In Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, there is a small wooden house that has survived for nearly three centuries. The Marcus Hook Plank House predates the American Revolution and has endured wars, industry, and the transformation of Marcus Hook from a colonial port into an industrial town. Archaeologists believe the house was built sometime between 1700 and 1735, making it one of the oldest surviving houses in the area.
Its age is impressive enough, but the history of the Plank House is not the only reason people remain interested in what happens inside its walls. Over the years, visitors have reported hearing footsteps when nobody else was present, along with crying, unexplained bangs, strange lights, unexplained touches and apparitions.
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY AT THE PLANK HOUSE
According to Michael Manerchia, one of the people responsible for preserving the house, some of the activity became personal. Manerchia and his wife reportedly witnessed bedroom doors opening and closing on their own, apparently in synchronization, and he has said that he refuses to enter the house after dark.
Temperature changes have also become part of the house’s reputation. Manerchia has described entering the property during the summer and finding the interior extraordinarily cold, reportedly around 50 degrees, with temperatures low enough for him to see his breath.
The most famous story surrounding the Plank House involves one of America’s most notorious pirates. Local lore claims that a Swedish woman named Margret lived there and was the mistress of Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard. According to the legend, Teach visited her while spending time in Marcus Hook, which was an important maritime community during the early 18th century.
There is no historical evidence proving that Blackbeard ever visited the house. Even the historic marker outside the property identifies the story as local lore. Archaeological research does place the house within the period when Blackbeard was active in the region, however, which has helped keep the story alive.
That connection has also made Blackbeard a central figure in the property’s paranormal reputation. Investigators have claimed to encounter his spirit inside the house, including during a 2013 investigation in which paranormal researchers reported finding three entities they identified as a man, a woman and a child. The investigators claimed they established communication with the entities and captured photographs they considered compelling, while also reporting that the spirits appeared interested in the preservation of the historic property.
The reports have continued into recent years. In August 2025, Phantom Detectives conducted an investigation at the Plank House and reported capturing an electronic voice phenomenon saying the name “Ray.” The team also reported thermal and digital images that they interpreted as resembling Blackbeard and a woman wearing 18th century clothing.
The investigation took an even darker turn when founder Joshua Chaires was reportedly pushed to the floor. Investigators attributed the incident either to what they believed was Blackbeard’s spirit or to what they described as a demonic presence inside the house. Their final interpretation was that the Plank House appeared to contain both an intelligent haunting and what they characterized as a demonic haunting.
Those claims remain exactly that: claims. There is no scientific evidence establishing that the Plank House is haunted, and photographs, EVPs, temperature fluctuations and personal experiences can all have ordinary explanations. That has done little to discourage paranormal investigators from returning to the property.
THE PLANK HOUSE LEGACY
Perhaps the strangest detail comes from Manerchia himself. In 2025, he told reporters that roughly half a dozen paranormal groups had investigated the Plank House, but according to him, none had managed to spend an entire night inside. That’s a mighty claim.
Whether something inside the house genuinely does not want company or whether spending the night in a nearly 300-year-old building with a reputation for ghosts and unexplained activity is enough to make anyone reconsider their life choices is impossible to say. What is certain is that the Plank House has become far more than an archaeological relic. Its history, local legends, and paranormal stories have become intertwined, leaving a nearly three-century-old house with a reputation that continues to draw people through its doors long after the sun goes down.
