History & local legend
Bethesda Evangelical Church, usually called Swamp Church, stands near Farmers Mills in Centre County. Founded in 1855, the small congregation became the setting for a local story about a woman rejected after she became pregnant. In the version folklorist Jeff Frazier told during a 2013 visit, she had expected to marry a young man called Will before he left to fight for the Union.
Years later, according to the story, Jacob and Rebecca Schultz saw a woman carrying a baby down the road on a May night. She was crying and repeatedly calling Will's name. When she reached the church, its doors opened and the lamps and candles lit themselves.
The woman carried the child to the front, then walked down the aisle showing the baby to the empty pews on either side. At the rear of the church she vanished, and the lights went out.
Sources
- Andy Hagerty, NightWatch Paranormal, on-site account of Jeff Frazier relating the local story in 2013
- The Pennsylvania Rambler, childhood tradition, variant versions and actual site in Farmers Mills
- Central Pennsylvania Conference archives, Lycoming College, Bethesda EV (Swamp Church), date, disposition and directions
- OpenStreetMap building outline from Centre County GIS, 120 Swamp Church Road
