11 Real Haunted Restaurants & Bars in PA, MD & DE

Quick Answer: 11 Haunted Restaurants and Bars in the Mid-Atlantic

• Dobbin House Tavern (Gettysburg, PA): a real Underground Railroad stop with hiding places you can still see
• McGillin’s Olde Ale House (Philadelphia, PA): Philly’s oldest continuously operating tavern, open since 1860
• Dante & Luigi’s (Philadelphia, PA): the South Philly restaurant where a masked man shot the son of a mob boss on Halloween night
• Standard Tap (Philadelphia, PA): a Northern Liberties gastropub with a ghost named Mr. Smeigelski
• Jean Bonnet Tavern (Bedford, PA): a stone tavern with a documented 1700s hanging, and you can book the room
• General Warren Inne (Malvern, PA): a Revolutionary War-era tavern with a Tory-spy interrogation history
• Deer Park Tavern (Newark, DE): where Edgar Allan Poe allegedly cursed the building after falling in the mud
• Jessop’s Tavern (New Castle, DE): a 1674 building where staff say the ghost has a taste for Prosecco
• Middleton Tavern (Annapolis, MD): a 1740s harborside tavern once frequented by the Continental Congress
• Reynolds Tavern (Annapolis, MD): a 1747 hat shop turned tavern, haunted by its own former proprietress
• The Horse You Came In On Saloon (Baltimore, MD): the bar tied to Edgar Allan Poe’s final, mysterious hours

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Dobbin House Tavern

Gettysburg’s oldest building was a stop on the Underground Railroad, and the hiding places are still there for guests to see.

Built in 1776 by Reverend Alexander Dobbin, this stone house is Gettysburg’s oldest standing building and served as both a home and a school before the Civil War. It’s widely believed to have sheltered escaped slaves on their way north on the Underground Railroad, and the small hidden spaces under the floorboards and in the walls where they hid are preserved and visible to diners today. During the Battle of Gettysburg, the house was also used as a field hospital. Staff report cold spots and the sound of a man moaning in pain near the old hiding places, doors and candles moving without cause, and the ghost of Alexander Dobbin himself, still seen smoking a cigar around the property. None of it is considered threatening, and most staff describe the presence as watchful rather than hostile.

👻👻👻👻 Haunt rating: high. The history alone would be worth the visit even without the ghost stories.

McGillin’s Olde Ale House

Philadelphia’s oldest continuously operating tavern, and the woman who raised 13 kids upstairs may never have left.

William “Pa” McGillin opened this Center City tavern in 1860, the year Lincoln was elected president, and it has run continuously ever since, surviving two World Wars, Prohibition, and two pandemics under only two owning families. After Pa died in 1901, his wife Catherine, known as “Ma” McGillin, ran the bar herself while raising their 13 children upstairs. Staff and management say the kitchen is the most active spot in the building, with pots and pans moving on their own, lights flickering, and objects shifting when no one is nearby. A paranormal investigation team claims to have captured the reflection of a woman in white in a bar mirror, and many staff believe it’s Ma, still keeping an eye on the place.

👻👻👻 Haunt rating: moderate. More flying-pot mischief than full-scale scares, but the history is unmatched.

Dante & Luigi’s

On Halloween night 1989, a masked man walked into this South Philly institution and opened fire on a mob boss’s son.

Opened in 1899 as Corona di Ferro by Italian immigrant Michael DiRocco, this Bella Vista restaurant is one of the oldest continuously operating Italian restaurants in the country and has been run by the same family for over a century. Its most notorious moment came on Halloween night 1989, when a gunman in a Batman mask walked into the dining room carrying a trick-or-treat bag, pulled out a machine pistol, and shot Nicodemo “Nicky” Scarfo Jr., the 24-year-old son of imprisoned Philadelphia mob boss Nicodemo “Little Nicky” Scarfo, multiple times at his table. Scarfo survived, and no one has ever been charged with the shooting, which remains one of the most talked-about unsolved incidents in Philadelphia mob history. The restaurant leans into the story every Halloween, and staff and diners have reported an unsettled feeling in the dining room where it happened, though there’s no formal ghost lore attached beyond the notoriety of the event itself.

