History & local legend
The Yellow House at the Battles estate in Girard was built in 1858. Rush Battles’s mother and sisters remained there after he married and moved to the neighboring White House. Later, the Yellow House became a museum with an upstairs apartment, and a family living in those rooms reported activity in both their home and the exhibits below.
When investigators N. A. Reiter and L. L. Schillig interviewed the family on November 16, 2002, the residents described hearing children singing in the downstairs dining room. They also reported a woman in black mourning clothes pacing through their bedroom.
The family’s younger daughter had another account: she saw the glass chimney of an oil lamp fly out of its holder. The investigators recorded the visit in their report, The Enigmas of Girard, Pennsylvania.
Sources
- N. A. Reiter and L. L. Schillig, The Enigmas of Girard, Pennsylvania, November 24, 2002, original field report
- Hagen History Center, distinguishing the Yellow and White Houses, their occupants and the upstairs apartment
- Erie County Ghost Hunters Society, festival visit to the two Battles museums, July 2006
- Valerie Myers, Erie Times-News interview with Stephanie Wincik about her Battles Farm walks, syndicated by Yahoo
- Erie County GIS, point address for 436 Walnut Street
