The York House, Creekmore Mansion, and Geraldine Legend
Pikeville’s “York House” ghost story contains a basic problem: two different historic properties have been merged into one. The York House on Main Street and the York Mansion—later called Creekmore Mansion—at 209 Elm Street have separate dates, architectural histories, and records. The Geraldine Creekmore legend is associated with the Elm Street mansion in modern paranormal retellings, but the documented record located for the building does not verify her story.
Separating the houses does not drain the mystery. It replaces a confused narrative with a clearer look at how a real family, two landmarks, and a thinly sourced haunting became entangled.
The Main Street York House
Kentucky’s historic-resources inventory records the York House as a nineteenth-century Italianate residence on Main Street. The form estimates its date around 1870, identifies Col. John Dils as the original owner, and connects the house to his daughter Augusta and her husband, Judge James M. York. It calls the building Pikeville’s earliest unaltered residence and notes York’s service as a judge from 1900 to 1904.
This is the house connected to Dils and the York family’s long residence. It is not the 1918 mansion on Elm Street. Current tourism material identifies the restored Main Street property at 223 Main Street as the Historic York House.
The 1918 York—later Creekmore—Mansion
A separate state inventory form documents the York Mansion at 209 Elm Street. It dates the house to 1918, identifies Judge J. M. York as original owner, and credits Augusta York as architect. The two-story cream-brick residence has a raised basement, high attic, wraparound porch, tile roof, and a prominent hillside setting overlooking Pikeville.
The form says Augusta York is thought to have designed it after a similar house she saw in Cincinnati. It also states that Judge and Mrs. York never lived in the mansion. By the time the survey was prepared, the property was called Creekmore Mansion.
Those details overturn several common retellings. The Elm Street mansion was not an early-nineteenth-century house given to Augusta at marriage, and details belonging to the Main Street York House should not be used as its origin story.
Where Geraldine enters the story
Modern paranormal accounts describe a girl or young woman named Geraldine Creekmore who was supposedly isolated in the mansion because of a disability. The stories then attribute cries, footsteps, cold areas, or an upstairs presence to her.
No birth record, census entry, obituary, institutional record, family document, or contemporary newspaper account confirming those personal details was located in the sources reviewed for this article. The state inventory for the mansion does not mention Geraldine or a haunting. Repeating claims about disability, confinement, family treatment, or death as biography would therefore be irresponsible.
The Geraldine account should be labeled local legend unless a traceable record emerges. Even then, proof that a person lived does not prove a paranormal claim, and private medical or family details require careful treatment.
How the confusion probably persisted
Both properties are associated with Augusta Dils York, both can be called York houses in casual conversation, and the later mansion acquired the Creekmore name. Once online summaries began combining them, the Main Street house’s older date and family history supplied a ready-made backstory for the Elm Street haunting.
The result sounds coherent because the names align, not because the records do. A source-based version keeps four labels distinct:
- York House: the circa-1870 Main Street residence associated with John Dils, Augusta Dils York, and James M. York;
- York Mansion: the 1918 residence at 209 Elm Street;
- Creekmore Mansion: a later name for the Elm Street property; and
- Geraldine legend: a modern, unverified story attached to the Creekmore Mansion.
Viewing the properties responsibly
The Main Street York House has served public and community uses, but hours and access should be verified with the current operator before a trip. The Elm Street mansion’s historic survey listed private ownership. Do not assume that a landmark or a place discussed online is open to visitors. View private property only from a lawful public location, avoid photographing residents, and do not approach the house at night for paranormal investigation.
What would strengthen the Geraldine story
The next research step is not another ghost hunt. It is a documented Creekmore ownership chain for 209 Elm Street, followed by censuses, city directories, newspapers, probate files, and family records from the relevant years. An attributed oral-history interview could establish who first told the story and when, even if the supernatural claim remains unverified.
For now, Pikeville has two well-documented historic buildings and one poorly documented legend. Keeping those categories separate is the most accurate—and ultimately more interesting—way to tell the story.
Sources and further reading
About the Author: Kantuckee
