History & local legend
Powel House is a restored Georgian home in Philadelphia whose ghost stories often resemble the remnants of a formal gathering. The accounts collected by Philly Ghosts describe figures in colonial clothing on the staircase and a woman appearing in the ballroom.
One figure is identified in the tradition as Peggy Shippen Arnold, the wife of Benedict Arnold. She is described in an elaborate gown, sometimes holding a fan or appearing to wait for someone. Other reports involve soldiers on the stairs, suggesting guests arriving or passing between rooms. These identifications belong to the stories told about the house, rather than to a single documented encounter.
The same collection includes experiences attributed to caretaker Jennifer Davidson and her husband: unexplained cold spots and footsteps heard upstairs when they could not account for anyone walking there.
