Tickets Are 10 Dollars Please If You Are Going To Come They Said To Please Call An Place Your Order As Soon As Possible Because They Are Expecting Alot Of People The Number Is At The Bottom Of This Page For Ticket Orders , The 10 dollars Goes Directly To Rockford Plantation Its A Donation An It Goes To Helping Rockford Stay Up An Running For Educational Purposes , This Is A Privately Owned By The Hand Family Assocaition !! Its For The Kids So Please Come Out An Show Your Support An Help Rockford Out !!Paranormal “Reveal” to be held at Rock Ford Plantation
For generations, many Lancaster Countians have known Rock Ford Plantation not only as the home of Revolutionary War General Edward Hand and one of the region’s foremost historic sites, but also as a “haunted house”.
Rock Ford’s ghostly reputation may be traced back t...o the nineteenth century, and may have begun shortly after the General’s son John took his own life in the mansion in 1807. This tragedy seemed to leave something of a pall over Rock Ford that perhaps gave rise to its haunted reputation. The surviving Hand children sold the estate in 1810, and the Rock Ford mansion was never again occupied by its owners.
The house remained vacant for extended periods of time as many tenant farmers refused to live in what they believed to be a haunted place. A newspaper account (believed to date from an 1894 Intelligencer) describes how, in 1826, Dr. Samuel Humes (who then owned Rock Ford) persuaded a recent immigrant from Germany named Christian Stiffel to live in the mansion rent free in exchange for taking care of the place. The “brave German” inspected the house from attic to basement, particularly noting the room where “an old armchair was drawn up before a table, the other furniture stood close about the wall, and on the ingrained carpet near a window were the large dark stains of blood.”
A 1939 article in the Sunday News entitled “Hand House Holds Mystery of 1807” repeats the story of the blood-stained floor: “that stain remains to darken the boards where John Hand died and, in the manner of bloodstains in old boards, repeated washings have only served to make it more vivid as the deeper stains are revealed. When the washrag touches the dark patch of flooring a startling deep red color appears.” The Lancaster mansion’s haunted reputation was reaffirmed in a 1954 Intelligencer article entitled “Hand Home Once Rumored Haunted” stated that “…here and there, apparently, the stories persisted and the first tendrils of what would grow into a sinister, evil vine of legend began to twine about the great Doric pillars of the broad veranda that surrounded ‘Rockford’ on three sides.” The article goes on to cite an 1886 newspaper article that maintained that “[t]his writer knows of several persons who assert that they have seen unearthly sights and heard strange noises in and about the grand old mansion.”
In 2001, Rock Ford was featured in Katherine Ramsland’s book Ghost: Investigating the Other Side (St. Martin’s Press, 2001) as the site of a paranormal investigation that, in fact concluded that the house was haunted.
“Because of its longstanding reputation as a haunted site, Rock Ford has frequently received requests from various groups wishing to conduct paranormal investigations here. The number of these requests has increased dramatically over the past two years with the growing number and popularity of paranormal investigation TV shows such as Ghost Hunters, Ghost Hunters International and Paranormal State. The vast majority of these requests have been rejected out of hand, because we did not feel sufficiently comfortable with the level of experience or professionalism that they conveyed. We were also reluctant to cooperate with any venture that could be perceived to compromise our reputation as a professionally administered organization with an educational mission.”
However, Slaymaker explains, as the requests from investigative groups continued, “we were suddenly confronted with the realization that there were a great many people who were deeply interested in our site, and that we would perhaps be well-advised to try to engage these people at some level, regardless of whether they were part of the traditional constituency for historic house museums. In the face of a steady, nationwide decline in visitation to historic sites over the past few decades, it is incumbent upon museums to seek to connect with the public in new and creative ways that still further our mission. There is a great interest in paranormal phenomena among a large sector of the American public at present. If we can use this interest as a conduit to bring more visitors to our site and get more people interested in the life and times of General Edward Hand, than it is appropriate for us to do so as long as we make it clear that we are neither endorsing nor rejecting the validity of paranormal investigation. Furthermore, because of Rock Ford’s historical reputation for being haunted, we cannot fairly be accused of trying to artificially establish it as a haunted site - that reputation came into being in the nineteenth century. ”
With this approach in mind, Rock Ford quietly agreed to accept a request from The East Coast Anomaly Investigators (TECAI) to investigate Rock Ford. “We were impressed by TECAI’s professionalism and courtesy, their work at other historic sites and for the respect that they had both for Rock Ford and its former inhabitants.” Investigations were conducted at Rock Ford on an evening in January 2009 with a follow-up in July 2009. The investigations were conducted in accordance with guidelines established by Rock Ford and with Rock Ford volunteers or staff in attendance at all times.
TECAI investigators used an array of state of the art electronic monitoring devices including remote infrared cameras and monitors, EVP sound recorders and electromagnetic field meters.
Members of TECAI will present their findings to the public at a “Reveal” of their investigative findings to be held at the Rock Ford Barn on Sunday, November 15 at 2:00 PM. The reveal will allow members of the public, skeptics and believers alike, to meet TECAI team members and ask questions. The reveal will be followed by a candlelight, self-guided tour of the Rock Ford mansion and mulled cider and cookies by the fire in the mansion’s kitchen. Tickets are $10 per person, with proceeds benefiting Rock Ford Plantation. Due to the expected interest in this program, advance reservations are recommended by calling Rock Ford at (717) 392-7223.Historic Rock Ford Plantation
881 Rock Ford Rd.
Lancaster, PA 17602
717.392.7223