THE STORY
Reported Haunting
The grave of Augusta Bitner in Lancaster Cemetery is the center of one of Lancaster County's best-known ghost legends. Her life-sized monument is said to weep real tears, glow with eerie green eyes, and even leave its pedestal to wander the cemetery after dark.
Lancaster Cemetery in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is home to the elaborate grave monument of Augusta Harriet Bitner, whose statue has inspired one of the county's longest-running supernatural legends. According to folklore, Augusta died after tripping over her wedding gown and falling down a staircase on her wedding day. Her grieving family supposedly erected a life-sized monument in her likeness, and generations of visitors have claimed that the statue cries real tears, displays glowing or flaming green eyes, and sometimes leaves its pedestal to wander the cemetery at night. These stories earned Augusta the nickname "The Walking Ghost of Lancaster County." Historical records, however, contradict the tragic wedding-day story. Augusta married Stanley Tevis on May 3, 1905, gave birth to their daughter Sylvia later that year, and died on June 1, 1906, after suffering from typhoid fever and an intestinal hemorrhage. Although the popular account of her death is folklore, stories surrounding the unusual monument and its supposed nighttime activity remain firmly embedded in Lancaster ghost lore.