What's that?: Haunted Larimer mansion holds historic importance for North Huntingdon

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Lynne and Larry Moisey didn’t know they were getting roommates when they purchased an abandoned but once stately two-story home in North Huntingdon almost four decades ago.

During the 38 years since they took ownership of the local landmark once known as the Andrew and Jennie McFarlane House, the Moiseys realized they were not alone and say they are frequently visited by a variety of ghosts and spirits.

They attribute their visitors to the many who have occupied or passed through the building at the intersection of Maus Drive and Clay Pike since it was built in 1790.

“There are a number of ghosts. We think it’s people who used to live in the farmhouse and people buried at the (nearby) cemetery. I think it is like a portal,” according to Lynne Moisey.

Known today as Larimer’s Mansion Farm, the original log-frame building was erected on the site of the former Three Springs Camp, where Col. George Washington and Gen. Edward Braddock stayed during the French and Indian War. According to historical accounts, Andrew McFarlane acquired the property after marrying industrialist William Larimer’s daughter, Jennie, who later died during childbirth.

The building, once part of a 130-acre homestead which served as stopover for travelers between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, was sold and later converted into a brothel before it was purchased during the 1930s by a Westinghouse executive, Moisey said.

“It’s one of the very few historic homes we have in the community,” said Carl Huszar, president of the Norwin Historical Society. “These homes played a role in who we are. The Larimer Mansion is everything to the township. It’s part of our history that goes back to the 1700s.”

Throughout its history, the former tavern and inn hosted political leaders such as President William Henry Harrison and Vice President Aaron Burr, according to a historians.

It’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Moiseys purchased the property in 1985.

“We lived in North Huntingdon since the late 1970s and this was just an old house. Even when it was abandoned I always looked at it and it caught my eye. I talked to the owner and I should have run out screaming, but I knew something,” Moisey said.

The couple first operated the property for more than a decade as a gift shop and cafe. They renovated and moved into the four-bedroom Italianate-style home in 1998 and two years later opened it as a bed and breakfast.

They also hosted ghost tours each fall and have been subject of several documentaries related the building’s apparent haunting.

The bed and breakfast closed and the ghost tours were halted at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s been pretty quiet since we stopped the ghost tours, but every once and a while we hear something,” Moisey said.