This Philly-area ghost enthusiast runs tours year-round
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Photo: Courtesy of Tina Pastory Photography
Ghosts don't clock out when spooky season ends. Just ask Eileen Reeser, owner of the haunted Brinton Lodge in Berks County.
Why it matters: The hot spot for paranormal enthusiasts is about an hour outside Philly — and has a haunting connection to the city.
State of play: The Douglassville lodge has become a destination for history buffs, paranormal researchers and thrill-seekers alike, Reeser tells Axios.
- It was once owned by Caleb Brinton, who ran an illegal Prohibition-era gentleman's club out of it. Brinton was among several people who died inside the lodge.
- Their souls are said to haunt the building.
What they're saying: Reeser knows firsthand. The first time she saw a dark, shadowy figure roaming the halls, "it scared the bejeezus out of me," she says.
- "I called the previous owner and she said, 'You're going to see that from time to time.'"
Reeser's group runs tours year-round at the lodge and other haunted spots across the region, including in Philly.
The intrigue: One of the stories tour guides tell centers on a religious cult, the Battle Axes, founded in the 1800s by traveling evangelist Theophilus Ransom Gates.
- Gates got his start in Philadelphia, where he began publishing his own series of religious pamphlets.
- Those teachings served as the basis for a cult Gates later founded in East Coventry Township — not far from the Brinton Lodge, tour guide Paula Hogan tells Axios.
- Some locals were unsettled by the religious sect promoting polyamory and nudism, which led to the area becoming known as Free Love Valley.
After Gates' death in 1846, an unsolved murder of a Battle Axe member, found nearly decapitated in her bedroom, led to the group's unraveling.
💬 Isaac's thought bubble: The GF and I took a tour of the lodge earlier this month. Armed with electromagnetic field devices they provided, we went full ghost-hunter mode in search of apparitions.
- While we didn't encounter any, some people in our group reported feeling dark energies and warm sensations in certain rooms.
If you go: Tour tickets cost $24 per person.