History & local legend
Waynesborough, near Paoli in Chester County, was home to seven generations of the Wayne family, including Revolutionary War general Anthony Wayne. Orrin Wickersham June bought the house in 1965 and undertook a major restoration. A dinner party during that work produced one of the house’s most memorable ghost accounts.
In interviews used for Helen Cooper’s 1978 historical-society article, June recalled guests reacting to the sound of breaking glass. A second crash sent household staff looking for the damage, but they found nothing broken. When June told former owner William Evans Wayne about it, Wayne connected the sound with Hannah Wayne, a woman associated with a fatal attic fire.
In the family story, Hannah had become trapped at an attic opening after her candle set her clothing alight and had broken glass while trying to escape. The later dinner-party noises were interpreted as an echo of that event. June said the disturbances eventually stopped after the restoration.
