Franklin Historical

Due to mandate, we will be closed to the public until Jan. 4. Our online gift shop will still be open, and we will ship items or arrange no contact pickup here at the jail. You can contact us through messenger, by emailing [email protected], or calling 717-264-1667. Thank you for your support, and we hope you stay safe and healthy! Happy holidays! https://franklinctyhistoricalsociety.ecwid.com/

Stuckey's, Wayne Ave., Chambersburg, 1977. Photo found in the Hafer Construction Company Collection. Due to mandate, we will be closed to the public until Jan. 4. Our online gift shop will still be open, and we will ship items or arrange no contact pickup here at the jail. You can contact us through messenger, by emailing [email protected], or calling 717-264-1667. Happy holidays! https://franklinctyhistoricalsociety.ecwid.com/

Stoner's Fruit Stand, Wayne Ave., Chambersburg, 1975. Photo found in the Hafer Construction Company Collection. Due to mandate, we will be closed to the public until Jan. 4. Our online gift shop will still be open, and we will ship items or arrange no contact pickup here at the jail. You can contact us through messenger, by emailing [email protected], or calling 717-264-1667. Happy holidays! https://franklinctyhistoricalsociety.ecwid.com/

Belle Jewelers, S. Main St., Chambersburg, 1966. Photo found in the Hafer Construction Company Collection. Due to mandate, we will be closed to the public until Jan. 4. Our online gift shop will still be open, and we will ship items or arrange no contact pickup here at the jail. You can contact us through messenger, by emailing [email protected], or calling 717-264-1667. Happy holidays! https://franklinctyhistoricalsociety.ecwid.com/

Did you know that the illustrator for L. Frank Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" has a connection to Franklin County? William Wallace Denslow was hired to illustrate his first book in 1878. The book was I.H. M'Cauley's "Historical Sketch of Franklin County, Penn.". Denslow also illustrated an 1877 panoramic sketch of Chambersburg. You can find out more about him here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wallace_Denslow https://www.aiga.org/the-man-behind-the-man-behind-oz...-w-w-d https://www.findagrave.com/memori//william-wallace-denslow The Franklin County Historical Society, 175 East King Street, Chambersburg The Old Jail and our genealogy research library are open by appointment only Thursday-Saturday 10am-4pm. Use our scheduling app on franklinhistorical.org or call 717-264-1667. Masks are required to be worn for the duration of your visit.

Dice's Tire Shop, L.W.E., Chambersburg, 1970s. Photo found in the Hafer Construction Company Collection. Due to mandate, we will be closed to the public until Jan. 4. Our online gift shop will still be open, and we will ship items or arrange no contact pickup here at the jail. You can contact us through messenger, by emailing [email protected], or calling 717-264-1667. Happy holidays! https://franklinctyhistoricalsociety.ecwid.com/

Happy Halloween! If you would like a tour today, please call ahead for an appointment! 717-264-1667

Shell station, near current Chambersburg Mall, 1966. Photo found in the Hafer Construction Company Collection. Due to mandate, we will be closed to the public until Jan. 4. Our online gift shop will still be open, and we will ship items or arrange no contact pickup here at the jail. You can contact us through messenger, by emailing [email protected], or calling 717-264-1667. Happy holidays! https://franklinctyhistoricalsociety.ecwid.com/

