Perkasie Tunnel

I grew up in Perkasie Pennsylvania, which is about 45 minutes north of Philadelphia.   Not very exciting to a young kid, but it does have a rich history.

Perkasie was once a booming resort town with Menlo Park, an early form of an amusement park  complete with casinos, bowling alleys, dance hall, one of the first roller coasters known as the “Toboggan Ride”, carnival type rides, and a fantastic carousel.  Perkasie was the destination for vacationing folks from Philadelphia would rent cottages and spend their summers by the creek.  Mostly all of that is gone now, the remaining hold out is the Perkasie carousel which is open a few times a year for special events. 

Growing up in a town like Perkasie gives a child the opportunity to really stretch the imagination; there is not much else to do. What little Perkasie had when I was a child usually was ruined by the older folks who seemed to be consistently telling myself and my friends how much better they had it.  Usually, we wondered around aimlessly hearing the legends that the older folks would tell us of the great ol’ days in Perkasie. It is a very boring time to a young kid searching for life outside of Nintendo in the summertime. 

In 1988 the whole town almost burned to the ground.   That glorious event became known as “The Great Perkasie Fire of ‘88”, I’m sure you can get a DVD from the Perkasie library… or just ask around someone will tell you all about the day. 

The biggest problem for me was the fact that “The Great Perkasie Fire” was started by kids our age.  The whole town of Perkasie looked at myself and my friends with even more distrust than before.  We were chased out of every one of our usual hangouts or bothered by people constantly asking us if we knew who started the fire.  This drove us insane and we stayed inside bouncing house to house playing Nintendo and watching movies. 

Staying inside for the summer is house arrest for 10-12 year old boys.  We couldn’t take it anymore.  Luckily one of the boy’s fathers switched to 3^rd shift which meant he wanted us out of his house so he could sleep.  We told him of our problem and he told us when he was a kid he played in the Perkasie Tunnel. 

In the tunnel the temperature is a lot cooler, even in the summer heat it stays 10 degrees colder in there.   I don’t know to this day if this was a form of child abuse.  Who drops 10-12 year old boys off an abandoned railroad Tunnel?  That sounds like the roots of horrendous adolescent problems. 

He took us up to the ridge in Perkasie and showed us where the tunnel was.  I remember the first time I saw the Tunnel.  It was a very impressive marvel for a young child.  He told us of the train conductor who “lost his head” and the ghost train traveled all the way out to Quakertown before anyone realized the train had a headless conductor. 

He explained that at night if you put your ear on the track on the north side of the tunnel and stayed silent, you could hear the “Headless Train Conductor” coming in his death train.  If you stayed on the track until the train sounded close then get up and run to the south side the ghost train would follow you and if you do not make it out of the tunnel the conductor would collect your head. 

This was the ultimate challenge to our young group.  We immediately made plans to get to the tunnel during the night.  After a carefully planned camp out, three of us snuck out to the tunnel one night to race the ghost train.   We arrived at the tunnel around midnight; flashlights and imagination were with us as we gathered on the north side of the tunnel.  

As the “Fat kid”, I was nervous of making it out before the conductor took my head.  The athletic kid “Sean”, you know the one who was awesome at everything, lead us into the tunnel and made our escape plans.  “We’ll all lean down to listen for the train or else it won’t work”, he said with an authority that was unquestioned, “then when we ALL hear the train, we’ll go on my lead.”  This was a great plan.

We knelt down next to the tracks and each put our ear on the cold steel of the tracks.  We stayed silent for what seemed like hours.  My brain was just starting to believe that this was a silly experiment. To my amazement, I heard some rumbling on the track.  I was sure it was my imagination, but then Sean exclaimed, “Here he comes!!” and got up darting into the darkness. 

Running through a darkened abandoned train tunnel with a flashlight was not the easiest thing for me.  There are many holes and divots in the floor of the tunnel. We were all scared and running.  I heard the roar of the ghost train coming behind us.  I wasn’t sure what was behind us, but it was coming towards us at a decent speed.  My heart was pounding in my chest as I ran trying to find footing in the darkness.  As my veins pumped out the acid through my muscles, I saw the scariest sight I have ever witnessed.

I saw my silhouette against the tunnel’s roof.  A bright light was coming after us. It had reached the tunnel.  The roar from the ghost train was deafening, the tunnel echoed it back and forth in a way taunting us. The light was gaining ground.  I ran as fast as I possibly could with the “RAHHHRAHHHRAHH” of the lighted beast gaining on me the whole way. 

Whatever it was, it was getting closer.  My friends were at the end of the tunnel cheering me on.  I could feel the air start to change around me as this thing gained ground on me.  I broke free of the Tunnel’s tomb and into the night air as an arm grabbed me to the safety of the side of the tracks.

I fell on the ground exhausted and scared out of my skull.  The light and sound was still coming from the tunnel.  The “RAHHHRAHHHRAHH” of the ghost train came closer and closer.  I held what little breath I had as it broke through the tunnel.  It was two teenagers on their 4 wheelers.

We all broke up laughing.  It was the scariest thing I have ever been through.  We all made plans to go back, but never did.  I don’t know if this legend is true, but I have heard that there was a train conductor who was decapitated in the 1930’s or 1940’s.  If you ever get a chance at night check out the Perkasie Tunnel and see if you can beat the “Headless Train Conductor”.  Good luck.

Click here to see the photos.