These are the words of Cindy Gasper, author of her new book, “Over the Hills Where Spirits Fly.” She tells the story of the New Mahoning Hotel. The site and the building, located on Mill Road and Mahoning Drive, so fascinated Gasper and her brother, Dean Bartholomew, and other family members that they purchased the property 10 years ago with the intent of making the hotel a restaurant, a café and a tea room.

What lies beneath …

Searching around the site, which was once used as a hospital for World War I veterans and then was purchased by Helen Broney in 1934, brought Gasper some fascinating discoveries. Arrowheads from the 1740s, remnants of the Lenape Indians, sent her into a flurry of research that resulted in her 451 page book about the first Mahoning Valley civilization over Blue Mountain.

“I had grown up on a farm,” she said “and we had property above an Indian burial ground. Well, we found the same to be true at the hotel.”

Where the spirits fly

And there was more revealed from historical records about the hotel in the village of New Mahoning.

“The hotel was built 1898 or 1899 by Thomas Beltz, who owned the place for about 20 years,” said Gasper, a lifelong resident of Palmerton. “There were three owners after that, and after we made the purchase, we had heard rumors that the hotel was haunted.”

Members of the Blue Mountain Paranormal Society were invited to the site and the TV show, “Ghost Detectives” produced a video.

“This is by far the most active place we have ever investigated,” BMPS investigator Todd Weaver said, “although the ghosts seem to be more mischievous types rather than evil spirits.”

Gasper’s research of the area, unveiled in her book, confirmed that a man named Thomas Walton had owned the first tavern/hotel in Mahoning Township around 1790, until he was killed at by a fallen tree near an adjacent vineyard, adding to the speculation that Native American spirits might have wanted him off their sacred land.

Her research also uncovered maps and deeds and disclosed the locations of churches, homes, mills and meeting houses on the sacred burial ground, of which very few remain today.

The unwanted and the welcomed …

“What is now Lehighton, the name given to what was then the Gnadenhutten Village, had been a hunting ground for Indian tribes long before European settlers arrived,” she said. “When the Quakers came to settle here, one of their families was attacked by the Indians. Their home was burned to the ground and they were forced to walk to Canada.”

The “Lehighton Indians” attacked more families in 1781 in what Gasper calls “scalping parties.” The attackers were eventually beaten back and retreated to Lizard Creek Valley.

The book also chronicles the Moravians who settled in the area, too, but they did not provoke Indian ire and were able to convert many of the Native Americans to Christianity.

‘Knot’ on this land …

During the renovation project of the hotel, a strange event occurred while Gasper’s father-in-law and her brother were repairing the roof.

“My brother was an Eagle Scout and very proficient at tying rope knots,” she said. “He was about to climb to the roof of this three-story building using a rope-tied ladder with secured knots when they noticed the ladder began to shake. No wind was evident. Suddenly, the knots released and the ladder fell three stories to the street below.

“This is a portal to the past that can bring an understanding of who lived here, and there is activity that suggests they might still be present,” Gasper said.

She also feels a strange personal connection to the property and links herself with the supernatural.

“I have learned that birthmarks, of which I have one on my leg, may have marked a place upon the body where there was a stab wound from hundreds of years ago,” Gasper said.

From preservation to purpose …

The hotel renovation project has experienced several setbacks that include Gasper’s attempts to have the building listed with the National Register of Historic Places.

“We had to make necessary repairs and after we did, our initial application was rejected, even though we replaced the exterior wood siding and the 110 large windows with exact replicas. They have agreed to come out again to review the application.”

There are grand plans to make Circa 1898, as the building will be called, into a thriving business.

“We want the lower floor to be the dining area, and we don’t want people to leave after they have eaten,” Gasper said. “Upstairs, we want to make a sports bar area where diners can also play table games.”

She intends to add a tea room and a bakery shop in the building.

“I love to make doughnuts and sell them to customers when they come in and when they leave,” Gasper said.

Despite the expenses and the delays, her dream lives on.

“This endeavor has resulted in my book that will tell people the history of Lehighton as well as Carbon County,” Gasper said. “It will make us all think that every step we take is upon ground that is an important part of our local history. Nobody knows what’s under our feet until somebody tells us.”

The book “Over the Blue Hills Where the Spirits Fly” is available for purchase on Amazon Books.

Email Rich Strack at richiesadie11@gmail.com