Congratulations to our Local History Scavenger Hunt winners! 1st - Ron Smith 2nd - Lori Schaffer 3rd - Valerie Leclerc... We will be in contact, please stop by the jail to claim your prizes! Winners were drawn from all of the correct packets. We had many correct packets this time! 1. Marker from the square or "The Diamond" 2. Burnt July 30, 1864 3. 1895-1905 4. Millstone 1808 5. The marker was on the white house near the Masonic Lodge 6. 1950 7. Fortna 8. 1920 9. Central building/old CHS 10. LWE 11. 16 green giant arborvitae trees, "Tree of Life" 9/11 12. Description from marker Thank you to all that participated in this fundraiser! We hope you had a good time searching for local history. Keep an eye out on our page for more upcoming hunts!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM THE OLD JAIL So...the big question...is the Franklin County Historical Society's headquarters, the 1818 Old Jail in Chambersburg, REALLY HAUNTED??? That, like most other ghost stories, depends on who you ask. We have volunteers and staff who have worked there for many years and have never experienced a spooky thing. Then again, we have some who don't like going down into the dungeon alone. Many people have reported feeling creeped out or cold... in some spots in the building. And in recent years, we have hosted quite a few psychics and paranormal investigators who report that the Old Jail is indeed a hot spot for otherwordly phenomena. One of our strangest moments in recent history was when a guest at one of our ghost story events, a few Octobers ago, sent us a photo taken in the dungeon. The photo showed the back of a woman wearing a long dark coat. But no one had seen this woman in the building that night! The last group of ghost hunters, just this month, reported voices, footsteps, and a shadowy figure in the women's cell block on the 3rd floor, and lots of floating orbs in the first floor apothecary display. For your Halloween viewing, we are posting links below to videos made in the Old Jail by paranormal investigators. You can decide for yourself. Come in for a tour of the Old Jail...who knows what you might see! https://www.franklinhistorical.org/haunted-jail If you would like to take a tour of the Old Jail this Saturday, October 31, use our scheduling app or call to reserve your spot as soon as possible. We only offer guided tours BY APPOINTMENT. Adults $5, children 7-17 $4, family rates available. We accept cash and cards. Guests and staff will be required to wear masks during your visit. Our gift shop is open to walk ins, no appointment necessary. Library visits are also by appointment only. franklinhistorical.org 717-264-1667 175 East King Street, Chambersburg

Rine's Drugstore, Catherine Street, Chambersburg, 1972. Photo found in the Hafer Construction Company Collection. Due to mandate, we will be closed to the public until Jan. 4. Our online gift shop will still be open, and we will ship items or arrange no contact pickup here at the jail. You can contact us through messenger, by emailing [email protected], or calling 717-264-1667. Happy holidays! https://franklinctyhistoricalsociety.ecwid.com/

THE HANGING OF HEZEKIAH SHAFFER , 1879 Hezekiah Shaffer was a quiet man, they said. He had fought bravely and suffered wounds in the Civil War. After the war, he returned home to Franklin County and married Eliza Snyder. They lived near St. Thomas. But he was never quite the same after the war. In April of 1878, he was convicted of murdering his wife gruesomely with an axe. Shaffer maintained that he was innocent throughout his trial, and even on his way to t...he gallows. Several appeals were made, which delayed his final sentence. Shaffer was held in a cell on the second floor of the 1818 jail during this time. Shortly before his execution was to take place in April of 1879, Shaffer tried to commit suicide with a knife. The Sheriff's little daughter had found him covered in blood when she kindly went to give him some Easter eggs. A doctor was summoned quickly and Shaffer survived the attempt, but inquests were made as to whether he was sane and therefore could be executed for murder. The final decision was made by the Governor of Pennsylvania, and the execution proceeded on a bleak rainy day, April 17, 1879. A gallows was constructed in the yard behind the jail, but Shaffer's suffering did not end quickly. The man was still so weak from his suicide attempt that he had to be carried to the gallows in a chair. Then it turned out that the gallows was not built properly, and the prisoner died a slow, suffocating death by strangulation rather than a quick, clean snap of the neck. The body was placed in a coffin and per newspaper accounts remained in a corridor in the jail for many hours and was then taken to a pauper's grave at the County Almshouse. Does Hezekiah Shaffer's troubled spirit still haunt the Old Jail? We don't know, but it may be so. This post is part of our "Creepy Stories from Franklin County History" series in October. Halloween is fast approaching! If you would like to take a tour of the Old Jail this Saturday, October 31, use our scheduling app or call to reserve your spot as soon as possible. We only offer guided tours. Adults $5, children 7-17 $4, family rates available. We accept cash and cards. Guests and staff will be required to wear masks during your visit. Our gift shop is open to walk ins, no appointment necessary. Library visits are also by appointment only. Scheduling app: franklinhistorical.org 717-264-1667 175 East King Street, Chambersburg

