Girty's Notch, Pennsylvania

GIRTY’S NOTCH PERRY COUNTY

The ghosts of thieves abide in the notch of the mountain side. Whispering tales of sheer delight to the criminals of the night. Pennsylvania has a lavish history, as rich as one could expect from one of the earliest settlements in the New World. With the history, comes an abundance of legends, even the tiny mountainous area of Northern Dauphin County has their own folklore. Many of the locals in the area of the Dauphin and Perry County lines know the story of Simon Girty, a villain in the local history books. Not as popular as Benedict Arnold or Aaron Burr, yet he was held to be just as unfaithful to his country. Although sometimes, the history books are not always fair in their portrayals.

Girty is said to have been born in the area of Halifax in 1744, a tiny town that was not officially settled until 1784. Even now, it's population is less than 1,000 people. From 1756 to 1757, the area was used by the Pennsylvania colonial militia as a stronghold called Fort Halifax during the French and Indian War. The fort was one of several located along the Susquehanna River at the time. It later became a part of Fort Hunter in Harrisburg. Previous to European settlement, the town was inhabited by the native Susquehannocks. When Simon was ten-years-old, his father was murdered in a fight at a tavern near Fort Hunter.

In my first book, Ghosts and Haunts of Pennsylvania, I mentioned an EVP that I caught on the property of Fort Hunter where one can hear a man proclaiming that he had just killed someone. It would be quite an interesting tale if that voice belonged to the man who killed Simon's father. After his father's death, his mother remarried, a standard of the time in order to provide for the family. His stepfather moved them to Fort Granville, near Lewistown, roughly 50 miles away from Halifax. His stepfather was later killed by Native Americans and, the rest of the family was taken captive. The family was split between various tribes; young Simon was adopted by a tribe of Senecas and raised as a member of the tribe.

During the French and Indian War, he served as a translator and scout. It is said by his descendants that he knew eleven Native dialects and was a bodyguard for the Seneca Chief Guyasata. Also during the war, he befriended Colonel William Crawford; he even sought to marry Crawford's daughter, but she refused him. When the American Revolution occurred, he was an officer in the militia at Fort Pitt, until he eventually rejoined the natives and became a British loyalist, attacking colonial settlements. This betrayal of the colonists is one of the two most pressing reasons that historians remember him as a villain. Yet, when one reviews the facts that he was raised by a tribe and they did become his family. For many, the decision between family and country can be a difficult one. Then, in the other specific instance that placed a black mark next to his name, the choice he made may not have been a purposeful betrayal but a choice of survival. Never forget that it is the winners in history that retell the stories that are remembered.

This second event that created the villain known as “Dirty” Girty, involved the death of his friend Colonel Crawford. The colonel had been captured by Native Americans during a confused retreat along the Sandusky River. He was subsequently tortured for two hours and, burned at the stake. His death was in retaliation for the Gnadenhutten massacre, or Moravian massacre, that occurred on March 8th, 1782. The massacre occurred during the American Revolution, when a militia from Pennsylvania attacked Christian Lenape Natives, also known as the Delaware tribe, at the Moravian missionary village of Gnadenhutten, Ohio. Crawford’s son-in-law and nephew were also executed. Simon Girty and two others were a witness to the death of his friend. The other two people later testified to Girty’s actions; one said that he instigated the natives to kill Crawford, the other said that he pleaded for his friend’s life until he was also threatened with death. It is the more diabolical of the two accounts that has become the popular standard of testimony to the character of Simon Girty.

Girty also took part in the October 1, 1779 ambush and murder of a group of American forces returning from New Orleans, near Dayton, Kentucky. With him in the ambush was a large force of Native Americans and, Alexander McKee. McKee’s mother was from North Carolina and, an adoptee of a Shawnee tribe. Similar to Girty, he was raised to have sympathies for the plight of the Native Americans in the country during this time period. It is because of the all insinuations of the man’s villainy that it is easy to overlook that he also saved the lives of many settlers who were prisoners of the Natives. In many cases, he purchased their freedom at his own personal expense.

On his way to Canada in 1796, on the run from both the colonists and the Senecas, he reportedly hid in a cave for three days. This cave currently lies along Routes 11 and 15, although the exact location is unknown; though many locals say that they know the exact location, but each one gives a different explanation as to how reach the cave. The locals also say that the area on top of the rocky canvas is haunted. Years ago, it used to be a recreation area with picnic tables overlooking the Susquehanna River. The same river that Girty used to act as a river pirate on, stealing goods from other passing boats.

At night, they say, strange lights and noises would waft down to the land below. They also say that Girty was not the only criminal entity to take shelter on top of the rocks. It was a den of thieves in the late 1700s and early 1800s. The rest of these robbers are currently unnamed and perhaps their names will never be known. That is not from lack of trying, sitting in the parking area at the bottom of the mountain, where there are no private property signs. The digital recorder played, but the response was mysterious and unknown. Possibly giving light to the Native American tribes that were in the area; though I do not know what it means, it sounded as if a man said, “Rum chee it”