History & local legend
Widow’s Tavern and Grille in Stockertown tells the story of Marvin, an employee from the building’s days as an inn and stagecoach stop. According to the house legend, he fell in love with another employee against the owner’s wishes and lost his job. He was later found hanging near the entrance to the servants’ quarters.
When writer Anthony Rando visited in October 2011, two employees had reported seeing a man at the top of the stairs looking down at them. Owner Jody Stahley had not seen that figure herself, but said the televisions switched on and off unexpectedly and objects sometimes fell from shelves as though pushed. She regarded Marvin as a mischievous presence.
By then, the former stairway associated with the death had become a storage closet. A previous proprietor had hung a plastic skeleton there, and Stahley kept it as a reminder of the tavern’s resident ghost story.