👻👻 Haunt rating: mild. This one is true-crime lore more than a ghost story, but it’s a genuinely documented, unsolved event.

Standard Tap

A ghost named Mr. Smeigelski allegedly lived above this Northern Liberties gastropub, and staff say he never checked out.

Standard Tap opened as a modern gastropub in 1999, but the building at 2nd and Poplar has served as a neighborhood pub for close to two centuries, in a Northern Liberties neighborhood that dates back to William Penn’s original 1682 land grants. Staff have described a recurring poltergeist they’ve nicknamed Mr. Smeigelski, believed to be a former tenant who may have lived and died in the apartment above the bar, though searches of local historical archives have never turned up a record of anyone by that name. Reported activity includes faucets turning on by themselves, shelves and utensil racks toppling over, and towel dispensers emptying out with no one nearby; staff have also described an older woman with white hair appearing at the top of the stairs after closing, and a Civil War-era soldier spotted near the kitchen.

👻👻👻 Haunt rating: moderate. A named ghost with a consistent, decades-long staff tradition behind him, even without a confirmed identity.

Jean Bonnet Tavern

Sometimes called Pennsylvania’s most haunted restaurant, with a room you can actually book to find out.

This fieldstone tavern has stood at the fork of Routes 30 and 31 since the 1760s, first as a French trading outpost and later as a gathering place during the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion, when George Washington’s troops passed through on their way to put down the uprising. Historical accounts describe at least one hanging on the property in the 1700s, reportedly of a convicted highway robber, and staff keep a “ghost book” of guest-submitted encounters going back decades. The most requested haunted spot is Room 3, an overnight guest room where visitors report a rocking chair moving on its own and the sense of a male presence watching from the corner. Downstairs in the tavern, unseen hands have reportedly touched guests and opened doors with no one nearby.

👻👻👻👻 Haunt rating: high. One of the few places on this list where you can book the actual haunted room.

General Warren Inne

A Tory stronghold during the Revolution, with a legend that a spy was interrogated inside.

Established in 1745 near Valley Forge, this stone tavern was renamed for British admiral Sir Peter Warren before the Revolution and later served as a Tory-controlled outpost during the Philadelphia Campaign, close to the site of the Paoli Massacre. Local lore holds that a colonial spy was interrogated, and possibly tortured, inside the building to extract information for the British. A female ghost is rumored to walk the property, and staff have reported unexplained cold spots and occasional strange sounds after hours. It’s worth noting this one draws real skepticism, including from at least one former longtime employee who says the haunted reputation is more marketing than experience, so treat it as a fun regional legend layered on genuinely deep Revolutionary War history rather than a heavily documented haunting.

👻👻 Haunt rating: mild. Come for the Revolutionary War history, stay open-minded about the rest.

Deer Park Tavern

Edgar Allan Poe allegedly cursed this tavern after tripping in the mud outside it in 1843.

The current red-brick building dates to 1851, but a tavern has stood on this University of Delaware corner since the 1740s, first as St. Patrick’s Inn. Colonial surveyors Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon are said to have based their operations here while establishing the Mason-Dixon Line, and George Washington reportedly spent a night. The best-documented legend involves Edgar Allan Poe, who gave a lecture at Newark Academy on December 23, 1843, and stayed the night at the inn. According to the story, he tripped exiting his carriage in the mud outside and shouted a curse on the building; patrons found it so funny they carried him inside as a hero. Staff and guests today report flickering lights, unexplained noises, and doors opening and closing on their own, particularly in the basement, which staff will sometimes tour for curious guests on request.

👻👻👻 Haunt rating: moderate. A great story more than a spine-chiller, but genuinely well documented.

Jessop’s Tavern

Staff say the resident ghost has a taste for Prosecco, and the glasses keep proving it.

