THE STORY
Reported Haunting
The former Allentown State Hospital has long been associated with reports of apparitions, shadowy figures, unexplained voices, footsteps, and other strange activity within its abandoned wards and underground passageways. A former security worker later reported capturing an EVP in Patient Area 17. Although most of the historic hospital complex was demolished in 2020–2021, stories of the site's haunting continue. (Submission by Eryn Hendricks-McMunn)
Allentown State Hospital opened in 1912 as a state psychiatric institution and eventually grew into a sprawling campus of dozens of buildings connected in part by underground tunnels. The hospital treated thousands of patients during its busiest decades before eventually closing in 2010. During the years the abandoned complex stood vacant, security personnel, explorers, and local residents circulated stories of unexplained activity inside the buildings. Reports have included figures seen in windows and hallways, unexplained footsteps and voices, and electronic voice phenomena. One former security worker who said he worked at the property from 2017 through 2020 reported capturing an EVP in Patient Area 17 and described other unsettling experiences among the security staff. Most of the historic hospital buildings were demolished beginning in 2020, but the former hospital property remains associated with local paranormal folklore.