November 18, 2020

A night out at Cherry Springs

Writer Lou Bernard and family recently decided to take a drive up to the PA Wilds Dark Skies landscape one night after family dinner.

November 9, 2020

A Family Day Trip to Ole Bull

Hear about some of the unique qualities of Ole Bull State Park from Lou Bernard, who recently took a day trip there with his family.

October 31, 2020

Ghosts of the PA Wilds: The Evil Ghost of William Hummel

So are you looking for a place to have a few drinks, maybe some locally-brewed beers? A place with some music? Oh, and maybe the ghost of an evil man killed over a century ago? Boy, have I got the spot for you. Today, it’s a bar called the Cell Block in downtown Williamsport, on the south end of the Pine Creek Valley and the PA Grand Canyon Landscape.

October 27, 2020

Victoria Woodhull: First Female Candidate for President

What would you say if I told you there was a presidential candidate born in the Pennsylvania Wilds? What if I mentioned that she was the first female candidate? You can’t vote for her in this election, of course. I mean, you could, but as she ran in 1872, it would be sort of pointless.

October 24, 2020

Ghosts of the PA Wilds: John Meyers and the Witches of Warren

In the days when Warren County was young, legends of witches were plentiful. But where there are witches, there is often someone to battle them. Elk Country had Loop Hill Ike, and Allegheny National Forest and Surrounds had John Myers, the witch killer.

October 17, 2020

Ghosts of the PA Wilds: Ghosts Locked Up In The I-80 Frontier

If you’re into ghosts, and you’re near Lock Haven, there’s no need to go and pay people to leap out at you in a rubber mask. This community at the nexus of the I-80 Frontier, Dark Skies Landscape, and Pine Creek Valley has plenty of frightening stories. Lou Bernard gives tours about them to benefit the public library every year.

October 10, 2020

Ghosts of the PA Wilds: Werewolves in Cook Forest?

There were reported sightings of an odd monster in the Cook Forest and the Ancients landscape of the Pennsylvania Wilds in the 1940s. The few witnesses who saw it described it as hairy, and very quick, disappearing into the trees after one quick glimpse. *This is the 2020 Ghost of the PA Wilds series, first in an annual weekly column for the month of October written by Lou Bernard.

October 3, 2020

Ghosts of the PA Wilds: A Ghost Hunter in Elk Country

Throughout the Pennsylvania Wilds, in all of recorded history, there are old legends of spirits and monsters. Keating Township, a remote area in Elk Country settled largely by escaped slaves on the Underground Railroad, was always sort of a trendsetter in this regard, and even had its own guy to call for help in the event of a paranormal problem. His name was Isaac Gaines, and he went under the nickname of Loop Hill Ike.

September 9, 2020

30th Anniversary in the Pennsylvania Wilds

This month is an anniversary for Lou Bernard. This September marks thirty years since he first moved to the Pennsylvania Wilds. Here he shares details of his first visits to different locations throughout the region.

August 31, 2020

The Fairy Legend of the Dark Skies Landscape

Ordinarily, if someone claimed to have seen fairies in the Pennsylvania Wilds, you’d have to ask what they were drinking. And maybe if you could have some. But that’s assuming that you weren’t in the Dark Skies Landscape, where there is an old legend that fairies existed, with possibly some truth behind it.