Bishop White House
Built in 1787, this Old City rowhouse was home to William White, first Episcopal Bishop of Pennsylvania and chaplain to the Continental Congress, who lived here until his death in 1836 at age 85. White ministered to the dying through Philadelphia's catastrophic 1793 yellow fever epidemic, which killed thousands, and the house's hauntings are tied to that era of mass death. Now preserved within Independence National Historical Park, it is called the most haunted residence in the historic district. Staff and visitors report a thin, elderly man glimpsed in a third-floor window, the floor where the bishop died in his library. A shadowy figure crossing the rooms is attributed to John, White's coachman, who succumbed to the fever in 1793. Most distinctive are sudden patches of cigar smoke smelled throughout the house, linked to the bishop's heavy smoking habit, which locals once credited with warding off disease.
📍 309 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, Philadelphia, PA · Get directions