by Thomas White
A NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE
Ezechiel Sangmeister was a Pennsylvania German who for some time was a member of Johann Conrad Beissel’s Ephrata Cloister in Lancaster during the mid-1700s. Sangmeister was a spiritual man who was drawn to the semi-monastic community because of its simple and pious structure. He kept a journal that told of his life experiences, religious influences and his time at the cloister. One interesting account in his journal describes an event that occurred when he was about eight years old and still living in Germany. He describes what we now know as a near-death experience. It happened shortly after his father died, while he himself was very ill.
Sangmeister felt that he was going to die and asked for communion from the local preacher, who attempted to convince him otherwise. The boy said that he felt his father pulling at him. The next day, about noon, as Sangmeister lay in bed, he looked out his window to see the sky. He described what happened next in his journal: “It seemed as though I came out of myself. Two angels came to me, took me between them, and led me to a small door at heaven, but they said to me that I could not come in yet.” Then he suddenly awoke and began yelling that he was dying. He said that he felt both fear and joy as he jumped from the bed. After the occurrence, he got better quickly and went on to apprentice as a carpenter.
THE LEGEND OF THE ETERNAL HUNTER
For well over a century, a story has circulated in Lebanon County of a phantom hunter who roams the woods and wild lands on cold winter nights. He is accompanied by a pack of ghostly hunting dogs, forever pursuing his prey. If someone is foolish enough to venture out while he is on the hunt and cross his path, he or she will be torn to pieces by the dogs or dragged off by the hunter and never seen again.
A more benign version of the story is told in Schuylkill County. In that version, the hunter lived in a German settlement that was suffering from a bad harvest. Food stores were used up, and the community’s hunters had no luck. By October, the situation was desperate. The man who became the eternal hunter was unmarried and only had his pack of hunting dogs. Since he was a skilled hunter, he promised those who remained in the town that he would not return until he found enough game to feed the village. He never returned, of course, and the settlement was abandoned. However, the hunter was unwilling to break his promise to the villagers, so his ghost and dogs still wander in the night on an eternal hunt.
THE WEREWOLF OF THE SHENANGO VALLEY
From 1972 to 1998, reports of a strange creature circulated in the Shenango Valley of northwestern Pennsylvania. Several witnesses claimed to have seen a black-haired werewolf with a short snout-like nose, jagged teeth and abnormally large round eyes. It reportedly had joints on its arms and legs that were like a canine’s rather than a human’s. Described as being extremely fast, the werewolf could run on both two and four legs.
“THE FRESH-CARMEL BOY BANISHED”
That was the headline in the Pittsburgh Chronicle Telegraph on April 6, 1890. The Pennsylvania Railroad decided to prevent young men from selling fruit, candy or other novelties onboard trains so as not to annoy passengers. Only company agents would sell newspapers and periodicals on the trains. No fruit was permitted to be taken into any of the cars. Once again, the railroads protected the best interest of their passengers by keeping them safe from dangerous fresh fruit.
THE STORM HAG OF LAKE ERIE
Lake Erie, like the other Great Lakes, is known for its sudden and treacherous storms. The numerous sunken ships that rest on the bottom are a reminder of the lake’s sometimes dangerous conditions. Around Presque Isle, a local legend passed down by sailors attributes some of the danger to a supernatural source. In the waters off the peninsula dwells the Storm Hag. The hideous hag has pale green skin and yellow eyes. She has pointed green teeth and long claw-like nails that paralyze her victims when they sink into flesh. Those who have escaped the hag’s clutches say that they heard a strange song before she attacked:
Come into the water love,
Dance beneath the waves,
Where dwell the bones of sailor lads,
Inside my saffron caves.
When the song finishes, the hag calls up massive waves and storms, grabs her victim from the ship or shore and drags him into the lake. If the storm is powerful enough, she will bring an entire ship full of sailors to their doom.
