History & local legend
In 1968, Willow Dale Cemetery near Bradford attracted crowds hoping to encounter a ghost called “Luke the Spook.” An Associated Press report published that November interviewed sixteen-year-old Sue Aylward, who said she and three friends had taken a Ouija board to a mausoleum on a snowy night, using their car’s headlights for illumination.
Descriptions of Luke varied. Some visitors reported a pale shape hovering roughly two feet above the ground; others described a gray-haired man in a blue suit with a flower. Aylward and her friends said they captured screams on tape. Bradford Township Police Chief William Neatrour, meanwhile, recalled seeing about fifty ghost hunters in the cemetery, including visitors carrying recording equipment.
The report documents both the young visitors’ account and the public excitement surrounding it.
