Near 20 Jim Thorpe residents gathered for the second year in front of the historic Race Street row for an All Hallow's Eve sweeping of the street.

Led by homeowner and sweeper Rita O'Donnell, several women and men grabbed their ribbon-decorated brooms and swept a path around hand-carved pumpkins in the mini-park near the Rex House.An incantation to help lingering souls move on was read as the path was cleared of negativity and blocks left over from the former year, according to the sweepers."It's just another fun quirky thing we do up here on Race Street," said Diane Prokop, owner of the Times House Bed and Breakfast."It just has a different vibe up here from Broadway."The annual ritual was created after interest in the Rex House resurfaced, Prokop said."When David (Price) first released the book ("Voices of the Hollow Maze"), the history came back up and we decided to do this for Halloween.""It's a real treat," said resident and sweeper Beth Christman.According to research conducted by Rex House owner and author David Price in 1980, the Rex monument located in the East Side Mauch Chunk Cemetery lost a piece of the large statue. The 500-pound granite ball from the monument rolled a half a mile down the Switchback Trail in June. Acting as a stone pinball, it ricocheted off buildings before rolling down Race Street and finally coming to a stop in front of the house where Edward Rex had been born. The Rex family had lived at the address for decades where they owned and operated a coffee warehouse in Prokop's Times House Bed and Breakfast."Edward Rex had hung himself behind the stables near the Opera House in the late 1800s. He wasn't buried in the cemetery. They buried him just outside," Price said.According to Price, the voices heard in the home and surrounding houses have been recorded and documented "by a number of people."The morning after the rolling of the ball, O'Donnell appeared in the street, rosary in hand, and swept away the debris left behind by the monument."She was concerned about aberrant souls," Price said."She's been sweeping the street for over 30 years," he said. "We decided it'd be great to have Rita lead a sweeping to honor Rex and the spirits of the dead."After a handful of strange occurrences and reports of voices heard in the historic row homes, Price dug up the story and wrote, "Voices of the Hollow Maze," which contains the lore, research and superstitions of the hundred-year-old district.Followed by the 6:30 p.m. sweeping, the crowd filtered into the Rex House to enjoy homemade oatmeal cookies and warm cider while Christian Gould read original spooky writer Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven." Gould emoted the sentiments of the story underneath a crystal chandelier to a hushed room."It added such a dimension to Halloween," attendee Patrica Brunson said.