History & local legend
Asbury Church Cemetery near Erie became the setting for a series of childhood sightings recounted to Robin Swope. During his work with the church’s youth group in 1996 and 1997, the pastor’s daughter told him about figures she watched from her bedroom window overlooking the graves.
She described an older man in work clothes looking toward the airport runway and a woman carrying flowers. Parts of the woman seemed transparent. On a summer night, the girl heard laughter and looked out to see a boy in short leather trousers running among the headstones. He ducked behind a marble marker, but never emerged on the other side.
Swope published the girl’s recollections in 2008.
Sources
- Robin Swope, former Asbury lay ministry coordinator, recollections of his conversation with the pastor’s daughter, July 2008
- Hagen History Center, interviews with pastor and Nicholson descendant identifying the present cemetery
- Asbury United Methodist Church, West Ridge Road address
- OpenStreetMap, named Asbury Church Cemetery parcel
