​​​​Spring Hill Paranormal Investigators

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The Miles-Humes Building

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About the Miles-Humes Building

More than 200 years of Bellefonte history behind one front door.

Standing at the corner of Allegheny and Howard Streets in Bellefonte, the Miles-Humes House has watched the town change for more than two centuries. The Georgian-style home was built around 1814 for Joseph Miles, an ironmaster and prominent figure in Centre County's early industrial history.

In 1830, Miles sold the house to William Wilson Potter and his wife, Lucy. After William's death, Lucy remained in the home and eventually invited her niece, Lucy Alexander Humes, and her husband, Edward Crouch Humes, to live with her. The house subsequently passed through generations of the Humes family, eventually becoming the home of siblings William Potter Humes and Ann Elmira Humes.

Ann would ultimately determine the building's next chapter. She left the house to the Bellefonte community with the condition that it be used to establish a public library and meeting place. The library and museum opened there on October 25, 1939. When the main circulating library moved across the street in 1977, the historic house remained in use for archives, genealogy and local-history research, museum collections and library offices.

For much of its existence, however, this was simply a home. Generations were born into families connected with it, lived their daily lives within its rooms and eventually passed the house to those who came after them. Portraits of several former residents still hang along the staircase today.

The Miles-Humes House also holds a special place in Spring Hill Paranormal Investigators' own history. In October 2016, the Centre County Library partnered with SHPI for a public paranormal investigation and fundraiser inside the building. Participants learned the basics of paranormal investigation before joining our investigators to explore the historic house. The event generated enough interest that another investigation was scheduled for the following year. 

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