Skip to content
OddWay home

Folklore in Pennsylvania

Everything OddWay knows about. Narrow it down by what you're after, or where you're going.

9 of 7093 places

Folklore9

Suggest a stop

Stories a place tells about itself, passed down and still repeated.

  • Folklore42.0304° N, 80.1530° W

    Axe Murder Hollow

    Millcreek Township, PA

    For generations, Erie-area teenagers called the woods off Thomas Road "Axe Murder Hollow," telling stories about an axe murderer and ghosts haunting the hollow. Erie Reader's archival investigation found no evidence that the legendary family massacre occurred; much of the old hollow is now residential private property, so experience the location only from public roads and **do not enter the woods or neighboring property**.

    Access
    Private land, view only
  • Folklore40.6255° N, 80.0066° W

    Blue Mist Road Trail

    Pine Township, PA

    The closed section of Irwin Road through Irwin Run Conservation Area is better known as Blue Mist Road, a longstanding Pittsburgh-area urban-legend location associated with ghosts, strange lights and a blue-tinged mist. The old road is now primarily a walking and biking trail rather than a spooky drive; the usual route is about 3.8 miles out and back, and the more sensational stories remain folklore rather than established history.

    Access
    Seasonal or ticketed
  • Folklore40.0238° N, 75.2016° W

    Cave of Kelpius

    Philadelphia, PA

    Tradition connects this stone-lined chamber in the Wissahickon to Johannes Kelpius and his seventeenth-century community of mystics, who believed the end of the world was imminent. Historians debate whether the structure was actually Kelpius's cave or a later springhouse, but visitors can reach it on foot from the public park trails.

    Access
    Seasonal or ticketed
  • Folklore39.9856° N, 78.6486° W

    Gravity Hill

    New Paris, PA

    Put the car in neutral at the marked spot on Gravity Hill Road and it rolls, slowly, in the wrong direction. The surrounding hills hide the true horizon well enough that your eyes lose the argument with the road. Bring a bottle of water to pour out and watch. There are two such stretches in the area.

    Access
    Roadside, no entry
  • Folklore40.2726° N, 79.9691° W

    Green Man's Tunnel

    South Park Township, PA

    Western Pennsylvania's Green Man legend grew from the real life of Raymond Robinson, a badly disfigured man whose nighttime walks inspired generations of frightening stories about a glowing figure called Charlie No-Face. The legend was later attached to this abandoned railroad tunnel even though Robinson did not live there; view the tunnel from the legal road or trail area and do not enter blocked infrastructure or storage areas.

    Access
    Roadside, no entry
  • Folklore40.2948° N, 78.6035° W

    Lost Children of the Alleghenies Monument

    Pavia, PA

    Brothers George and Joseph Cox disappeared from their Bedford County home in 1856 and were found dead in the mountains after a massive search, a tragedy later surrounded by stories of a local man's prophetic dreams helping locate them. A stone memorial now stands near the place they were found, reached by a rough seasonal dirt road and a short walk into State Game Lands 26.

    Access
    Seasonal or ticketed
  • Folklore40.6127° N, 80.0258° W

    North Park Gravity Hill

    Pittsburgh, PA

    Stop on McKinney Road at Kummer Road, in North Park, put the car in neutral, and it appears to roll uphill. The slope is an illusion — the surrounding land hides the true horizon, so a gentle descent reads as a climb — which has never once stopped anyone trying it with a bottle of water. A public road, so pull over sensibly and watch for traffic.

    Access
    Roadside, no entry
  • Folklore40.1532° N, 76.8398° W

    Pleasantview Road Gravity Hill

    Lewisberry, PA

    Stop on Pleasantview Road at PA 177, in York County, put the car in neutral, and it appears to roll uphill. The slope is an illusion — the surrounding land hides the true horizon, so a gentle descent reads as a climb — which has never once stopped anyone trying it with a bottle of water. A public road, so pull over sensibly and watch for traffic.

    Access
    Roadside, no entry
  • Folklore40.0397° N, 76.6617° W

    Seven Gates of Hell — Trout Run Road

    Hellam Township, PA

    York County's Seven Gates of Hell legend claims that a chain of gates hidden around Hellam Township leads eventually to an entrance to hell, with versions involving either a burned asylum or an eccentric doctor. The alleged asylum never existed and the land connected to the story is private property; this is strictly a **public-road folklore stop, not an invitation to search the woods**.

    Access
    Private land, view only