History & local legend
Rothrock Cemetery on Locust Grove Road near Middletown has a dare associated with its enclosing wall: walk around it three times, and an unseen presence will push you on the third circuit. A group visiting in September 2010 decided against trying it because the wall was badly broken.
Instead, they described hearing a train roar over the nearby bridge and stop abruptly. Two members saw what looked like a teenage boy forming in white mist. The name associated with the figure in local stories was Jacob.
One participant later returned with a recorder and said the playback contained a boy's laughter.
Sources
- StrangeUSA, Middletown old cemetery, visitors’ directions of April 2010 and first-person accounts by prplestrz and Jess Angel, 2010–2011
- Charles E. Fies, Rothrock Cemetery stone transcriptions, Locust Grove Road and the railroad property, Dauphin County PA GenWeb
- U.S. Geological Survey, Middletown quadrangle, 2019, named cemetery beside Locust Grove Road, rail line and stream
