It’s hard to find an empty lot anywhere near that location today, but in 1975 there was an empty lot at that intersection. Whoever owned the empty lot was so desperate for cash, he rented it out for a Halloween stunt.
A man was “buried alive” there and his wife changed 50 cents to look down a tube and view “The Phantom of the Grave.”
No one learned the Phantom’s actual name. His alleged wife/money collector would only say he was “a businessman from Lancaster County.”
He emerged from his casket midnight on Halloween after 10 days.
He was fed through the tube which descended down from a fake tombstone. It was all under a tent.
The newspapers paid little attention to the stunt so we don’t know how much money either the Phantom or the lot owner earned for the show.
The Phantom provides a dramatic example of the value of prime Center City land in 1975 and 44 years later.