History & local legend
Egg Hill Church stands above Penns Valley in Potter Township, Centre County. Its congregation was organized in 1838, and the present pine church replaced an earlier log building in 1860. Two very different traditions have become attached to the hill.
The older account concerns a camp meeting in 1840, before the present church was built. A tornado struck the area while worshippers were gathered in tents. According to the county historical account, trees around the camp were broken, but the tents and trees within it remained standing. People who had knelt to pray during the storm understood their survival as an act of deliverance.
A much darker tale claims that a murderous clergyman killed his congregation and left the church haunted. The Centre County Gazette identifies that account as an urban legend, not an event in the church’s history. The recorded storm tradition tells almost the reverse story: a threatened congregation that survived.
