Is the mansion of the legendary Thaw family near Loretto, Pa. actually haunted?

Photo by Post-Gazette

Is Evelyn Nesbit really haunting this house?

Many wealthy people from the Pittsburgh area used to come east to the mountains of Cambria County in the summers because of the oppressive heat generated by the steel mills. This occurred in the 1800s with Andrew Carnegie who ventured to Cresson, but also with a family known as the Thaws a little later who built a mansion a few miles away.

Harry Kendell Thaw was railroad tycoon who built a 20-room Tudor Revival mansion on a 130-acre tract in the late 1800s between Loretto and Cresson. According to historical data, the beautiful edifice was designed by Louis and Michael Beezer in 1896 and was constructed over a five-year period from 1897 to 1902.

The data indicated that the estate was known as “Elmhurst” and was constructed by the wealthy family,

Used as a summer residence, the Thaw Mansion cost an astronomical $150,000 at the turn of the century. In 2001, it was up for sale with an asking price of $1.2 million.

Historical data

So, why might it be considered haunted on the Oct. 31, 123 years after the Thaws finally inhabited it?

That is an interesting question, and truth is, the meme is absolutely nonsense.

Here is why.

The false legacy of Evelyn Nesbit

A story in the Post-Gazette 24 years ago provided some background,

One would be hard-pressed to find a more magnificent country residence than Elmhurst, the idyllic English Tudor mansion built between 1897 and 1902 for Pittsburgh railroad tycoon William Kendall Thaw and his wife, Mary.

Located about 80 miles east of Pittsburgh on 130 rolling acres of farmland and forest in Loretto, Cambria County, this three-story summer retreat boasts nine bedrooms, eight different fireplaces with carved mantels, paneled dining and living rooms and a two-story cork-lined ice house with a fireplace where Helen Keller reportedly stayed in the early 1900s.

This 20-room mansion in Loretto, Cambria County, was built by the family of Harry K. Thaw. Thaw made national headlines when he shot and killed the famous architect Sanford White on the roof of Madison Square Garden in a jealous rage over his wife, "Gibson Girl" Evelyn Nesbit. Rumor has it that Nesbit's ghost is haunting the stately home.

Gretchen McKay, Cambria County mansion rumored to be haunted by ghost of legendary 'Gibson Girl’,” Post-Gazette, October 27, 2001

In order to look at this further, I went back through my notes and then watched the interesting but poorly-done movie, “The Girl in the Red-Velvet Swing.”

Who was Evelyn Nesbit?

Evelyn was a native of Tartness, Pennsylvania, who was discovered by a publisher when she was just a teenager. She ultimately became a teen sensation as a model, one of the “Gibson Girls,” but her life became a national sensation because of a murder tied to the mansion built in Cambria County,

Perhaps if you watched the movies “Ragtime” and “The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing,” you are familiar with the name Evelyn Nesbit. She was a beautiful young woman who became involved in a three-way love affair that ultimately ended in a murder and trial that was called “The Trial of the Century” in the early 20th Century.

While she was a native of Pennsylvania, her tie to Cambria County because of one of the men involved in that three-way affair, a man who ultimately was found not guilty of murder because of insanity. His family was the one who built the beautiful Tudor-style summer mansion in the hills of Western Pennsylvania, which is how the stories of Evelyn’s ghost originated.

Hugh Brady Conrad, Blog

Evelyn Nesbit, Wikipedia

Harry K. Thaw

Evelyn was pursued by legendary architect Stanford White and was allegedly the victim of statutory rape when she was just 16. However, she then married Harry K. Thaw, who experience mental issues and was insanely jealous of White,

Here is some of her background,

Nesbit entered the Broadway theatre in 1901, initially as a chorus line dancer before becoming a featured star. A variety of wealthy men vied for her company, including Stanford White, who was more than 30 years her senior. In 1905, Nesbit married Thaw, a multi-millionaire about 14 years her senior with a history of mental instability and abusive behavior. The next year, on June 25, 1906, Thaw shot and killed White in the middle of a highly attended musical performance at the rooftop theatre of Madison Square Garden.

The press called the resulting court case the “Trial of the Century,” coverage of which was sensational. Nesbit testified that White had befriended her and her mother when she was performing as a chorus girl, and that when she was about 16 years old, he had given her wine and drugged and then raped her when she was 16. Nesbit and White also had an ongoing romantic relationship after the alleged rape incident. Thaw was said to have killed White in retaliation for his actions with Nesbit, based on his own obsession with her.

Thaw was eventually acquitted for murder based on an insanity defense. Nesbit visited Thaw while he was confined to mental asylums.

Evelyn Nesbit, Wikipedia bio

Despite all of this, there is no way that Evelyn could even be remotely tied to any of the violence by Thaw. The stories about it being haunted are simply those of conspiracy theorists with nothing better to do.