The Pennsylvania Dutch Hex Murder

Rehmeyer’s Hollow Nelson Rehmeyer It sounds like a tale from the 1600s; one that should have occurred at the same time that Salem, Massachusetts succumbed to the mass hysteria of their witchcraft trials. For you see, York County also had a trial involving bewitchment; though this one happened much more recently. On this occasion, it was not the so-believed witch who was on trial; it was the men who murdered him. Folk magic and pow-wowing are old time traditions in Pennsylvania.

As one drives through the Pennsylvanian Dutch country side, people can see that the folk traditions are still alive and well. The telling tale with this is the hex signs painted on the sides of barns. These symbols are not as eerie looking as they may sound; it is really a type of folk art with either stars in circles or an array of different hexagon or octagon shapes. Inside those shapes can be hearts, tulips, trees, birds, or the commonly seen compass roses. The artwork is similar to the patterns one would see on a quilt. There is a controversy over whether or not the Pennsylvanian Dutch actually believed in any magical properties attributed to the signs or if they are for decorative purposes only to make their barns look as charming as their houses. Out of this pow-wow tradition also a rose a fear of the unknown by those who were superstitious and unaccustomed to the Pennsylvanian Dutch customs.

At a time just before the Great Depression, those fears came to fruition for one York County trio; and the target was a man by the name of Nelson Rehmeyer. Rehmeyer was considered by the locals to be a practitioner of pow-wow medicine, a healer in a way. As far as Milton J. Hess, John Curry, and John Blymire believed, Mr. Rehmeyer was dabbling in witchcraft and had hexed the three of them. So, on a cold November night, right before Thanksgiving, in 1928, the three went to Rehmeyer’s isolated farmhouse in Stewartstown, in the southern part of the county. The plan was to take a lock of his hair, which was to buried six feet under; and a copy of John George Hohman’s book, the ‘Long Lost Friend;’ a textbook for pow-wowers. It was believed by the three that by using the hair and the book, they could break the spell that had been placed upon them. At some point in time after their arrival, their plan went horribly awry and they brutally murdered Nelson Rehmeyer by beating him to death. The poor man likely suffered greatly before his death.

After he was certainly dead, the three set fire to his body; which did not burn completely. The cause of which was cited by two theories: one that involved the hounds of hell and the other said that his bladder burst. When a neighbor later found the victim’s body, a fierce investigation followed and the three perpetrators were quickly arrested and given an expedited trial. The trial became a national sensation with York County being called the, “Cockpit of witchcraft.” Blymire’s attorney, future Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice Herbert Cohen, pushed for an insanity defense. But, the final headline of the trial read, "Belief in witchcraft not insanity, judge rules ... ." Blymire and Curry were found guilty and received life sentences for first degree murder. Wilbert Hess was found guilty of second degree murder and received a ten-year prison sentence. Hess’ attorney, Harvey Gross, through a rather skillful argument, that his client never had any intention to murder the victim. He was only a pawn in the other’s more malicious intentions.

Though the men involved in the pow-wow practitioners death wanted to vilify him in court; there were plenty of other York County natives who were willing to jump to the deceased defense. They also sighted that the man had been given a Christian burial; which if he was really a witch that would not have happened. Today, Rehmeyer’s body is located in the St. John “Sadler’s” Lutheran Church in the Stewartstown/Shrewsbury area. Descendants of Nelson Rehmeyer believe that the witchcraft story that the men implored for their trial was one of fiction. They believe that the true cause of the home invasion was simply robbery. No matter what the people of the current age think; the witchcraft trial of York County is a black mark on its history.

The media made York County out to be a haven for those who wished to practice the dark arts; which is simply not true by any stretch of the imagination. However, there was a benefit to the trial and that was that justice was carried through to the end.

Is Hex Hollow haunted? A lot of the locals believe it to be. I cannot say for sure myself since I have never been there to investigate it. At one time, the owners of the property made quite an effort to keep people away from the house; although the murder victim is said to wander around the hollow itself, not just the house. The owners went as far as to have trespasses prosecuted for breaking into the property. Recently, however, the murder house has been transformed into a haunted attraction for spectators to go to the house around Halloween.


McClure, James. “Jim McClure: Hex Murder a spooky bit of York County’s past.” York Daily Record. http://www.ydr.com/ci_21862424/jim-mcclure-hex-murder-spooky-bit-york-countys# Updated: 10-26-2012. Accessed 5/31/14.
Rehmeyer’s Hollow, York County, Pa.” Pennsylvania Dutch Hex Murder. Crime Library. http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/classics/haunted_places/11.html accessed 5/31/14. Accessed 5/31/14.

