PA Ghosts

Charming Forge Mansion

By: Allison Shay

     Charming Forge Mansion, located near Womelsdorf PA, is just one of the haunting stories of Berks County. In 1760 Henry William Stiegel and a partner bought Charming Forge, while expanding their iron-furnace company. The expansion was expensive and Mr. Stiegel was severely in debt when it was over. After his unsuccessfull attempt at expanding his income from the forge, Mr. Stiegel was forced to turn over his interest to his nephew George Ege. In 1774 Mr. Stiegel was put into debtor's prison for a year. When he was released his nephew Mr. Ege allowed him to once again work for the forge. This time around he was not an infamous inronmaster, but his nephews own clerk (Explore PA History). This was a huge embarrassment for a man like Stiegel, and it is said that he lived the rest of his days in severe depression.

     Charming Forge Mansion was built, by Mr. Ege, sometime between 1774 and 1777. Mr. Ege and his family, including Mr. Stiegel, lived in the mansion until the early 1800s. Mr. Stiegel's room was located on the third floor. It was said that after work every day he would come in through the back door, allowing the door to slam in his wake, and that you could hear him stomping up the stairs throughout the house. This was his normal routine until he passed away in 1785. After Mr. Ege passed away in 1829, Charming Forge Mansion had multiple owners, until 1916 when the Sallade family purchased the forge (Adams, 52).

     After buying the property two of the Sallade sisters would tell stories of seeing spirits, and hearing things that were not actually there. It is said that every night around supper time you can hear the back door to the mansion open and then slam shut, even though if you watch the door it stays latched the whole time. Also if you listen long enough you can hear someone walking up the stairs, and the footsteps stop on the third floor landing. The sisters and many othere believed that this was the ghost of Mr. Stiegel coming home from work, and heading to his bedroom.

     Another spooky story of Charming Forge Mansion is about a young servant who used to work for the Ege family. The mansion is made up of two houses. The larger portion was built for Mr. Ege and his family. While the smalled portion, onlly connected by a narrow walkway, was for the families servants. One evening a young servant was making food to take over to the Ege family, and caught the bottom of her skirt on fire. As the story goes she ran down the narrow hallway trying to put the fire out, but was unsuccessful. The other servants found only her ashes the next day. The sallade family said that there are times when you walk down the narrow hallway and reach the door that leads outside a black cloud of smoke will appear next to the door. It is said that this is the young girl's spirit, who is still trapped, trying to escape that narrow hallway (Adams, 104).

     Over the years there have been many other scary sightings and sounds heard in the Charming Forge Mansion, but these are the two that seem to stand out the most.

Works Cited:

Adams, Charles. Ghost Stories of Berks County. USA: Adams, 1982.

Adams, Charles. Pennsylvania Dutch Country Ghost Legends and Lore. Reading:

     Exeter House Books, 1994.

"Stories from PA History." ExplorePAHistory.com. Web. 30 Apr. 2011.

     http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerID=911