History & local legend
Lake Jean in Ricketts Glen State Park has a Christmas legend about a family who lived beside the water when it was known as Mud Pond. Folklorist Jeffrey Frazier places their cabin on the peninsula later occupied by the campground and calls them the Getz family.
In the story, their nine-year-old son received ice skates on Christmas Eve. His parents warned that the pond had not frozen safely, but after they fell asleep he slipped outside to try them. The ice broke, and both parents drowned while attempting to save him. Visitors arriving days later found three sets of tracks from the cabin to the broken ice and none returning.
The later haunting is told by fishermen. A soft yellow light supposedly shines beneath the lake’s surface, then disappears when a boat approaches. Anyone peering into the water may instead see three faces looking upward—the child and the parents who followed him onto the ice.
Sources
- Jeffrey R. Frazier, Pennsylvania Fireside Ghost Tales (2016), “A Watery Grave,” pp. 1–6, the Christmas Eve tradition, tracks, lights, faces and location
- Joshua Spellman, Citegeist, independent later investigation of the Mud Pond legend, December 23, 2025
- Pennsylvania DCNR, Ricketts Glen campground map, campground approach, peninsula and amphitheater
- Pennsylvania DCNR, park history and enlargement of Lake Jean