The Flaming Ship of Ocracoke and New Bern, NC

This is another excerpt from one of my upcoming books. It is only the rough draft but, it is still a fun read!

Ocracoke Island These next accounts may seem a bit on the verge of the fantastical. Not because the stories are about flaming phantom ships, there are quite a few of those; it is because it occurs in an area with high tourist traffic and there are very few eye witness accounts. I include it only because it is a local legend of the Outer Banks and also, a former anonymous member of the Coast Guard claims to have seen something unusual on the waters around North Carolina.

There are two ships matching the same description and with an identical legend; which leads to the conclusion that they are one in the same. One is called the Flaming Ship of Ocracoke and the other is the Flaming Ship of New Bern. As the legends state: every year a flaming ship appears off the island of Ocracoke or at the mouth of the Neuse River at the Pamlico Sound (which is the sound between Ocracoke and the mainland.) The ship never appears to be consumed by the fire; it just burns until it fades away. On board the ship was a group of Palatines who set sail in 1710 from England to America.

This part of the story does hold a basis in historical records. The Palatines were German Protestants from the Palatinate region of Germany. As with many other travelers during this time period, the Palatines were fleeing their homeland for a very specific reason, war! When Philip V, the grandson of the French King Louis XIV, ascended to the Spanish throne following the death of Charles II in 1700, the reason for the war was sealed. Even though it was at Charles’ bequest that Philip follow his rule; other countries in Europe feared that the relation between Spain and France would lead to an empire. The event was called the War of Spanish Succession in Europe; and in America, it was considered a part of, and called, Queen Anne’s War. Though, this latter war was more about who would take control of the American continent. The War of the Spanish Succession lasted from 1701-1714 and pitted France and Spain against England, Austria, Portugal, and the Netherlands. During this, France invaded the Palatinate region of Germany, forcing the citizens there to flee to Holland and then to England. In 1709, the English government issued sixteen hundred tents for the Palatine encampments; and welcomed the victims of their enemies.

Quickly, the influx of the Germans into England became too much for the country to bear. In 1710, it is estimated that between ten and thirty thousand people immigrated to London. To combat this influx, the government began sending the refugees to America. In 1710, three large groups of Palatines sailed from London, one of which sailed to Carolina. The other two went to Ireland and New York where there was already a large number of Palatines. To protect themselves from thieves on their voyage, the people pretended to be poor; with only enough money to make a voyage to the New World. In actuality, the Palatines aboard the ship were quite wealthy. It was only when they caught sight of the shoreline did they reveal their true wealth. In their excitement to go ashore, they began to carry their precious items on to the deck of the ship, showing off their fortune to every crew member aboard the ship. This proved to be their fatal error. Instead of allowing the people to unload, the captain announced that they would not land until the next day.

The people made haste to hide their valuables again and then settled down for the night. After it was believed that all the men, women, and children were asleep; the captain and his crew murdered every last one of them. Most of the Palatines throats were slit before many of them could awake. Using the lifeboats to escape, they loaded the cargo into the boats and set fire to the ship. As they rowed away from the flaming ship, the crew turned to look back. In amazement, they discovered that the ship was not sinking. Instead, it began to move and screams echoed from the hull as if the passengers were still alive. This site absolutely terrified the crew of the ship, who discarded their misbegotten treasures immediately upon landing on the shore.

Every year the ship re-appears, waiting for the blood stolen from to be repaid. There are no recordings from this time that mention a ship sinking during this year; let alone a Palatine ship. This does not mean that the ship did not exist. During the 1700s, it was not uncommon for a ship not to be logged or for the sinking of a ship to not be recorded. Quite often, ships would fall victims to pirates or mainland scavengers who would not want the final location of the vessel to be known. Back in a day and age where it would take days for any news to travel throughout a single colony; hiding vessels were fairly easy and they were either set on fire, ripped apart, or left to the waves. There is another Palatine ship in Rhode Island; although this one comes with a little more legitimate history… ________________________________________

Contact Information

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Introduction

There is a plague in the paranormal community; a sickness that is detrimental to the validity of our field. It occurs when researchers and investigators use myths and legends as the basis for their investigations. This is not to say that there is no truth in local tales; I believe that many of these stories have some small fact to them. What are those facts? That is what we need to find out. What is the generally accepted history at the haunted locations around the world? Does the evidence gathered coincide with the history or does it offer us more of an explanation into what happened in the past? The answers to these questions is what I seek to find by looking beyond the ghostly legends to the facts that made the legend and the haunting. The truth behind the mysteries. When we dispel with the imaginative folklore and tall tales, we may just find a legitimate platform to make our case on. Because if we have evidence with no basis in fact, then we have little to promote for the field.