History & local legend
Kirby Hall on Wilkes University’s campus began as a private Wilkes-Barre mansion. Before the Kirby family acquired it in 1905, it belonged to Reuben Jay Flick. Campus lore places a fatal card game in the music room during Flick’s ownership.
A 1981 college publication described a gambler called Poker Pan, supposedly killed during an argument over the game. His name became associated with footsteps on the stairs and an uneasy presence upstairs. Public safety officers reported feeling a hand against their backs on the third floor.
The student newspaper also preserved a professor’s encounter while finishing research late at night. As he left the second floor, white mist appeared ahead of him. He walked toward it, and it retreated up the stairs. Wilkes Magazine collected these accounts in its fall 2009 issue.