History:
Colonel James Johnson and his wife Hannah Bethesda built Duffy’s Tavern in 1819. It was built to service the people-traveling west by stage. Scotch Irish immigrants settled the little village where it is located in 1806. Travel by stage in those days’ insured that the area would prosper. In 1819, the village was home to three taverns, one for gentry, one for coachmen and wagoners, and one for drovers. In 1819 people were separated by their standing in society, so three taverns were warranted. It is believed today that Duffy’s is the tavern that served the gentry.
The tavern operated continuously from 1819 until 1934 when it was partially destroyed by fire. The architectural quality was such that the advisory committee of the Historic American Building Survey selected it, even in its condition. The Survey described the building “as possessing such historical and architectural interest as being worthy of careful preservation for the benefit of future generations.” A record of its present appearance and condition has been made and deposited in the Library of Congress permanent records.
Duffy’s is located in Boalsburg, Centre County. The original name of the town was Springfield, but with the establishment of the Post Office in 1820, the name was changed in honor of the Boal family, wealthy landowners. Boalsburg is claimed as the birthplace of Memorial Day. The graves in the old cemetery were decorated as many as five years prior to the ordinance passed by the United States Government.
Haunting:
The building was not known locally as being haunted until after the 1970’s, when the then owner, Harry Duffy, died near the staircase in the restaurant. Since that time, there have been many odd occurrences that the staff is quite willing to share. One bartender told us about several incidents. One morning she came in to open and found a trail of popcorn on the floor leading from the popcorn machine to the area near the stairs where Harry Duffy had died. There the trail simply stopped. The woman wouldn’t have thought much about it, except that she had also been the last person in the building the previous night and knew very well that there was no popcorn on the floor when she closed up.
Another morning this same bartender came in to find that one of the chairs had been smashed on the floor. She usually closed up and knew that there had been no such damaged chair the previous night. She said that it looked like someone had simply picked it up and slammed it down hard causing it to break apart. Was Harry warning them about a faulty chair that could have hurt someone?
Several of the staff has had the experience of coming in to find a single candle or light on, and have mentioned it to the management. Candles could be very dangerous and even an unattended light burning at a table is against the rules. Each time this has happened, the closing staff has vehemently denied having been so careless. In fact, they no longer use candles as a precaution--just in case old Harry is playing a prank. They can live with a light on, but they don’t want to risk a fire.
Jo, the bartender, also related one event that finally convinced her that there are ghosts at Duffy’s. Until the night of this one particular event, she had always found “rational” explanations for the various odd disturbances. This night, however, she and another girl were closing up and she had propped the bathroom doors open with the big, heavy garbage cans like she always did while they cleaned. As they worked, the Ladies Room door suddenly slammed shut. Both women went to look and immediately realized that something was wrong. The garbage can seemed to have been kicked across the room. Jo gathered it up and propped the door open once more. As they worked, again the door boomed shut! This time the other young woman was in the room and she insisted that the can had been kicked out of the way and the door slammed. Jo was not buying that one, so she switched places with the other woman in order to keep an eye upon the bathroom.
While she cleaned, one garbage can suddenly flew past her to roll against the far wall. The Ladies Room door banged shut and Jo jumped. As she stood looking at that door, the one to the Men’s Room suddenly did the same thing. Now Jo was becoming a believer. There was, and still is, no earthly explanation for why those cans kept flying out of the way so that the doors could slam shut.
The staff at Duffy’s has many such stories to tell of the prankish Harry Duffy. In fact, we had our own experience while having a meal and doing a little preliminary research there. We captured three orbs with a digital camera while taking some background photos. But for Patty, the story took on a new angle when we were sitting at the bar having lunch and talking. The bar was nearly empty. There were only two other people there and they were at the far side of the bar having lunch and talking softly. Scott got up to take some photos quietly. We were hoping to appear like tourists instead of ghost hunters and certainly didn’t want to be snapping photos and annoying the customers in the restaurant areas. We had decided to take turns, so when Scott returned he said, “Your up,” and sat down to finish his sandwich.
Patty stood up and turned away. Suddenly she turned back. “What do you want, “ she asked. Scott looked at her blankly.
“What do you mean, “What do I want,” he asked, puzzled.
“You said, ‘I want to talk to you,’ didn’t you?” she asked quietly and beginning to feel uncomfortable. “I just heard a male voice at my shoulder say, ‘I want to talk to you,’ and I thought that it was you.”
Scott shook his head. “I had just taken a bite. It wasn’t me.” He swallowed and took a sip of his drink.
Patty looked around but there was no one near enough to them so that she could have mistaken the conversation. “I clearly heard a man say, ‘I want to talk to you‘,” she insisted.
“Well it wasn’t me.” Scott grinned. “Maybe it’s Harry.”
Well maybe it was. |
