shelves," said Rooney. "And one guy said he felt something on his head, like someone was stroking his head."

Workers also reported strange scents in a second-floor room.
"The room would smell like perfume or cinammon when the rest of the building smelled like smoke," Rooney said.

She herself experienced odd happenings as well.
"The front door was opening," she said. "It sounded like people were coming in but there's nobody ever there."

Peggy Schmidt, who owns Ghost Tours of Phoenixville with business partner Andrea Martinishin, described the Mansion House as one of the most haunted locations in the borough. Another "very haunted" location is the Phoenixville Public Library, where a ghost hunt was conducted last year.

In addition to being a possible stop on the Underground Railroad, Schmidt said the Mansion House was a departure place for local soldiers who were going to Gettysburg during the Civil War.

The Mansion House has been a stop on the Ghost Tours of Phoenixville, but Thursday is the first time ghost hunters will be able to go inside the building.

Mark Sarro of the Chester County Paranormal Research Society (CCPRS) will set up the cameras in the sub-basement, while other CCPRS members will conduct a séance inside one of the previously-sealed rooms.

There will also be a buffet dinner and ghost stories. Although Thursday's event is sold out, tickets are available for a March 22 encore. Walking ghost tours in the borough will resume when warm weather returns. Tickets are $40 per person, $75 per couple.

For more information on the tours, call 215-237-1166, or visit CCPRS on the Web at www.chestercountyprs.com.

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