History & local legend
The Merrick Art Gallery in New Brighton was founded by Edward Dempster Merrick. Local ghost lore imagines him continuing to visit the paintings he collected, and an account published in the Valley Tribune in 1986 preserves the most distinctive sighting.
A gallery director described a bearded man in old-fashioned clothing walking through the rooms and studying the pictures. The figure then faded from view. Other directors and staff reported footsteps, passing chills, or the impression that someone was watching them.
The stories were reprinted in Beaver County’s Milestones history journal in 1995, helping preserve them beyond the original newspaper coverage.
