Editor’s note: Welcome to the world of “Paranormal PA,” a PennLive series that delves into Pennsylvania-grown stories of spirits; cryptids; oddities and legends; and the unexplained. Sign up here to get our Paranormal PA newsletter delivered to your inbox. In “Dawn of the Dead,” zombies supposedly head to the mall because that’s the main thing they remember doing in life.
Maybe it’s no surprise, then, that an old tavern would have a ghost or two. The original structure was erected in the 1770s. (Smallbones via Wikimedia Commons) Smallbones via Wikimedia Commons City Tavern sits right near City Hall in Philadelphia, Pa.
, in the city’s historical district. Waiters once served hungry customers in traditional dress, giving the impression that one had stepped back in time. The original tavern was fully established by the end of 1773 as a place that catered to “Philadelphia’s cultural life,” something that “ The City Tavern: Independence National Historical Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1973) ” explains the city was rather lacking at the time.
Indeed, a newspaper announcement published to the “Pennsylvania Packet” in 1774 practically drips in language describing a high-class institution done-up “in the style of a London Tavern,” and “properly supplied with English and American papers and magazines” along with its “wine and larder.” It wasn’t long before City Tavern became the spot for the “movers and shakers” of the era: Patrons w.