History & local legend
Pen Ryn Mansion on the Delaware River in Bensalem has a Christmas Eve legend about Robert Bickley, a son cast out of the family home. In the story, Robert quarrels with his father, Abraham, over the woman he loves. Some versions say she is a commoner; others say her politics oppose the family’s loyalty to Britain. After being disinherited, Robert drowns in the river.
Near midnight each Christmas Eve, he supposedly rises from the Delaware and returns to the mansion’s front door. If someone answers his pounding, he stands there wet and covered in river slime, cursing his father. If the door is shut against him, the knocking moves around the house: Robert appears at window after window, tapping the glass before finally disappearing.