A DEADLY HAILSTORM
On the afternoon of July 8, 1853, a massive hailstorm struck part of the city of Erie. It occurred between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. That day, the winds changed directions several times. When they came in from the northeast in late afternoon, they brought with them strong thunderstorms. The storms dumped large amounts of hail throughout the city. In some sections, large chunks of ice fell, causing considerable damage. Some hailstones measured at a dry dock were as large as seven inches in circumference. In other places, the already melting hailstones were weighed at two pounds.
Strong winds also caused damage. A saloon being constructed on Forty-third Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues collapsed. Besides the workers, many people had entered the partially completed building to seek shelter from the giant hail. Eight people were killed in that building alone. Several other buildings had to be demolished as a result of the storm, and several other people were killed or severely injured throughout the city.
JOHN MEYER—WITCH KILLER!
John Meyer lived near the area of West Spring Creek in Warren County in the early 1800s. Until his death in 1821, he was well known in the region as a witch killer. His method for eliminating witches was rather unique and was a variation of the methods used by powwowers in the eastern part of the state. When a bewitched person hired him to put an end to her problem, Meyer tacked a piece of paper to his wall. Then he lit a candle and had the bewitched person stand near it so that her silhouette appeared on the paper in shadow. He carefully cut out the silhouette and pinned it to a thick piece of pine wood. Meyer then loaded a silver bullet into his gun (using as little gunpowder as possible so he could recover the bullet) and fired through the paper. The spell was then broken, and the witch would die. Of course, he was paid well for such important work.
FIRE IN PHILADELPHIA DELAYS THEODORE ROOSEVELT
A large fire broke out at the lumberyard of the R.A. and J.J. Williams Company on Second and York Streets in Philadelphia on November 2, 1908. The enormous blaze appeared to have been deliberately set and destroyed over $250,000 worth of fine hardwoods. Several firemen were trapped in the heart of the fire. When they were surrounded by a wall of flames, their engine exploded. The men were forced to run through the wall of fire to escape, and they suffered severe burns.
Part of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s tracks ran across the lumberyard. The fire spread to the tracks and caused warping of the metal and burned the wood. Trains were forced to take a long detour. One train that was delayed was carrying President Theodore Roosevelt. He was on his way to Oyster Bay to vote.
SWINDLED BY MEDIUMS
In February 1890, Paul Hill of Lathrop accused two of his neighbors of swindling him out of $2,700. His neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Brown, were spiritualists, and Mrs. Brown claimed to be a medium. Hill frequently attended séances in the Browns’ home and came to believe in her powers. Eventually, Mrs. Brown claimed to have received messages from Hill’s deceased parents, as well as from Jesus. They all recommended that Hill give the Browns small amounts of money when he could so that the spiritualists could use it for “holy” causes. After giving the couple money totaling the previously mentioned amount, Hill realized that he was being taken advantage of. He brought the matter to the authorities, and the Browns were arrested.
THE GOAT MAN OF LANCASTER
One truly bizarre creature was supposedly sighted by two farmers in Lancaster County in 1973. The farmers, who were also brothers, were in one of their fields with a team of horses when they stumbled on the beast. They described it as being as large as a cow, but it ran on two long legs. Its color was gray, and it had a white mane, long fangs and even longer claws. On top
of its head were two curved horns, like a goat. The beast moved toward the horses and startled them. The brothers were thrown to the ground but managed to get up and away.
The next day, the brothers told some of the other local farmers what they had encountered. They discovered that two others in the community had also seen the goat man. One farmer was attacked by the creature but managed to grab his scythe to defend himself. The goat man snatched the scythe from the farmer’s hands and bit the handle in half while he fled. A woman reportedly saw the goat man in her yard going after the animals. When she startled it, the creature threw down a dead goose and fled into the woods.
FLYING JACK-O’-LANTERNS IN RACCOON TOWNSHIP
The Beaver Argus reported a strange incident that occurred at the Zion Church in Raccoon Township, Beaver County, on the evening of December 21, 1876. Services had just ended, and much of the congregation was standing outside the church. To the northwest, they noticed close to fifty bright jack-o’-lantern lights (another term for will-o’-the-wisps or spooklights) rise up and dance across the sky in front of the church. The lights were described as being larger than the size of a man’s fist. Each one had a two- to three-foot-long streamer of fire behind it, and they all emitted sparks. The others seemed to quickly follow the lead fireball before they all began to fade and disappear from sight. The strange lights caused panic among some of the almost one hundred witnesses, who thought that it may have been a sign from God.
