Historic Baker Mansion Ghost Hunt, Altoona, Pennsylvania

Historic Baker Mansion Ghost Hunt

Altoona, Pennsylvania

Join Haunted Rooms America for an after-hours paranormal investigation inside Baker Mansion, a Greek Revival mansion built in the 1840s and looming over Altoona like it never learned how to let go.

The house has been a museum for more than a century.

But the stories tied to it never stopped.

The Baker family built this place.

They lived here.

They died here.

And the house remembers.

---

The Investigation Experience

This is not a tour.

This is not a haunted attraction.

This is a late-night paranormal investigation, conducted after the building closes and the public leaves. From 7:00 PM to 1:00 AM, Baker Mansion belongs to you.

You’ll investigate alongside experienced Haunted Rooms America team members using professional paranormal equipment. Structured vigils will take place in rooms tied to reported activity, followed by free investigation time as the mansion settles into silence.

This is when footsteps are heard.

This is when rooms grow cold.

This is when the building starts to respond.

---

History of Baker Mansion

Elias Baker, an ironmaster from Lancaster County, purchased the nearby Alleghany Furnace in 1836 and commissioned Baltimore architect Robert Cary Long Jr. to design a home that reflected his wealth. Construction began in 1844 and took five years. The result was a three-story stone mansion fronted by six Ionic columns, built at a cost of $15,000.

Life inside the house was marked by success—and loss.

In 1839, the Baker family lost their youngest daughter, Margaretta, to diphtheria at just two years old. In 1852, their son David Woods Baker was killed in a steamboat boiler explosion just two weeks after the birth of his own child.

Elias Baker died in the house in 1864. His wife, Hetty, remained there for decades. Their remaining children, Sylvester and Anna, never married. They lived their entire lives within these walls. Sylvester died in 1907, in the single parlor on the first floor. Anna died in 1914.

After her death, Baker Mansion was closed.

For eight years, it sat empty.

When the Blair County Historical Society reopened it as a museum in 1922, the building was preserved. The presence, many believe, was not removed.

---

Reported Paranormal Activity

The Double Parlor

Visitors have reported seeing an impression on the couch in the double parlor—the unmistakable outline of a body, as though someone had just been lying there. When it appears, the temperature drops.

Staff have long attributed the phenomenon to Elias Baker.

---

The Sound of the Cane

Tour guides have repeatedly reported the sound of a cane tapping across the mansion’s floors. The sound moves through hallways and rooms. No one ever sees who—or what—is making it.

---

The Single Parlor

Sylvester Baker died in this room in 1907.

Investigators continue to focus on the space where his life ended.

---

Anna Baker’s Bedroom

Anna Baker’s bedroom sits on the second floor, directly across from the staircase. Visitors are kept outside by a railing, forced to look in rather than enter.

For years, a wedding dress was displayed in a glass case inside the room. Before it deteriorated and was removed, witnesses reported seeing it move inside the case. Swaying. Turning. As if worn by someone unseen. Shoes and a parasol nearby were also reported to move on their own.

According to long-told accounts, Anna fell in love with a man her father disapproved of. The relationship ended. Anna never married. She lived in this house until the day she died.

The dress she never wore did not stay still.

---

Shutters, Knocks, and Alarms

Tour guides have returned to find window shutters standing open after being secured for the night. In the 1970s, a woman knocked on the mansion’s door seeking help with car trouble. Someone knocked back from inside. The building was locked and empty.

During the 1970s and 1980s, pressure-sensitive pads installed beneath the carpeting triggered alarms late at night. Police responding to the calls reported their dogs refusing to enter the activated areas.

---

Electronic Voice Phenomena

Paranormal investigators have captured electronic voice phenomena throughout the mansion—on the second floor, in Elias Baker’s office, and in the single parlor. Voices recorded in rooms believed to be empty.

---

What’s Included in the Ghost Hunt

Your after-hours investigation includes:

• Exclusive after-hours access to Baker Mansion

• Ghost hunting vigils in areas tied to reported activity

• Structured investigation sessions led by experienced Haunted Rooms America investigators

• Use of professional paranormal equipment, including EMF detectors, EVP recorders, trigger objects, thermal imaging devices, and motion sensors

• Free time to investigate independently

• Snacks and refreshments provided

• Historical background on the Baker family and the mansion

The double parlor.

The single parlor.

Anna Baker’s bedroom.

The hallways where footsteps follow no one.

From 7:00 PM to 1:00 AM, the mansion is quiet.

And quiet is when it’s most active.