History & local legend
Jack and Janet Smurl lived with their four daughters in one half of a Chase Street duplex in West Pittston; Jack’s parents occupied the other. In 1986 the family’s claims of a haunting became national news after investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren became involved.
The Smurls described hoofbeats and screams inside the house, odors resembling smoke or rotten meat, doors moving and objects crossing rooms. In the Associated Press account published that August, Jack said he had been standing near their German shepherd when an unseen force slammed the dog against a wall. The family also claimed their television had moved across the room.
Reporters and onlookers soon crowded the street. In a later interview, daughter Carin recalled the public attention as an additional ordeal for the household.
