The old Ross Mansion was torn down in the 1950s to make way for a shopping center. Today, a car wash sits on the spot of Senator James Ross’s “The Meadows.”
Please enjoy this guest article about one of the Pittsburgh area’s many haunted houses.
By Tom Powers, President, Lawrenceville Historical Society
Many old, impressive mansions engender mysteries among the local populace. Senator James Ross’s mansion, “The Meadows,” had its share. Ross (1762-1847), a prominent Pittsburgh lawyer and politician who served in the United States Senate from 1794 to 1803, built The Meadows as his summer retreat along the Allegheny River roughly six miles up from the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers. Ross’s son, James Jr., died only four years after his father and it was during the 1850s that the mansion started to take on its “haunted” reputation.
One tragic story that took place on mansion property was the suicide of Ross Johnston, a Ross family relation, in 1859. Johnston, known as a heavy drinker, was found with his throat slit on a path next to the Pennsylvania Canal that ran through the front of the Ross property along the riverbank. This tragedy added to many local stories, which painted The Meadows as a “ghost” house.
The July 18, 1885, issue of the Sharpsburg Weekly Observer printed the following accounts:
“There is probably no place in this vicinity that has been oftener selected as a favorite resort for ghosts and supernatural apparitions than the Ross mansion near Ross station on the West Penn railroad. It is well known by the older settlers and residents that Mr. Ross Johnston committed suicide while he was an occupant of this house, some thirty years ago. Parties claim that his spirit walks through the house and grounds at certain hours of certain nights in the year. Also the ghost of James Ross, who built this mansion, is said to haunt the chamber in which he died.
“These stories have been told very frequently of late and we are sorry to say have gained the belief of a good many credulous ones.
“Mr. James Weichel and family are now occupying two or three rooms of the mansion and, by some means or other, stories of wonderful sights witnessed by them have gotten out to such a degree that some of our good citizens are greatly exercised over the matter. One of the improbabilities told is that Mrs. Weichel saw what appeared to be a headless woman walk swiftly through the upper hall, jump over the balusters, and disappear through the stone floor of the lower hall.
The City of Pittsburgh photographer took this picture from the back of the Ross mansion during a survey of filtration-plant construction on September 22, 1908. The atmospheric quality of the photo supports The Meadows’ eerie reputation.
“Mr. Weichel, so the story goes, on returning home late one evening, noticed the front of the building brilliantly lighted up. On inquiring of his wife why she had illuminated it, she denied having been in that part of the house during the evening. On looking the second time the front rooms were in darkness.
“About four weeks ago, a spiritualist from Pittsburg [sic] came to the mansion and told Mr. Weichel that he had been receiving letters from Mr. Johnston through a medium, and that he, Mr. Johnston, had informed him where there was $60,000 in gold buried and asked Mr. Weichel to help him dig for it. Mr. Weichel laughed at the man and told him to go ahead, but that he himself had no faith in such nonsense. The man dug for a few hours, but failed to reach the treasure. He promised to return, but has not been heard of since.
“The fact that these stories had gained such universal belief among certain classes, prompted a representative of the Observer to investigate; which he did last Tuesday evening. He learned that as far as Mr. and Mrs. Weichel were concerned they had never seen anything out of the way and had never started the foolish reports that had gotten out. The only fact in all the tales told was that the spiritualist really had been there but he appeared to be a crack-pated crank.
“The people who give credence to these stories and aid in their circulation are putting themselves in a very absurd position and are encouraging one of the relics of the dark ages that should have been buried and forgotten long ago.”
Today’s “haunted” car wash.
These days a car wash sits on the site of the long-departed Ross mansion. Given the site’s history, there’s all the more reason drivers should have their windows rolled up to not only keep out the suds but also the spirits.
Tom Powers
President, Lawrenceville Historical Society