THE STORY
Reported Haunting
The centuries-old White Chimneys estate near Gap has a long tradition of ghost stories reported by generations of residents. Accounts include apparitions, unexplained footsteps and voices, children laughing in empty rooms, phantom tobacco smoke, mysterious lights, and the sound of a death rattle.
White Chimneys is a centuries-old estate outside Gap, Pennsylvania, whose earliest section originated as a colonial tavern around 1718 to 1720. Members of the Slaymaker family, who owned the property for more than two centuries, recorded unusual experiences connected with the house. S. R. Slaymaker II wrote of recognizing a face in an old family photograph as one he believed he had previously seen during a ghostly encounter. Tenant farmers reportedly heard a disturbing death-rattle sound coming from the former bedroom of Amos Slaymaker, while unexplained lights were seen in portions of the mansion. Later residents have reported footsteps and voices in empty rooms, children laughing or running on stairways, unexplained smells of tobacco or cherry pipe smoke, and occasional clouds of white smoke with no apparent source. Current owners have described the reported presences as generally peaceful rather than threatening. The combination of family memoirs, oral history, and modern firsthand reports has given White Chimneys one of Lancaster County's longest-running residential haunting traditions.