October 17, 2022

Ghosts of the PA Wilds: The Further Adventures of Loop Hill Ike

Keating Township, Clinton County, is a very remote area, settled in the mid-1800s by escaped slaves on the Underground Railroad. It’s an area of myth and legend, with plentiful stories of ghosts, monsters, and magical spells. Often figuring prominently in these legends is a man named Isaac Gaines, known as Loop Hill Ike. Writer and paranormal investigator Lou Bernard tells some of those legends of Loop Hill Ike.

October 10, 2022

Ghosts of the PA Wilds: A Severely Haunted Road

The Lock Haven Paranormal Seekers turns fifteen years old this year. As writer and investigator Lou Bernard explains, the Lock Haven Paranormal Seekers are the most scientific, reliable paranormal investigators in Clinton County, and perhaps the entire I-80 Frontier. In celebration of the club's anniversary, they recently decided to take a little road trip down the Pine-Loganton Road.

October 3, 2022

Ghosts of the PA Wilds: The Ghostly Grave of Allen Ketlaw

Lou Bernard, writer and paranormal investigator/history buff, delves into the story of Allen Ketlaw, a hermit in the mid-1800s in Warren County. After Allen died by suicide with no friends or relatives, his community found it difficult to find a place to bury him. When they attempted to bury him a shallow grave... Allen himself seemed to have complaints.

October 1, 2022

Coming Soon: Ghosts of the PA Wilds

“Ghosts of the PA Wilds” describes a series of ghost stories from the region written by historian Lou Bernard, who also revels in folklore and the paranormal. Each Monday of October 2022, and leading right to Halloween, the PA Wilds Are Calling blog will feature a new ghost story to celebrate the spooktacular season upon us.

September 27, 2022

Birth of the Bald Eagles

Clinton County is full of folklore, including the story of how the Bald Eagle Mountain Range came to be. According to a legend from Native Americans who lived in the area, a deity released a creature from the earth called Machtando in order to teach them courage. After it was killed, the evidence from where it had emerged from the soil was left behind, creating the mountains.

September 13, 2022

Alma Heflin: Flying Over the PA Wilds

You’d think that seeing a plane make an emergency landing wouldn’t exactly inspire you to fly one yourself. But that wasn’t the case for Alma Heflin, America’s first female test pilot. Not only did Alma fly planes during World War II, she was another one of the fascinating historical figures who lived in the Pennsylvania Wilds.

August 16, 2022

Lunch at Doolittle Station

Lou Bernard and his family drive to Doolittle Station in DuBois, a restaurant and entire plaza filled with eclectic array of kid-friendly things, like trains, frogs, dinosaurs and even Bigfoot himself!

August 3, 2022

Cook Forest and the Swinging Bridge

Lou Bernard and his wife take their 7-year-old son to Cook Forest, where Lou is enamored by the ancient trees and Paul finds a swinging bridge that captures his imagination.

July 7, 2022

The Unique Firefly Festival

Among all of the festivals in the Pennsylvania Wilds, Forest County’s Firefly Festival is unique. Held the last week in June on Route 666 outside Tionesta, this event is very educational, is accessible by registration only, and has gotten smaller by design over the years.

July 4, 2022

The PA Wilds Declaration of Independence

Did you know there wasn't just one Declaration of Independence in the United States? There were others, at least eight of them in Pennsylvania within a two-year period. One of them, the Tiadaghton Declaration of Independence, was signed on the same day: July 4, 1776. And it was right here in the Pennsylvania Wilds.