St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church (Harpers Ferry, West Virginia)

USA / West Virginia / Harpers Ferry / Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
 church, haunted house / building
Masses every Sunday at 11:00 a.m.

A multitude of religious churches were built-in Harpers Ferry between the years of 1825 and 1852, but when the Civil War struck West Virginia, St. Peter’s Church was the only to survive the melee undamaged. In fact, this particular place of worship switched hands 14 times during the Civil War, controlled back and forth by the Union and Confederate armies.

During this time, being the only building in the vicinity that was virtually unscathed, St. Peter’s Church was used as a make-shift hospital. Soldiers were wheeled in, carted in or drug in on stretchers, and as was the case in harsh war times, not all of them walked back out.

One such soldier, whose story – the most famous ghost story of the St. Peter’s Church in Harpers Ferry – has become quite famous over the last century, did not make it out of the church alive. In fact, he barely made it in.

He was a young Catholic boy who was moderately wounded upon arrival, and happily content to know that his injuries would be treated within a place that worshiped his own faith. His wounds being less severe than many of the others around him, he was left outside until later that evening. His injuries worsened as the minutes ticked by, but he maintained that in his faith he would be saved.

By the time he was lifted to be carried inside St. Peter’s Church, the young boy’s life was slipping away. Just as his near lifeless body was brought over the threshold of the church, he whispered faintly “Thank God, I’m saved.” Those words would accompany the boy’s last breath.

To this day, visitors in the twilight hours have often claimed to see a faint, golden glow over the threshold of the cathedral, hearing a weak voice whisper “Thank God, I’m saved.”
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   39°19'21"N   77°43'52"W

Comments

  • "St. Peter's Church was originally built in 1833, and remodeled to its current appearance in 1896. It was the only church to escape destruction in Harpers Ferry during the Civil War. It is on private property, but visitors are welcome most of the time." Quoted from: http://www.takemytrip.com/08vapawv/08n_01a.htm
This article was last modified 12 years ago