History & local legend
The former company store in Smock, Fayette County, became a museum and community center, but its ghost stories continued to feature someone associated with its working life. Caretaker Clair Kantorik identified a shadow he repeatedly saw as John Martin, a man who had once delivered goods for the store.
Kantorik told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that pictures shifted on the walls and doors slammed shut. The shadow had become familiar enough that he generally left it alone. In 2010, local residents won places in a raffle to join a paranormal investigation inside the building.
During that gathering, Shawn Kelly of the Pittsburgh Paranormal Society spoke beside a flashing meter. When he asked whether anyone wanted to communicate, the lights grew brighter in front of the group.
