History & local legend
Stories about a woman in white at the York fairgrounds began circulating after a fatal shooting nearby in August 1924. Peggy Larue was killed and two companions were wounded in fields just north of the fair’s old boundary. The fairgrounds later expanded into that area.
Local writer Andrew Gable traced the haunting accounts to the York Dispatch in February 1925. One man said that, the previous January, he had seen a mournful woman dressed in white near the grounds. He thought she looked like a nurse, but she disappeared beside a snowbank. Other people reported a woman screaming, including a plea not to shoot.
The timing and location led storytellers to connect the apparition with Larue’s death, although the witness who saw the woman described her appearance rather than identifying her by name.
Sources
- Andrew D. Gable, local account of the 1925 York Dispatch story and the historic fair boundary
- Elizabeth Daily Journal, August 11, 1924, contemporary York and Associated Press reports on Peggy Larue, PDF image 12
- York State Fair, 1888 property and later expansion
- Esri, Carlisle Avenue fairgrounds address