The building housing Jessop’s Tavern dates to 1674, making it one of the oldest structures in Delaware’s historic capital, Olde New Castle. It takes its name from Abraham Jessop, a cooper who worked out of the building in the 1720s, and has cycled through several identities since, including the Captain’s Log Restaurant and the Green Frog Tavern, before reopening under its current name in 1996. New Castle’s official historical society runs walking ghost tours through town, and while the route doesn’t stop at Jessop’s directly, guides regularly point guests toward it. Staff bartender Jessica has described bottles of Prosecco flying off the shelf with no explanation, something the staff tested by checking whether the walk-in fridge’s vibrations could be the cause; they ruled it out.

👻👻👻 Haunt rating: moderate. Charming rather than creepy, with staff who genuinely seem to believe it.

Middleton Tavern

One of Annapolis’s oldest buildings, where a Revolutionary War-era ghost still watches the harbor.

Built as a private home in 1740, this waterfront building became an inn in 1750 after ferry operator Horatio Middleton bought it and, by colonial law, needed lodging for his customers. It grew into a popular gathering spot for the Continental Congress, the Maryland Jockey Club, and the Freemasons, and George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin are all said to have stopped in. Staff have nicknamed the resident ghost Roland, described as a man in Revolutionary War-era clothing who appears in the first-floor dining rooms gazing out toward the water, sometimes bringing the smell of cigar smoke. Others report shadowy figures, furniture rearranging itself overnight, and wall lanterns found flipped upside down with no explanation.

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👻👻👻 Haunt rating: moderate. A consistent, well-known local legend rather than a single dramatic story.

Reynolds Tavern

A hatter’s widow took over the business in 1777, and staff believe she’s still running the place.

William Reynolds built this brick building in 1747 as a hat shop, naming it the Beaver and Lac’d Hat, and later expanded it into a tavern serving hot food and liquor to Annapolis locals and travelers. When William died in 1777, his wife Mary took over the business, and staff and paranormal investigators believe her spirit never left. A 2004 overnight investigation by the Maryland Ghost and Spirit Society reported evidence of as many as five spirits in the building, including a dish that broke on its own in the kitchen and human-shaped indentations that appeared on an upstairs bed with no one in the room; the activity was reportedly intense enough that the owners at the time chose not to publicize further investigations. Guests have also reported Mary’s voice softly singing Christmas carols late at night.

👻👻👻👻 Haunt rating: high. One of the few entries here with an actual documented paranormal investigation behind it.

The Horse You Came In On Saloon

The bar that claims to be the last place Edgar Allan Poe drank before his mysterious death.

A tavern has occupied this Fell’s Point building since 1775, and the current bar, opened in 1972, still bills itself as the oldest continuously operating saloon in America. Its biggest claim to fame is a sign reading “Poe’s Last Stop,” referencing the popular belief that this is the last place Edgar Allan Poe took a drink before he was found in a delirious state on a Baltimore street on October 3, 1849, days before he died. That specific claim has never been verified and is disputed by historians, but it hasn’t stopped the bar from leaning into it: staff nickname the resident ghost Edgar and often leave a glass of cognac, his reported favorite drink, out at closing time, claiming it’s sometimes empty by morning. Other reported activity includes a hand on the shoulder with no one behind you and the cash register opening on its own.

👻👻👻👻 Haunt rating: high. The Poe connection is unverified, but the bar’s own 250-year history carries it regardless.

Compare All 11 Before You Go

Read through all eleven? Here’s how they stack up side by side.

Before You Go

Several of these spots also rent out rooms if you want to turn a dinner into an overnight stay, including the Dobbin House, Jean Bonnet Tavern, General Warren Inne, and Reynolds Tavern. If you’re building this into a longer trip, our guide to budget road trip tips and packing tips are worth a skim, and if hotels are more your speed than taverns, our list of real haunted hotels you can actually book covers 14 more properties nationwide.

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