Halloween is fast approaching! If you would like to take a tour of the Old Jail this Saturday, October 31, use our scheduling app or call to reserve your spot as soon as possible. We only offer guided tours. Adults $5, children 7-17 $4, family rates available. We accept cash and cards. Guests and staff will be required to wear masks during your visit. Our gift shop is open to walk ins, no appointment necessary. Library visits are also by appointment only.... franklinhistorical.org 717-264-1667 175 East King Street, Chambersburg

THE DUNGEON AT THE OLD JAIL For sheer creepiness, it doesn't get any better than the dungeon under the 1818 Old Jail. In fact, even some of our own volunteers won't go down there alone. There are plenty of stories of psychic sightings there. There are also things to be seen and stories to be told. Was the dungeon really a hiding place for escaping enslaved people on the Underground Railroad? We can't document it, but many believe that it was. There's a secret ro...om built into the back of a large fireplace in the dungeon that can't be explained as anything but a hiding place. And was there really a tunnel that ran from the Jail to the nearby Courthouse? Again, many local history buffs say that there was, but we still haven't found it. Were prisoners really shackled to the floor in the dungeon cells? We can say yes to that one without any doubt---the iron shackles are still there. The dungeon is always a highlight of the Haunted Jail event but you can still experience it. Come take a guided tour and we will show you around. Any ghosts you may see on your tour this year will be real. This post is part of our "Creepy Stories from Franklin County History" series in October. The Old Jail is open for tours by appointment only Thursday-Saturday 10am-4pm. Use our scheduling app on franklinhistorical.org or call 717-264-1667. Masks are required to be worn for the duration of your visit.

A video by our volunteer, Carlton.

Tours are booking quickly for TOMORROW, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24. Please call us TODAY until 4pm to make your appointment - 717-264-1667. Franklin County Ghosts books are also going quickly. Our gift shop is open for walk ins until 4pm TODAY and 10am-4pm TOMORROW. History scavenger hunt packets are due by the end of the day TOMORROW. Please drop them off during open hours or email to [email protected].... All visits require masks to be worn. Thank you!

THE GALLOWS AT THE OLD JAIL In the courtyard at the Franklin County Historical Society, you will find the gallows. We are often asked, Is it real? The answer is: YES. The last man hanged in Franklin County was William Reed, who was convicted of murdering his girlfriend in Mont Alto. Reed was hanged in the yard of the Old Jail on April 30, 1912. The next year, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania banned the use of hanging and switched to modern execution by el...ectric chair. Several local murderers in the 20th century were sent off to State Penitentiaries for their executions. But what happened to the gallows? The gallows used to hang William Reed were borrowed by the Sheriff in Washington County, MD and used to execute a man named John Brown (not that John Brown!) in 1916. Franklin County didn't need it back, so the gallows stayed there. The State of Maryland stopped the use of hanging in 1955 and the gallows sat forgotten in Hagerstown. In the 1970s, historian Murray Kauffman researched the fate of our gallows, and persuaded the Washington County Sheriff's office and historical society to return them to Chambersburg. The gallows have been restored several times, with the most recent overhaul in 2008. While the whole thing is not original at this point, we are sure that at least some pieces are left from the gallows used to hang William Reed at this jail in 1912. This post is part of our "Creepy Stories from Franklin County History" series in October. The Old Jail is open for tours by appointment only Thursday-Saturday 10am-4pm. Use our scheduling app on franklinhistorical.org or call 717-264-1667. Masks are required to be worn for the duration of your visit.

Thanks for your visit!

Franklin County Ghosts books are back in stock! $14.99+tax. Our gift shop is open 10am-4pm Thursday-Saturday. Masks required. 717-264-1667 Venture forth into misty corners and shadowy corridors of haunted Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Feel the touch of old Wilford Binder's fingers as they glide up the nape of necks of unsuspecting theatre patrons at the Capitol Theatre in Chambersburg. Experience the hopelessness of a man shackled in a dungeon awaiting execution in Chambers...burg's old jail. See the ghost of a small child walking through the third-floor lobby of a dormitory complex at Wilson College. Smell the ghostly presence of a wet hunting dog in the basement of the Farmer's Wife in Greencastle. Each location is presented from a historic and otherworldly perspective, revealing the legends, stories, and actual apparitions awaiting your visit to Franklin County. See more