Scotia Barrens & The Black Ghost

Remnants of The ghost town Scotia

In Centre County, North-west of State College, there is an area known to the locals as the Scotia Barrens. The barrens are now included in State Game Land 176. Many trails are open to hikers, biking, and hunters. A public shooting range is also located right in the middle of the game lands. The Scotia Barrens is unique to the rest of Central Pennsylvania. Due to its location and geographical constructions, The Barrens has it’s own “micro-climate” where it is generally cooler than its surrounding areas by as much as 10-30 degrees. 

At one time the Soctia Barrens was not so barren and just known as the town of Scotia. The town was named after Angrew Carnegie’s homeland of Scotland and he saw promise with the mineral rich area and set up mining. In the 1800s Scotia was a booming mining town and had all the infrastructure many towns today have including a school, store and even a baseball team. Unfortunately the iron in the area depleted fast and the town met a pretty quick demise. The old road that leads through the Scotia Barrens was once the Railroad. Only a few foundations remain and a few remnants of the Iron Industry.

Besides the Barrens unique climate, it is also home to an equally fascinating ghost story. When Scotia was still a mining town, an African-American by the name of Bert Delige was walking home drunk one October night. Bert had been upset about wages he was owed by his recently deceased boss John Baudis for some time and was seen drunk many nights and had found himself frequently having run-ins with the law. That October night however, he ran into the widow Hulda Baudis. Bert argued with the 51-year-old woman about the back wages and the situation escalated. Bert assaulted Mrs. Baudis and then murdered her by cutting her throat with a razor. Bert Delige would later confess to the murder and was the last man hanged in the Bellefonte Jail yard on April 25^th of 1918. The body of Bert was later laid to rest outside of the Negro cemetery near present-day Marysville in non-hallowed ground.

Multiple sightings of a “black” ghost have been seen in the Scotia Barrens and along the road at night. In the 1980’s a local hunter had spotted the apparition near nightfall on April 25^th. Unknowingly the hunter told some of the locals and was told the story of Bert and how he was hung on April 25^th. Since that times other hikers, hunters, and motorists have witness the dark black figure lurking in the Barrens. The resting place of Bert Delige is lost to only those who know where to look. The stone marking his grave has been gone for some time.