History & local legend
The railroad crossing near Schuylkill Avenue and Chestnut Street in Leesport has two haunting traditions. One concerns a train that people can hear or feel without seeing; the other concerns a woman in gray walking nearby.
In the train accounts, a light follows the tracks and then turns into the woods. Witnesses have also described the crossing lights flashing while the sensation of a rushing train passes them, although no locomotive or cars appear.
The gray-clad woman is said to travel uphill along Chestnut Street, close to the roadside.
Sources
- Pennsylvania Haunts & History, Chestnut Street Tracks, naming the Reading Eagle as its source
- Federal Railroad Administration crossing inventory, Schuylkill Avenue crossing 592489H at Leesport
- OpenStreetMap, exact grade crossing a short distance from the foot of Chestnut Street
- OpenStreetMap, Chestnut Street meeting Schuylkill Avenue above the crossing
