THE STORY
Reported Haunting
A former Franklin & Marshall College office building on Race Avenue developed a friendly ghost legend surrounding an unseen presence nicknamed "Albert." Employees reported slamming doors, rattling windows, phantom footsteps, unexplained music, a male sigh, and a rush of air moving through the otherwise empty building.
The connected houses at 644-646 Race Avenue in Lancaster spent decades as part of Franklin & Marshall College and became associated with a surprisingly well-documented campus ghost known as Albert. Retired F&M printer Jim McLane recalled entering the apparently empty building in 1986 and hearing doors slam and windows rattle. As he investigated, the sounds seemed to move through the building before what he described as a powerful rush of air brushed past him on the stairs. Employees Deborah Shenk and Janie Miller separately reported hearing a distinctly male sigh while working together in an empty hallway. Development associate Gordon Griffith heard what sounded like someone descending the stairs while he was working late, while another employee reported mysterious music coming from an office that contained no radio. The front entrance was also said to open by itself even after facilities employees inspected its latch. Staff eventually nicknamed the unseen presence Albert after a former resident believed to have had that name, although his identity was never established. Built in 1925, the property formerly served as the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity house, a wartime Navy training facility, and later various F&M offices. Franklin & Marshall sold the property in 2022, and whether the reported activity has continued under its present ownership is unknown.