Photo by Andrea M. Moore found on Flickr. Taken on July 3, 2011. “Exton Witch House”
One of THE most talked about houses that languishes in Chester County, PA is known literally far and wide as the Exton Witch House. It’s on/off Gordon Drive.
It was even in The San Francisco Globe in 2015. That article also has the Abandoned Steve video embedded:
I will note that the video refers to “vandals” having the headstones. Mmmm, do they mean these headstones (and thank you Lee Wisdom for the photos!!):
Let’s just say those poor headstones are in municipal protective custody to preserve them. They were removed so people did not steal them.
This house is a YouTube star. Seriously, people film it again and again and again. Here is another one from 2016:
Here is a video that was posted recently. Not sure of the date. Maybe 2017?
Why I look at the videos is it shows the progression of deterioration. And the progression of the vandals who graffiti the poor house and decorate it with profanities. Note to graffiti practitioners here: you all deserve to be haunted for tagging old farmhouses, and if you believe in that sort of thing, maybe you are?
I have never gone back there as of yet, because it’s private property and I have not been invited. People say it is haunted. Now maybe it’s just that the spirits can’t rest because too many thrill seekers tromp back there?
This house is in Uwchlan Township.
When I asked Lee Wisdom who contacted me about the house about the grave stones this is what she said:
They are not graves but markers. No one is sure why they were there. I think they could have been grave stones for a burial on the property and when the land was developed they were moved. Another person I talked to had another theory but now I can’t remember what it was! So no one buried under those that we know of. They were placed like stones for a path, so no room for a grave.
So when people run out here to photograph and ghost video this house, perhaps some of these things might start reverting to facts versus urban legend.
As per what I found on the University of Pennsylvania online archives:
Prior to the arrival of Europeans in the 17th and 18th centuries, the area now known as Uwchlan Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania was occupied by the Leni-Lenape (Delaware) and Iroquoian-speaking Susquehanuck peoples. The first Europeans in the area were Swedish explorers in 1637-1638, although the first permanent settlement was not established until the 1700s.
Welsh Quakers were the main group to settle in Uwchlan, requesting their own meeting in 1712, which is the same year that Uwchlan Township was founded. An additional tract was added to the eastern portion of the township in 1726, likely at the behest of prominent resident and large landholder David Lloyd. In 1858 the upper part of Uwchlan Township split from Uwchlan to form Upper Uwchlan Township.
Uwchlan was a primarily rural farming community until World War II, when post-war suburbanization resulted in rapid development. The population increased has increased dramatically from about 500 in 1920 to over 6,000 in the 1970s and upwards of 18,000 at the beginning of the 21st century.
Lee Wisdom is one of the volunteers on the Uwchlan Historic Commission. (They can be found HERE on their township website and also HERE on their super fun Facebook page.) With regard to this house she tells me:
The Merediths lived here before they moved to Taylor Rd . It was called Richmere Farm by them. They are my step family. I think the progression was Whelen, Ferrell, Meredith (not sure if there were owners in between).
The headstones in protective custody were those of the Ferrells. Where they were located and rescued from are not believed to be where they may have been buried. I don’t know where theses graves truly are, and whatever they succumbed to all in a similar time frame was likely a disease, or an influenza. Not witchcraft.
This property is kept after by whomever owns the property. Some commercial real estate concern is my guess. They keep boarding it up when people break in and they keep grass cut. If I had the opportunity to go back there with the Uwchlan Historic Commission I would. I would love to photograph back there. But even though I know where it is, it is a far different situation than the farmhouse at Main Street at Exton which is out in completely plain view.
It disturbs me that people seem to think they can graffiti tag these old properties. And I think the profanities routinely tagged here add to the property’s spooky reputation. Is the property REALLY haunted? Well the place is what? 200 years old give or take? It has seen a lot of life, and death.
I would love to know more about the families who lived here, so if you know please comment.
Now enjoy a whole slew of photos courtesy of Lee Wisdom:
A post script to this post which may finally debunk the four buried witches urban legend and the curse of everyone dying at once comes from one of the local genealogy buffs that send in information from time to time named Tina. She messaged me this morning the following:
Hi
I just did a quick search. I think someone bought a new stone for the Farrells. They are in Fairview Cemetery. Also Jesse’s daughter Mary A married a Richard Meredith.
So now we know how it came to be a Meredith farm,right? And Fairview Cemetery is where? Coatesville?