OIL CITY, Pa. – The National Transit Building in Oil City has a deep history and hosted some of the most powerful men in the country that were titans of the oil industry. Could they still be there?
(Photo by Timothy Rudisille Photography)
On November 6 and 7, visitors will be able to explore the building with ghost hunting equipment to determine if paranormal activity exists.
The event is titled “Ghost Hunt” and is designed by Immersive Life, a Pittsburgh based immersive gaming designer. Over an approximately 30 minute semi-guided tour, a “collecting crew” of up to 10 people will explore the building. Individuals can reserve the time they will enter the building and each group will be armed with a ghost meter to detect activity and a video camera to capture it with the opportunity to explore different areas in the building culminating in the old executive offices.
“We look forward to what the crews can find and document, said Immersive Life co-founder Christopher Whitlatch. “We will post and compare the results of each tour on Immersive Life site at https://ImReal.Life.
The National Transit Building and its sister building known as the Annex is located at 206 Seneca Street in Oil City, PA and once was the hub of John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company. Now under the ownership of the Oil City Civic Center, a nonprofit, which has transformed it into artists’ studios. Immersive Life is donating a portion of the proceeds from the Ghost Hunt event to the Civic Center.
“The building is important to this city and region and is thriving again,” says Trenton Moulin, executive director of the Bridge Builder’s Foundation, which has offices in the Annex Building. “This event celebrates the history of the building, raises funds for the future and will build awareness of the area to diverse new audiences.”
Whitlatch heard a second hand story of paranormal activity in the building and contacted Moulin about the opportunity to design an event. “Visitors in the building often smell cigars and some have seen an apparition of a man in turn of the century clothing smoking,” said Whitlatch. “Our own team investigated and heard both a man and a woman’s voice though no one was in the building at the time.”