Emma's Ghost - Chester, Pennsylvania

Back in 1892, in Chester, PA there was a murder that took place at what is known as the Schmidt residence.  A young German girl Emma Pfitzenmyer was staying at the home of her sister Caroline who was married to Frederick Schmidt.  She returned early from a night at a ball, bid goodnight to Frederick who was home with his son and retired to her room upstairs.  Caroline returned from the dance later and climbed the stairs to say good night to her sister.  She screamed in horror as she found her dead, stabbed to death.  The murderer was never discovered.

The Schmidt residence sat empty for many years due to rumors of hauntings.  That is until one stout family looking forward to living with a ghost, the Rumford family, moved into the home.

Their daughter Matty reported seeing strange things in the house and the reports went on without attention.  Until one evening, the girl saw something move from her closet and it had long waving hair.  As she put out her hand to confirm that it was really there, to her dismay she realized it was an apparition and as she went to run from the room, something grabbed her arm.  She was later found at the bottom of the stairs unconscious and bleeding from the mouth.  It was confirmed from the Mattie's description that the apparition resembled the dead Emma Pfitzenmeyer.

Some time later Mrs. Rumford reported seeing a ghostly image at the foot of her bed.  Again, the description resembled that of Emma.  Mr. Rumford was not a big believer in these stories.  However, on one occasion he was in the room with his wife as she spotted Emma's ghost.  As she called him to look at it, Emma's ghost had disappeared.  However, he saw a strange smokey mist where his wife had claimed she saw the apparition.  Upon investigating to find an explanation for how the smoke got there, he found none.