We grew up in this pre-Revolutionary Farmhouse outside of Media, PA. My mother and three brothers all mentioned seeing an attractive woman in a white nightgown on several occasions. I personally never saw her, but I could sense her presence and pinpoint her location even when other’s couldn’t see her. There were two other spirits that I could clearly discern by sense: a protective fatherly persona that wondered the grounds outside the house and a not benevolent something in the basement.
Our dog absolutely refused to spend more than a minute or two in the basement and would quickly take off running for the stairs. Once, while I was working on repairing a small alarm clock in the basement, I suddenly became aware of the fact that something was in the shadows behind me. All of the lights had gone out, except for the work-light directly over my work-space. Even the lights in the laundry room area were out. Someone would have had to walk within arms length of me to flip the switch. Worst feeling I’d ever had there.
The woman was definitely benevolent. The dog would sit up, look expectantly up the steps as if it was someone she knew, and wag her tail whenever I sensed her coming down the steps. She liked children and especially babies. Our baby brother would stop crying shortly after she entered the room he was crying in and I could sense her nearby whenever I was lonely or depressed as a child. We believe she was a young woman who died in childbirth in a bedroom on the third floor in the late 1800’s or early 1900’s. I believe the family living there at the time were called the Matthews. An elderly man, who said the spirit might have been an older sister he never knew, stopped by in 1964 with photos of the house from when he was a young man.
I felt very comfortable with the wandering spirit in the back yard. It felt very fatherly and protective to me. I had the feeling it was the original owner (Benjamin Kirk) or one of his sons and was not related to the spirit of the woman in the house. I also got the feeling that it did not get along with the thing in the basement, and it may have even felt its job was to protect the house from it.
(Submitted by Rick Cole)
If you've had a paranormal experience here, or have any additional information about this location, please let us know!
Rate this Haunted Place
What do you think? Is this place really haunted? Voice your opinion here! Click "thumbs up" if you think its haunted, or "thumbs down" if you think its all just a tall tale.
Geographic Information
- Address:
- 1041 Willowbrook Ln
Media, PA
United States
Get Directions » - GPS:
- 39.930264, -75.395239
- County:
- Delaware County, Pennsylvania
- Nearest Towns:
- Media, PA (1.0 mi.)
Rose Valley, PA (2.4 mi.)
Lima, PA (2.6 mi.)
Swarthmore, PA (3.1 mi.)
Springfield, PA (4.0 mi.)
Rutledge, PA (4.0 mi.)
Morton, PA (4.1 mi.)
Broomall, PA (4.1 mi.)
Brookhaven, PA (4.3 mi.)
Parkside, PA (4.6 mi.)
Please note: It is your responsibility to acquire appropriate permissions before investigating any location listed on this site. Private property should be respected at all times, as should all posted signs concerning trespassing, hours of operation and other local regulations. Many "ghost hunters" have been arrested because they failed to contact property owners and/or local authorities ahead of time.
Share Your Experiences
Comments (4)
Share Your Comments
Disclaimer: The stories posted here are user-submitted and are, in the nature of "ghost stories," largely unverifiable. HauntedPlaces.org makes no claims that any of the statements posted here are factually accurate. The vast majority of information provided on this web site is anecdotal, and as such, should be viewed in the same light as local folklore and urban legends.
I grew up in Rose Valley, PA, in the house my Grandfather built for his wife, (my Grandmother) on Prices Lane. It was called “Rose Cottage” because her name was Rose. Next to that house is what used to be my great Uncle’s forge. And next to that, the house my great Uncle built as the home for he and his wife, ( my great Aunt ).
When I was about 10, I was laying in bed, and saw a small glowing figure across the room. I was about to go over and see what it was when it advanced to me, growing in size. It was my Grandfathers face, who had died in the next room 5 years before I was born. I dove under the covers and waited… nothing happened, I went to sleep.
When I turned 16, my Father had to sell our homestead as it was costing way too much for him to maintain. We moved 2 doors over into my Great Uncle’s home. He had passed way before I was born as well, but his wife was living in what used to be his forge, now transitioned into a home.
