History & local legend
Chief Edward Dell died while answering a fire call in 1953. In the years afterward, firefighters at Reading’s Hampden station told stories suggesting their former chief had returned. Some heard billiard balls scattering in the empty upstairs meeting room after midnight.
Two children took the stories seriously enough to write Dell a letter and push it through the firehouse mail slot. They said they had seen him and proposed a test: if he was really present, he should lower the four upstairs window shades facing Greenwich Street.
The shades did come down, but the explanation was a living colleague. Deputy Chief John Weinhold, who had served under Dell, found the note and went upstairs to pull them himself.
Sources
- GoReadingBerks, “The Hampden Haunting,” the children’s letter, Deputy Chief John A. Weinhold and firefighters’ accounts
- Reading Eagle, “Fire Chief Dell Dies,” December 3, 1953, front page. Contemporary notice of his death while answering a call
- Federal Register, March 26, 1982, historic-property listing identifies the Hampden Firehouse at 1101 Greenwich Street
- Esri street-address geocoder, 1101 Greenwich Street