DEATH OF PITTSBURGH DOG MADE New York Times
One Pittsburgh show dog was so famous that an article concerning his death was featured in the New York Times. Count Noble, a $10,000 Irish setter, passed away on January 21, 1891. He was owned by B.F. Wilson, who lived in Pittsburgh’s affluent suburb of Sewickley. The article even mentioned the dog’s next of kin, as would a human obituary. Count Noble was born in 1879 to Nora and Count Windom. His children included other famous show dogs such as Gath, King Noble, Roderigo, Katie Noble, Sam Roy, Prince Noble Jr. and Roger. Wilson described Count Noble as “brave as a lion and gentle as a lamb.” He also stated that the dog “understood the English Language thoroughly.” The obituary went on to list the numerous awards that the dog had won at various shows.
ALBAWITCHES
Tales of the albawitches originate with the Susquehannock Indians who once lived in central and eastern parts of the state. Their legends describe short and hairy humanoids that inhabited remote areas. European settlers also claimed to have had contact with the strange creatures. Stories of encounters with the albawitches most frequently occur around Chickie’s Rock Park in Lancaster County. Their name is thought to be a corruption of “apple snitch” because they were frequently seen sitting in apple trees and eating the fruit. Though reports of this legendary humanoid are not as common as they once were, there are still occasional sightings.
ARMY PLANE EXPLODES OVER MIDDLETOWN
Two army aviators were tragically killed during a routine flight near the Susquehanna River on November 3, 1933. First Lieutenant Lloyd E. Hunting and Staff Sergeant John J. Cunningham were on their way back to Langley Field. News reports at the time did not identify the type of aircraft they were flying. A few minutes after takeoff, witnesses reported seeing a bright flash and hearing a loud explosion. The burning wreckage of the plane plunged down to a hillside above the river. Both men were killed instantly. It took ninety minutes to reach the wreckage on the heavily wooded hillside.
A STEEL PRODUCTION RECORD
In the month of September 1944, a rolling crew headed by Lawrence Murphy, Oscar Jernstron and Walter Forsbert turned out a world record forty-two thousand net tons of steel. The feat was accomplished at the No. 18 rolling mill at the Jones & Laughlin Pittsburgh Works. The amount was 12.5 percent higher than the previous record that the same crew had set the month before. The large quantities of steel produced by the mill were vital to the war effort. The three men were personally thanked by the president of J&L, H.E. Lewis. Murphy, the oldest of the three boss rollers, learned the trade in 1900 and worked in the mill for fifty-two years before he retired.
PENNSYLVANIA’S METEORITES
Eight meteorites have been discovered in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Each has been given a unique name, often based on where it was found or identified. The first, called the Pittsburgh, was discovered by a farmer who picked it up to kill a snake in 1850. Realizing that it was probably made of iron, the farmer took it to nearby Pittsburgh to have it melted down. Luckily, a Yale professor managed to get a sample to preserve it.
In 1886, Allegheny County farmer George Hillman heard something hit the ground in his cornfield. He followed a hissing sound until he reached the stone meteorite that would be known as the Bradford Woods. The Mount Joy was found by Jacob Snyder in 1887 while he was digging a hole to plant an apple tree. It turned out to be the largest found east of the Mississippi River. Railroad workers found the Bald Eagle in 1891 while constructing a roadbed. Both the Shrewsbury and the New Baltimore were discovered by farmers plowing their fields in 1907 and 1923, respectively. Both were made of iron.
The stone meteorite known as the Chicora made quite an entrance through the skies over Butler County in 1938. Dozens of witnesses saw the fireball before it slammed into the ground (and a cow). Robert Reed was lucky enough to have the Black Moshannon Park meteorite come to him in 1941. He was camping in the park when he heard a strange whistling sound. When he went outside to investigate, he found the meteorite on the ground, four feet from his sleeping son’s tent.
