History & local legend
The old railroad corridor near Spring Mills, where Sinking Creek meets Penns Creek in Centre County, has a legend of a headless railway worker. He is said to carry a lantern along the former line, searching for the head he lost in an accident. Local tellers describe him as a switchman.
Folklorist Jeffrey R. Frazier collected accounts of the apparition in Pennsylvania Fireside Tales, Volume 5. Its cover depicts an encounter involving two Boy Scouts who had been fishing after dark along Sinking Creek. In the book’s preface, Frazier also describes reports from travelers near Spring Mills.
The worker’s supposed job puzzled Frazier. When he examined historical maps, the track at the reported accident site appeared to run straight through the mountains without a second line onto which a switchman could direct a train.
Sources
- Jeffrey R. Frazier, Pennsylvania Mountain Stories, Vol. 5, cover note about the two fishing Scouts, preface on sighting reports and railroad maps, chapter 5 listed as Tales from Along the Tracks
- Penn State’s Weird Pennsylvania Legendscapes, Spring Mills area, lantern, old railroad bed and the search for his head
- Centre County, Penns Valley Regional Comprehensive Plan, Spring Mills, Sinking Creek, Penns Creek and the former rail alignment
- Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, Sinking Creek mouth coordinates, Centre County
- USGS 1924 Centre Hall quadrangle, historical sheet showing the Spring Mills rail line and Rising Spring Station
