PHILADELPHIA, AMERICA'S MOST HAUNTED CITY

Academy of Music

Date:September 1968 Location: Rodin Museum~ Benjamin Franklin Parkway- Philadelphia

It was in the beginning of Fall when they first met, her name was Rachel, , the youngest daughter of a prominent Rittenhouse square doctor,born to wealth and privilage, she was beautiful and she was kind.

Hank was from Brewerytown a rough section of Philadelphia, what Hanks father did for a living no one could say, he did not see his son much, and Hank's mom did the best she could for her only son.

What had brought Hank and Rachel together was their love of art and sculpture. They had met in the beautiful garden of the Rodin museum, a little slice of heaven that is tucked away behind a large ornamental gate, this garden was midway between their homes.

Behind the walls of the garden they would often retreat from the outside world, a world they knew that they did not fit into but had not caught up to them, just yet.

One day their world was shattered, somehow her father learned of her romance with this poor boy, a social outcast , from the wrong side of the tracks and she was forcibly sent to school in upstate New York, The two young lovers were shattered, every effort was made by the young man to get in touch with his love but to no avail.

Two years had passed, Rachel had attended school in New York and her summers were spent in Europe, finally her father relented and let her return to Philadelphia , thinking that she had forgotten her young man but she had not, abscense had not faded her love, but had only focused and intensified it. No sooner had she returned ,she went back to the garden at the Rodin museum, she sat down on a bench , one that she and Hank had shared so many times, and then she wept, uncontrolaby, she could wait no more , she must see him!

She made her way to the small house that Hank had shared with his mom, running all the way, upon arriving her heart broke again if that were possible,for you see the house where Hank lived was boarded up.

Rachel began knocking on doors crying and begging for answers, Hank's next door neighbor, a kindly elderly man informed her in the most gentlest way possible that Hank had been drafted and sent to Vietnam where he had been killed, not long after that his mother passed away, some say of a broken heart.

Rachel in her grief started walking back, back to the garden, but when she reached it, she could not go in, perhaps blinded by grief, she dashed across the busy parkway where she was struck by an auto and was instantly killed in front of her beloved garden. If you ever visit the Rodin museum, keep your eyes open and scan the young couples that are sitting on the benches in the cool of the day, because you just might be seeing ghosts, some people have!!!.

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