Rausch Gap
A small group of five students, three girls and two boys, make plans to take a hike, since there is
nothing better to do in Lebanon County. They decide to walk through the beginning part of the state
park. On one Sunday afternoon they set out with cameras, snacks and plenty of water, believing that
they were prepared for anything; one of the students even had a first aid kit.
After walking for two hours, they come across a small cemetery. This begins to spark their
interest. They stop and take pictures, then continue on their way. Two and a half hours later they walk
upon rowans of buildings. Not knowing anything about this area, other than the fact it’s owned by the
state; so they take their pictures and move on. While at the rowans they agree to turn off the main walk
and see what the old town may still have. They end up at a clearing, and everyone noticed that just by
being in the clearing it has gotten cooler. They looked to the right and it seems to them to be a path that
is big enough to hold a train track. At first only one of them looks to the left, she sees the back of a
woman who is holding a lantern.
The girl nudges one of her friends and they all look at the woman one by one. The woman walks
forward, away from the students, but then stops when one of the students steps on a stick. She slowly
turns toward the students and smiles, none of them look away from her. Suddenly, the woman lunges
toward them, passing through one, the other escape her path just in time. The woman disappeared
after passing through the student but not without leaving a horrible fate for that poor boy.
All of the students thought nothing of this event, well other than it was creepy; they even
convinced their friend that he shouldn’t dwell on the occurrence. Two months later, though, the student
who was passed through had a car accident. When his parents went to claim his body, his mother broke
down into a horrible crying fit stating that his body looked as if a train had hit it. The only way anyone
could identify the body as his was his dental records.
As in the story above, this town is about four miles from the main road and is said that camping
is not permitted for fourteen miles from the main road, but “is allowed at the Rausch Gap Shelter and…
other campsites” (Hopey, Scherer, 127). In its day, the town that use to be where the students decided
to change their path, used to be one of the biggest mine town in Pennsylvania. It held from around 250
to one thousand people (Via) at one time but was deserted around the 1880’s. While walking through
this dry town a person can find a map of houses, cemeteries and railroads; but now that town only holds
passed bodies and haunting stories.
The one that passed through that student has a story behind her. She was widowed because of
an illness her husband had, and because the families job in the town was to through the train switch it
was then her job to do so. But her husband had just died, she was upset and forgot the through it; a
train crashed leaving a few hundreds dead. After having a mass grave the townsman turned on the
woman and plan to hold her responsible, but she beat them to the punch ("Lebanon County- Indiantown
Gap- Hotel Road"). When they had found her, she had killed herself by standing in front of a train.
As the tale goes, if a person goes to where she had died they may see her. If they do and she
isn’t looking they should run away as fast as they can. If she sees them first, she will pass through them;
this will end in the person’s death looking as if they have been hit by a train ("Lebanon CountyIndiantown Gap- Hotel Road"). She is not just walking around looking for her next victim; she is looking
for her train.
Work Cited
Via, J.W,. "St. Anthony's Wilderness." Rausch Gap n. pag. Web. 1 May 2010.
<http://home.comcast.net/~StAnthonyWilderness/picpage.htm>.
Hopey, Scherer, Don, Glenn. Hikes in the Mid-Atlantic states: Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New
York. 1st. United States: Book Producer Trail profiles, 1998. 127-133. Print.
"Haunted Places In Pennsylvania." Lebanon County- Indiantown Gap- Hotel Road (1998): n. pag. Web. 1
May 2010. <http://theshadowlands.net/places/pennsylvania.htm>.