SMETHPORT — Known as being haunted with the ghost of convicted murderer Ralph Crossmire, the McKean County Historical Society’s Old Jail in Museum in Smethport remains a popular attraction along Pennsylvania’s 427-mile stretch of U.S. Route 6.
Pursuits Magazine has ranked the OJM the sixth most haunted place in Pennsylvania due to the reported ghost of Crossmire, who was found guilty of killing his mother in November 1892 in Farmers Valley. Crossmire, not yet 30 years old and faced with the death sentence, vowed to return and haunt the building if the hanging was carried out. Despite the threat, the execution proceeded. The machine of death had been set up in the corridor just inside the entrance of the “dungeon” and directly in front of Crossmire’s cell.
Since then, prisoners in the jail and others have reported seeing Crossmire’s ghost.
While statistics for the number of visitors in 2016 didn’t reach record levels, the fact that history enthusiasts traveled from 34 other Pennsylvania counties, 25 states and four foreign countries set new records, according to museum officials Flo Carter, treasurer, and Lu Vandermark, executive secretary.
The building housing the OJM is the county’s oldest, dating back to 1875. It was used as the jail until 1990 and renovated in 2003.
Today, it contains artifacts of the county’s oil, lumber, glass industries, agricultural and cultural history, as well as a genealogical library and a large collection of relics of the original Civil War Bucktails, who were organized in Smethport and earned an outstanding reputation in that war.
A popular exhibit has been the wildlife display, which was developed in 2008 and was later renovated as a totally interactive exhibit. It features a Chris Robbins’ mural that gives the viewers the impression of standing on the side of a hill overlooking a section of the Allegheny Valley.
OJM volunteers John and Mary Van Marter of Port Allegany were instrumental in carrying out David Vandermark’s plans for the display that contains taxidermy displays and a tunnel in a cave that is large enough for children to crawl through as they observe Styrofoam rock formations.
The OJMs 2017 schedule is now being planned.
