The Haunted Baker Mansion

Posted: 11.04.2025 | Updated: 11.04.2025

Romeo & Juliet, Heathcliff and Cathy, even Jack & Rose from Titanic. All of them were lovers, all of them ended in tragedy, and all of them were fictional. 

But here’s one tragic love story that was very real. It began in the 1800s and continues to this day. It started at the Baker Mansion in Altoona, PA.

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IS BAKER MANSION HAUNTED?

In 2024, Forbes Magazine ranked The Most Haunted Houses in Every State, and the Baker Mansion was among them. 

Like enduring love, the mansion is filled with the Baker family’s enduring spirits. In fact, it’s even been the inspiration for the CBS sitcom Ghosts. But more on this later.

IRON & IRON WILL

The mansion was built over a period of four years, beginning in 1845. It was built by Elias Baker, an ironmaster and co-owner of Allegheny Furnace, an ironworks that had a workforce of about 20 men.

The mansion is a stone and stucco building in the Greek Revival style. It features 28 rooms and was a huge home for its time. It features six fluted columns that welcomed guests to the front door, and they still do.

Construction was not easy, and Elias was nearly brought to the brink of financial ruin. But he pressed ahead and practically willed his dream house to become a reality. 

He moved into the house with his family in 1849. This included his wife, Hetty, their two sons, David Woods and Sylvester, and their daughter, Anna.

After Elias died in 1864, Hetty remained a widow and stayed in the house until she passed in 1900. Unfortunately, all three of the Baker children were, in one way or another, children of woe.

David Woods Baker enjoyed marriage and became a father, but it was not to last. Wanting to make his own way, he found employment as a crew member on a steamship. But he was killed in a horrible boiler explosion. 

It happened two and a half weeks after the birth of his first child.

Sylvester and Anna never married, and both lived in the mansion until their deaths. Anna was the last to die in 1914 at 78 years old.

The mansion remained closed until 1922, and was reopened as a museum. Today, it’s a well-preserved example of affluent life in 1800s Altoona, as well as the influential family that lived there.

While the reason for Sylvester’s never marrying is unclear, the reason for Anna’s not marrying is crystal clear and tragically sad.

FORBIDDEN LOVE

By all accounts, Anna Baker was a beauty, and photos of her support this. Her father had grandiose plans for her to marry well, but Anna had plans of her own. 

She happened to fall in love with one of her father’s employees. This was someone decidedly below her station because she was the owner’s daughter, and he was a poor iron worker. But Anna didn’t care and pursued her heart’s desire.

When her lover presented her with a humble engagement ring, the happy couple shared the news. But Elias was underwhelmed, and, being rich and powerful, angrily sent the young man away.

Heartbroken and bitter, Anna vowed she would never marry. She refused every suitor her father arranged for her to meet in the following weeks, months, and years.

After Elias died in 1864, Anna sought out the man she still loved, only to find that he had settled down with another woman.

Crushed by this final heartbreak, Anna withdrew into the mansion. It was said she sometimes wore the white dress that she intended to wear on her wedding day.

As the years passed, she began to display odd and erratic behavior. The citizens of Altoona concluded she had gone mad with grief.

Maids would often find her dressed in her intended wedding dress, dancing to a tune played on her music box.

Today, many say the ghost of Anna still wanders the halls, pining for her lost love.

There is a wedding dress in a glass display in the mansion. Although not Anna’s original, it’s been reported that the dress moves, sometimes violently, inside the case.

BROTHERLY BOOS

Anna isn’t the only ghost in the mansion. As previously mentioned, her brother David Woods was killed in a steamboat boiler explosion. He was only approximately 29 and a new father.

The accident happened in winter, and his body had to be stored in the basement of the mansion until the ground thawed for burial.

Some visitors have heard chilling screams from the basement, while others have reported seeing a phantom in a steamboat uniform.

Then, there’s Anna’s other brother, Sylvester. Legend says he stood up one evening in the parlor to retire, but suffered a fatal heart attack and collapsed.

As part of a new security system, pressure pads were put under the carpet in the parlor. When the mansion is empty, those pads have been activated as if someone, perhaps Sylvester, is collapsing all over again. 

In a related incident, a police officer once responded to an alarm at the mansion with his German Shepherd. The dog reacted to sensing an intruder and began searching and sniffing.

But when it reached the parlor, it stopped in the doorway, quickly turned, and left the house. The highly trained service K-9 could not be coaxed to return inside.

SHUTTER SHUDDERS

Sharon Imler worked as a tour guide at the mansion. One summer evening, as she was closing up, she secured all of the shutters in the three-story building.

After she and a co-worker walked outside to leave for the day, her co-worker said, “I thought you closed all the shutters?” 

Turning around, Sharon saw that the shutters on the back of the mansion had been reopened.

Other guides have reported tapping, seeing imprints on couches as if someone were sitting there, and experiencing cold spots.

INSPIRATION FOR TV

Everybody has to come from somewhere, and Joe Port, co-creator of the TV show Ghosts, came from Altoona. He grew up sledding not far from the mansion and has heard many of the stories about it.

So, it’s little wonder that two of the ghosts in the show are named Elias and Hetty. 

They say that true love never dies. Well, love, or something, still dwells inside the Baker Mansion. It’s definitely worth a visit. But only for the strong of heart.

Haunted Gettysburg

It was the biggest battle ever fought in the Western Hemisphere, but it happened in a little town.

Don’t miss the sights, sounds, and spirits of Gettysburg. Choose from day adventures, nighttime prowls, and history so thick you can cut it with a sword. Book a ghost tour now at Civil War Ghosts.

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SOURCES:

• https://gettysburgghosts.com/  

• https://www.forbes.com/home-improvement/home/most-haunted-houses-by-state/#scrollto_38_pennsylvania_section  

• https://coalandcoke.blogspot.com/2019/08/allegheny-alleghany-furnace-and-baker.html    

• https://www.huntingdondailynews.com/daily_herald/news/spooktacular-stories-the-haunting-of-baker-mansion/article_7370709e-6ff2-5d04-a92a-9853bc26b288.html  

• https://www.scaryforkids.com/wedding-dress/

• https://maeclair.net/2014/09/08/mythical-monday-the-ghosts-of-baker-mansion-by-mae-clair/  

• https://www.altoonamirror.com/life/area-life/2015/10/madness-at-the-mansion-mirror-reporter-spends-night-in-haunted-altoona-landmark/

• https://www.cbs.com/shows/ghosts/