It was a 2 story plus basement and garage. I had the entire second floor to myself, while my Parents lived on the first floor. This place WAS spooky. A flight of oak stairs led to the second floor, exiting to a sun porch at the top, and a bedroom to the right. To the left was a 1/2 bathroom and the hallway to main, large bedroom. Through the door, into that large bedroom, on either side were 2 closets made of cedar with cedar doors.
One night, I was partying next to my bed when I heard a door slowly open…it was the cedar door to the left. It opened, then just as slowly shut. I heard the sound of footsteps, and the cedar door on the left closet slowly opened and the closed. Not being a believer in the supernatural, ( sorry Sam and Dean ), I thought it strange, but attributed it to the house being so old and perhaps it had settled a bit.
Another night, I was in the bathroom, when I heard my bedroom door open, again, the sound like footsteps walking down the hall to that room to the right at the top of the stairs. I then heard the latch pop up, ( no doorknob, just an old style latch ), the door to that room open, then close and the latch closing.
I called a buddy up and told him about all of the above. Now, he DID believe in spirits and such things. He drove down, and we set up one of my guitars on a stand, in that first bedroom, along with a lit candle. We waited at the door in the hallway, about 5 minutes or so, there was an odd noise…sort of like an owl might make, and the door popped open, the guitar was strummed once, and the candle was blown out. We set it up again, but nothing happened. So, we went back to my room, and sat on a bench I had in there. After a while, the right side closet door slowly opened, footsteps again, but this time, the main bedroom door opened, and did not close, but the sound of footsteps walking down the hall and down the stairs raised the hair on both our necks. back on the bench, we knew there was something going on…and it was not long before those footsteps could be heard walking up the stairs, down the hall and back into the right side closet, door opening, then closing. My buddy said he felt cold, and got goose bumps.
The doors opening and closing, along with the sound of someone walking, happened a few more times throughout my time living there.
Hi all,i used to live two doors away from this house when i was a young kid.the folks who owned it then (in the early 1970’s ) were the Cole family.spent many a day playing around the house and yard.NOT Haunted AFAIC.never saw anything out of the ordinary.
OK, I’d like to retract my first answer,lol.
I had a vivid memory of an experience suddenly come back to me shortly after reading this story—
My family had moved out of their house next door by 1973, but we were all still friends with everyone there on the block.It was 4th of July weekend 1976 I’m pretty sure.
Next door neighbor Adam and myself were waiting for the adults to finish getting all of the BBQ stuff together in the kitchen.We were all headed up to the neighbors on Orange St ,they had a pool! (family named Black)
Adam and I were hanging out in the back yard at the Cole’s place ,this was around 3 or 4 pm.
Suddenly, a man came marching down the driveway and stopped right where the blacktop ended and the back lawn began.”You boys be careful over there! Don’t go out in that street!” he shouted to us.
We were stunned ,just standing there staring at this guy for what seemed like minutes He clearly was not of this era/time.
He was wearing a kind of uniform that most closely resembled a policeman outfit.This was 1976 and a lot of folks were running around in period correct outfits back then.Adam and I were more puzzled than frightend. It was just weird.
The man sort of stood there wagging his finger at us for a bit then just spun around on his heels and marched back down the driveway. We both ran after him thinking that he was a Fireman –the Rose Tree FC was frequently driving around the ‘hood in an old antique firetruck giving out candy around the Bicentennial to all of the local kids.
We ran along a few steps behind him,he turned the corner sharply at the front porch and …disappeared!
I was just kinda confused, Adam quickly runs past me and was freaking out and shouted “Where did he go?!?”
I remember this like it happened yesterday.
I also remember one night our family was there visiting the Coles ,all sitting in the front dining room (prob the original kitchen) with the giant stone hearth/fireplace. One of the Cole boys and I walked over to the basement door with their dog (I think it was a German Shepard,iirc) and the dog went nuts–growling,snarling,etc. It scared the cr*p outta me.I never saw anything in the basement or around the house when I was with anybody else; just the one time that one summer. A couple things of interest to this house–there is a small stream that runs behind it,along Orange St. It is said that water provides natural energy to spirits.The next street north ,Highland Ave., has very old Civil War cemetery that is rather creepy.
I live in this house now. We kind of thought we might experience *something* paranormal but over 5 years now and nothing….