ELOPERS TRACKED DOWN BY POLICE
Helen May Hoagland, the fourteen-year-old daughter of a Bucks County farmer, ran off with twenty-two-year-old Burroughs Wolverton on October 18, 1895. The problem was that Wolverton was already married and had two children. Farmer Hoagland, who was described as “very wealthy and heavily armed,” promised to kill Wolverton when he caught him. With the help of a constable, the farmer tracked the young man to his Uncle George’s house in New Jersey. The constable was barely able to prevent the farmer from killing him. Wolverton was arrested and charged with kidnapping. The farmer’s defiant daughter claimed that she was in love with Wolverton and did not care that he was married. She planned to run off with him again as soon as possible.
UNLUCKY ENGINE 1313
By March 1890, the Pennsylvania Railroad’s employees decided to ask the company to stop using Engine No. 1313. It had a terrible and well-deserved reputation among the engineers and firemen who worked the trains. Over the previous year, it had been involved in more accidents than any other engine. In the summer of 1889, it plunged off a bridge near Latrobe, mangling the entire train and killing the engineer, fireman and a dozen others. A month later, the engine was repaired and back on the tracks, only to collide with another train near Manor, severely injuring the fireman. A few weeks after that, the boiler exploded while crossing the mountains, throwing the fireman from the train through a window and seriously injuring him. It was repaired again, and in January it ran into a freight train at Manor Station, destroying a dozen cars. While the engine passed Sang Hollow in early March, its oil can exploded and badly burned the engineer and fireman. After the last incident, no engineer or fireman wanted to be assigned to the engine.
SPOOKLIGHTS OF THE LACKAWANNA VALLEY
For much of the 1800s, mysterious lights would be spotted moving through the sky in the Lackawanna Valley. The phenomenon seemed to be centered on the town of Archbald, halfway between Scranton and Carbondale. Hundreds of residents of the area reported seeing the spooklights in various locations. They were spotted floating over the river, above houses, along the mountainsides and in the graveyards. They were most frequently seen emerging from the abandoned Sebastopol Mine. Some residents claimed that the lights were ghosts. They were often seen in spots where people had died tragically. In 1890, one old woman stated that she saw one close up and that it was actually a ghostly candle held by a phantom hand. Others dismissed the spooklights as will-o’-the-wisps, arising from the gases that w
ere present in the old mines.
A DEADLY HEAT WAVE
In the first week of June 1925, the temperature in Philadelphia hovered around 100 degrees. Thousands fled the city to the seashore to escape the heat. Those who could not leave slept outside in public parks and open areas because it was cooler than indoors. In total, over 105 people died directly or indirectly from the heat.
THE LEGEND OF THE FRENCHMAN’S GOLD
There is a legend in Potter County that barrels full of French gold were buried near Coudersport. Louis de Buade de Frontenac was traveling back to Montreal after defeating the British near New Orleans in 1696. His group supposedly returned via the Mississippi, Ohio and Allegheny Rivers. When they reached present-day Potter County, they had to continue by land. The gold they had captured proved to be too cumbersome, and fearing British retaliation or Indian attack, Frontenac decided to bury it and return later. They covered the site with a large stone that had a cross carved into it. Frontenac and his men never returned for the gold, and he died in 1698. Over the years, the cross wore away and was said to be barely recognizable on the stone. The gold is said to still be buried somewhere, waiting to be found.
THE MYSTERY OF THE LENAPE STONE
The story of the Lenape Stone begins in Doylestown, Bucks County, in the spring of 1872. A farm boy named Bernard Hansell was plowing his family’s field when he unearthed a strange artifact. It appeared to be about two-thirds of an Indian gorget or amulet. On one side of the stone was a variety of pictographs. On the other was something more interesting. There appeared to be a drawing of an elephant or mammoth. The gorget was the shape and style common around 1000 BC. Though it appeared old, mammoths were considered to have been extinct thousands of years before that. It was called the Lenape Stone after the Lenape or Delaware Indians, the most recent native inhabitants of the area.
