The Grey Spector of Ridge Road

Outside of the small town of Williamsburg Pennsylvania, there is a place known as Oremenia. Oremenia was once a small village that housed the workers that mined in the local hills. Today, Oremenia is classified as a ghost town and only a few people still live in the area. One way to reach Oremenia from Williamsburg is to travel along an old logging road known as Ridge Road.

If you search hard enough, almost every town big or small has it’s own ghost stories and folklore. In my hometown there always seemed to be plenty of them. One story is about a phantom being that haunts Ridge Road. Part of this road is paved now but the last mile through the woods is still gravel and not maintained well. The “Grey Spector”, as it’s known by, is said to lurk on the Ridge Road and has been seen leaning against trees or crossing the road. People describe the Grey Specter looking like a man in a trench coat and hat. Others have seen a disfigured human/demon being slouched over with long limbs and a gray scaly body. Rumors have circulated of the Specter terrorizing local teenagers on ATV’s and ones having parties along the Ridge Road.

I have never seen the Grey Spector on my trips along Ridge Road but many have claimed to. It’s hard to say if this is just another urban legend handed down generations or if there is some merit to the story. 

Driving down Ridge Road

Lost Resting Places: Grave of William C. Bennett

During a very muggy and hot day in July, a few friends and me decided to investigate a nearly forgotten resting place of a Civil War soldier. The grave of William C. Bennett is nestled in the middle of the Stone Valley Recreation area just south of State College PA. Bennett was part of the 148^th Pennsylvania Volunteer Company F and later transferred to Company G of the 53^rd Regiment of Pennsylvania in the mid 1860’s. Bennett died on July 18^th of 1913 and was laid to rest in the boundaries of what is now the recreation area. I had stumbled upon his grave like I do with so many things when I am just out exploring and this time I had my camera with me.

Stone Valley Recreation area is a great place to explore and spend the day. Hiking is what brought me to this area and the scenery is great. The area has a rich history of Native American culture, farming, and later the Iron Industry. In the early 1930’s the land was acquired by the

government for resettlement and later deeded to the Pennsylvania State University in 1954. The Recreation area is now home to research, boating, hiking, fishing, and picnic areas. The main attraction in this 7000 acre area is the man made lake Perez, but on our visit the dam was having work done and the lake was dry.

We arrived driving into the east entrance via Charter Oak Road.  Making a turn left onto Red Rose road about 0.3 Miles and then a sharp right we stayed on the paved road that lead into the parking lot on the right. From the parking area we walked the Started of the Orange Blazed Lake Trail and a short walk later crossed Shaer’s Creek over a small footbridge. At the next trail intersection we proceeded to follow the Blue Blazed Sawmill trail until we reached a paved road. At this point we didn’t cross the road and continued straight until we got to Homestead trail. Homestead trail got it’s name from the foundations of an old farm and house that can still be seen form the trail if you know where to look. Along Homestead trail bearing left we crossed the paved road onto an Old Forest gravel road. We walked around the entrance gate and continued a hike up a large hill and near the crest was the marker I had found years before on the right hand side.

There is a small path that goes up to the marker and an American Flag sits beside this lonely grave. I could not find out much about this solider but hope his resting place continues to be a peaceful stop along the trail.

Dried up Lake Perez