Trials of Hex

My family hasn't many touches with fame but one incident in late 1928 will live in infamy.  It involved the murder of Nelson Rehmeyer from my grandmother's side of the family and it led to the so-called "Hex Trials" that were intended to put an end to the pow-wow or hex culture in York County, Pennsylvania. I am currently reading J. Ron McGinnis' book about the trials and I'm surprised it hasn't been made into a movie. This is the way the Philadelphia Inquirer reported the story on December 1, 1928:

"A pow-wow man and two boys today unfolded the story of a cruel and barbaric murder of a farmer Tuesday night as they tried to get a lock of his hair to banish the malignant devils of witchcraft.  They told their weird story completely, in its sordid and horrifying detail, to District Attorney Herrmann; told it as they would an ordinary neighborhood happening, calmly and coldly and obviously without fear or terror, without a scintilla of pity or a trace of remorse.
      John Curry, 14, stood placidly before the District Attorney and recited the gruesome tragedy in the farmhouse of Nelson D. Rehmeyer, 60, in North Hopewell township, 19 miles from here, and of the brutal murder of the elderly farmer.  He had no scruples against naming his two associates, John Blymire, 32, of York, a reputed witch doctor and "pow-wow" man, and Wilbert Grandwill Hess, 18, who lives on a farm with his parents south of York.
     It was late Thursday when Rehmeyer's beaten, bound, and burned body was found in his home.  A braying, unfed mule gave the sparsely settled township its first inkling of the brutal killing and subsequent discovery of the body.  A few threads were tied together by detectives---threads of a belief in witchcraft that has been handed down from generation to generation since pioneer days, and of the mythical hokus-pokus of the "pow-wow" men and women and their impish powers of subtle wonder.

    Curry was the first one arrested and he included Blymire--the "pow-wow" man who had received a $10 retainer from the Hess's family to lift the yoke of trouble he was having with his neighbors with his physic charms, provided they got a lock of Rehmeyer's hair.
    Blymire blamed Rehmeyer for bewitching the Hess family for causing sudden disappearances of the chickens in Hess's hen houses, and for sundry and diverse things that contributed to neighborly discord.

(photo shows three suspects at the top and Rehmeyer below)

"One of the perplexing angles of the fiendish murder, as District Attorney Herrmann views it, is the sudden departure from their purposeful plan after they got access to Rehmeyer's home.
Instead of contenting themselves with a lock of the farmer's hair after they beat him unconscious with clubs and a chair, all of them confessed to wielding their weapons like barbarians until they were sure he was dead, and to make certain by strangling him with a stout rope, and then ransacked his pockets and house for money.
   Hess was unmoved by the recitation of the part he took in the cold-blooded crime.  If there was anything to disturb him it was a questioning bud in the back of this head that Blymire "gyped" him in dividing the money they stole from Rehmeyer's dead body and in the house.

More pictures of Rehmeyer Hollow today and the home of Nelson Rehmeyer and the other members of the family can be viewed under the Rehmeyer section of our family website at www.fishel.us.

Deep Freeze

Each year, Barb and I go to our timeshare at Canaan Valley, West Virginia in early January.  It provides a wonderful change of scenery and a welcome respite from the busy Christmas season.  It's a time for calm and relaxation.  This year, however, has been a little different because it got cold.  Really cold.

The thermometer in our car read "minus seven" degrees at 11:30 am on Tuesday, January 7.  I was lucky the engine caught quickly and started because the battery didn't have much juice left in it because of the cold weather.  I let the car engine run for several minutes to warm up before moving.  This question is often asked: "How does it feel when it gets that cold?"  To me there isn't much difference between "minus seven" degrees and zero degrees.  It just feels cold.

Among the victims of the bitterly cold weather are the wildlife.  I found these two geese at the pond outside of "Big Johns Restaurant" in the heart of Canaan Valley.  It's a landmark and the porch of the restaurant is adjacent to a pond that is populated with lots of hungry fish and a few birds.  These geese were keeping a small hole open at the pond and you will notice how they have their heads turned back and inward to shield against the strong wind.  Normally, Canaan Valley is populated with lots of deer, ground hogs, and bear, but none of them were to be seen today.
Too cold.

The other creatures that were missing in this cold weather were people. Last night, when the recorded temperatures in nearby Davis, West Virginia dropped to "minus 15 degrees", the Canaan Valley State Park closed their ski lifts.  There was only one car left at the facility. Probably a maintenance person to keep an eye on the lodge.  And the town of Davis was empty at Noon today when I drove through.

Yesterday, we visited Blackwater Falls. This is what we found: