by Thomas White
Finally, in early October, Sheriff George McCormick and his men put an end to the outlaws’ crime wave. The sheriff had learned that one particular Sunday Frank Cooley was to visit his family on their farm. Since it was almost impossible to catch the gang in the mountains, he thought it would be best to catch its leader off guard. His men closely watched the farm and waited for Cooley to leave. When he walked out to a path in the woods with another man, thought at the time to be Jack Ramsey, the sheriff sprung his trap. He caught them at the edge of a clearing and demanded that they throw up their hands and surrender. Both men turned and ran back toward the Cooley farm. After about twenty-five feet, both turned and fired on the pursuing officers of the law. Their shots missed. They climbed over a fence and headed across a clover field when Frank turned and fired at the sheriff again. Both of his shots missed, but one of the sheriff’s deputies aimed carefully and hit him in the back while he was trying to hide behind a tree.
Frank crumpled to the ground behind the tree but kept firing one of his revolvers until it was empty. The sheriff closed in on him and asked him to throw the weapon down. Frank complied, apparently resigned to his fate. The sheriff said, “Frank, I am sorry that it had to happen this way.” Frank supposedly replied, “You’re not to blame, George. You did your duty.” Half a minute later, he was dead.
The man who had been with him escaped, but it didn’t matter. Jack Ramsey was picked up a few days later, and the Cooley gang was devoid of leadership. The gang never recovered, and its remaining members fled into West Virginia. Several family members and friends of the Cooleys were arrested for aiding the criminals and receiving stolen property.
HEXENKOPF HILL
Hexenkopf Hill has long been a center of supernatural activity. The hill is located south of Easton in Northampton County. The name Hexenkopf means “Witch’s Head” in German. According to the legends, a variety of groups have used the hill to practice forms of magic. Local Indian tribes were said to perform rituals there that drove evil spirits from their sick and dying brethren and imprisoned them in the hill. For decades, the people who lived nearby said that the hill would glow at night because of the imprisoned spirits.
The area around the hill was settled primarily by German immigrants. In the early 1700s, women who practiced witchcraft supposedly met on the hill on certain evenings. They allegedly performed rituals, danced and sang strange songs. In the 1800s, the hill was utilized by practitioners of Pennsylvania German folk healing and magic known as powwowers or brauchers. These folk healers used the hill in a way that was similar to the Indians. There was a particular rock on Hexenkopf called the Witches’ Rock. The brauchers used their rituals to transfer illness from their patients into the rock. Other rituals and prayers were performed on the hill as well.
In more recent times, rumors have spread of satanic cults and witches’ covens performing their dark ceremonies on the hill. Hexenkopf also has the reputation of being one of the most haunted places in the state. All of the spirits that have been imprisoned there over the centuries wander the hill, forever tied to the earth.
CENTRALIA—THE BURNING TOWN
Centralia was a small anthracite coal–mining town in Columbia County. Founded in the mid-1800s, the town’s biggest claim to fame was as a center of activity for the Molly Maguires in the 1860s and ’70s. That is, until the fire started. No one is sure exactly how it happened, but it is suspected that it started as a landfill fire in 1962. The local fire department had frequently carried out controlled burns in the local landfill to reduce its size. That year, however, a new landfill was being used, and it occupied the site of a former strip mine. The fire never went out completely as planned. The borough had failed to construct the clay barrier that was required by law to prevent fires from spreading.
The fire spread into the maze of abandoned coal mines that ran under the town and surrounding countryside. It has not stopped burning since. Several attempts were made to extinguish the blaze, but they all failed. The townspeople only became aware of the full extent of the problem in 1979, when the local mayor/gas station owner realized that the gasoline in his underground tanks had reached 172 degrees. Other residents complained of noxious fumes and subsidence on their property. It quickly became clear that Centralia was doomed. In 1984, the government provided $42 million to relocate the residents of the town. Most took advantage of the offer, with only a few stubborn residents staying behind. The town’s population dropped from over one thousand to fewer than ten today.
Most of the town’s structures have been torn down. It is little more than a ghost town, with steam and smoke rising from cracks in the streets. Nearby PA Route 61 had to be closed because the fires caused too much damage to the road. Enough coal remains under the town for the fire to burn for well over two hundred years.
MCKEES ROCKS INDIAN MOUND
A burial mound was constructed by the Adena people (also known as the Mound Builders) in present-day McKees Rocks next to the Ohio River. The mound was built sometime around 250 BC and stood sixteen feet tall with a diameter of eighty-five feet. It was partially excavated in 1896 by the Carnegie Museum. The dig uncovered thirty-three bodies, along with artifacts and ritual objects. The mound had been constructed in three stages and was used by several generations of the Adenas and their successors, the Hopewell culture. Today, the back half of the mound still exists and is recognized with a historical marker.
GIANT CATFISH
Rumors have circulated for decades about giant catfish living in the Ohio, Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers. They are said to reach enormous lengths of ten feet or more. According to the stories, some of the fish are large enough to swallow a diver. Supposedly, some divers and engineers are reluctant to work on bridge pillars and dams because of the giant fish. Their large size is attributed to mutations caused by the pollution that once contaminated the rivers during the region’s era of heavy industry.
HOW TO STOP A WEREWOLF ATTACK
Since Pennsylvania seems to have so many werewolves, it would probably be helpful to know how to stop one if you were attacked. Luckily, there was a man who knew how to quickly put an end to such an unpleasant experience. The well-known hunter and storyteller Daniel Kerstetter, who lived from 1818 to 1898, passed along advice on how to stop an attacking werewolf. He claimed to have heard the method as a young man from people who were much older than himself. Folklorist Henry Shoemaker recorded the method. Kerstetter said that one should use a dagger or a sword cane to prick the creature between the eyes, on the ears or anywhere on the head where a lot of blood would come quickly. The werewolf will then quickly change back to its human form. Kerstetter insisted that he knew of many lives that were spared by using this method.
HOW TO KEEP WITCHES AWAY
Since you now know how to ward off those pesky werewolves, it might also help to know how to keep witches away. The folklore of the Pennsylvania Germans is full of recommendations to drive off witches. (Although most of these recommendations would drive off anyone.) For example, if you nail a toad’s foot above a stable door, it will prevent a witch from entering and hexing your animals. The foot of a goose with a pentagram drawn around it will serve the same purpose. If you want to keep witches from your home, you should place a sprig of St. John’s wort above your doors. Perhaps the most gruesome method to keep witches away from you and your home is to cut off the ears of a black cat, burn them to ashes and feed them to the witch by adding them to another food. The witch will stay away (and it is quite possible everyone else will too).
THE STEEL DRESS
If any part of the world were going to invent a steel dress, it would have to be western Pennsylvania. It should come as no surprise, then, that Val Schnitski designed a dress in 1962 that was made of steel sequins. The sequins were manufactured at the Armco Steel Plant in Butler County. After the steel dress received high honors at a competition sponsored by the Pennsylvania Hairdressers and Cosmetologists Association, word of the creation spread in the fashion world. The
dress went on tour for several years, visiting France, Switzerland, Belgium and various places in South America. As is the case with all fashion, after a few years interest died away. The current whereabouts of the dress are unknown.
THE MEANING OF RIVER NAMES
Pennsylvania’s rivers have some strange names. Often these names are of Indian origin and have a very simple meaning. The Susquehanna is one such river. Moravian missionary John Heckewelder thought that the name translated as “the long reach river” or the “great bay river.” In the Algonquian dialects, it means “muddy river.” The Lackawanna River, in the northeastern part of the state, owes its name to the Lenape, or Delaware, Indians. It means simply “the stream that forks.” Another river name with a similar meaning is the Lehigh River. Lehigh is an English version of the Lenape word Lechewuekink. It translates as “at the forks” or “where there are forks.”
The Juniata River also has a name that is an anglicized version of an Indian word. The original word is Onayutta, or “standing stone.” The Onojutta-Haga Indians once had a fifteen-foot-high standing stone near present-day Huntingdon. It was said to be inscribed with their history and beliefs. The tribe took the stone with them when they were driven from the area in 1754. It has never been found.
In the western part of the state, there is the Allegheny River. While it is a Lenape word, its exact meaning is not necessarily clear. It may translate as “fine river,” or it may be a reference to a legendary tribe called the Allegewis or Tallegewis, who were enemies of the Lenapes. One tributary of the Allegheny, the Kiskiminetas River, also has a name whose origin is not clear. Suggested translations have included “clear, clean stream of many bends,” “place of the largest stream” and “river of big fish.”
Luckily, the Monongahela River has a name that could be translated more easily. It means “falling in banks.” The Youghiogheny River, which feeds into the Monongahela, translates roughly as “winding stream” or “stream flowing in the contrary direction.”
All of these western rivers eventually flow into the Ohio River. Though it is often thought to have meant “beautiful river,” several other translations have been suggested. The Lenapes called it Kit-hanne or “great river.” Other translators have suggested “bloody river,” which is not considered to be accurate, or the more likely “stream that is very white.”
THE HOOP SNAKE
One unusual animal legend that circulated in the mountains of Pennsylvania for many years was that of the hoop snake. Variations of this legend have been found throughout the United States and Australia, but the legend was particularly strong in this state. The mythical snake was said to be as long as a large rattlesnake or a blacksnake, with a venomous horn or stinger on its tail. The German settlers called it die Hannschlang. The reptile would put its tail in its mouth and roll through the woods in the form of a hoop. The snake traveled that way until it caught whatever it was chasing or until it ran into something. When it struck an object, usually a tree in the stories, the snake would uncoil and strike with its tail. The unfortunate tree would turn blue and die. If it struck wooden objects, such as tools or fences, they would also turn blue and swell to more than double their original size. If a person were caught off guard by the snake and found himself unable to hide behind something, he would suffer an agonizing death from the serpent’s poison.
THE CORN MONSTER
The Corn Monster was the name given to a bigfoot-like creature that was supposedly seen around Mount Davis in Somerset County during the 1970s. Most of the sightings were reported by farmers, who spotted it in their fields. The monster seemed to have a liking for corn and picked it directly from the stalks. Upon investigation, husks and cobs were found scattered on the ground where the Corn Monster had been.
AN EXPLOSION OVER PITTSBURGH
On June 24, 1938, something exploded in the sky about twelve miles above the city of Pittsburgh. The explosion had an estimated force of ten thousand tons of TNT. It was assumed that the source of the blast was a meteor that did not make it to the ground.
GRAVITY HILL
There are a few places in Pennsylvania where the adventurous have been defying gravity for years. These places are called gravity hills. Supposedly, the law of gravity does not seem to completely apply in such locations. Balls, cars and pretty much anything else that can roll ends up going in the wrong direction—uphill! Water and other liquids that are poured on the ground also travel uphill. Suggested explanations for the phenomenon include optical illusions, magnetic anomalies and even various paranormal causes. While there are several gravity hills throughout the state, the best of them is located near New Paris, Bedford County. There are actually two gravity hills at that location, both on the same road, one right after the other. They can be found off Bethel Hollow Road (State Route 4016).
It is not clear when the hills were first discovered, but someone took the time to mark the site of the first gravity hill with two GHs, which are spray-painted on the road. Visitors are supposed to drive their car to the second GH, put it in neutral and watch the car roll back uphill to the first GH. The second unmarked hill is three-tenths of a mile past the second GH.
Another gravity hill is located at McKinney and Kummer Roads in North Park, Allegheny County. On the other side of the state there is a gravity hill on Buckingham Mountain in Bucks County. Local legends have tied the strange effects there to black magic and evil cults. In Elk County, there is a gravity hill near Brandy Camp off Route 219. At that hill, it is said that a ghost horse can be heard galloping nearby. There is even a small gravity hill inside the Laurel Caverns in Fayette County.
GOLD HIDDEN NEAR THE OLD KINZUA BRIDGE
In the summer of 1893, a bank was robbed in Emporium. The robber took over $40,000 worth of gold coins and fled into the wilderness of northern Pennsylvania. After many days of traveling, he became very ill and stopped within sight of the Kinzua Railroad Bridge in McKean County. There, he buried the stolen coins in glass jars beneath a triangular rock. The man staggered into Hazelhurst, where he died several days later, but not before telling his story. Numerous attempts have been made to find the coins since that time, but none has been successful. In 1900, a new bridge replaced the original. It stood until 2003, when it was destroyed by a tornado. The area around the bridge is a state park.
WITCHCRAFT HYSTERIA IN VENANGO COUNTY
Sometime around the 1840s, there was a brief outbreak of hysteria over the alleged practice of witchcraft near Dempseytown, Venango County. The story was told by Joseph Kean in 1879. He omitted the names of most of those involved to protect the families who were still in the area. It started with a young woman of “respectable parentage” who began acting very strangely. She had strange fits, and her behavior was described as deranged by at least one observer. The young woman said that she experienced a roaring noise in her ears and double vision during the fits. Though the girl had never mentioned witchcraft, some of her neighbors began to talk about it. They managed to convince the girl and her parents that she was bewitched. More residents of the town came to see her and the fits and told their own stories of witchcraft. It wasn’t long before the young woman came to believe that another “respectable” Irish woman in the neighborhood was the witch who was oppressing her.
Her neighbors and family tried to battle the witch with their own folk-magic beliefs. They brought George Shunk, a seventh son, to see the girl while she was being attacked. He waited for the girl to point in the direction of the invisible witch, and then he swung a heavy club in that direction. The witch always dodged the blow, of course. Then another friend suggested that a witch could not cross moving water, so they took the girl to the other side of Sugar Creek. Apparently, the helpers failed to clear the stream of debris, and the invisible witch was able to cross on a log. The fits continued for several weeks. More remedies were tried, such as horseshoes nailed above the door, but they all failed.
By this time, everyone in town was discussing witchcraft. Every evening, more pe
ople would appear to watch what happened to the girl. They all prayed and invoked folk remedies and charms. Still, nothing worked. A man was brought in who claimed to have been a witch killer back in Germany. All of his attempts to drive away the curse failed too. He said that American witches were “too cunning.” Some of the visitors started seeing strange things happen around the young woman’s house. Even those who were initially skeptics became convinced that witchcraft was real. When cattle and pigs became sick on local farms, they feared that the curse of the witch was spreading.
Eventually, the accused witch and her family filed lawsuits against those who were defaming her. The hysteria soon died away. Miraculously enough, when the young woman received treatment from an actual doctor, the strange fits ceased and the ringing in her ears stopped.
A RAINY DAY
If you are in Waynesburg, Greene County, on July 29, you had better bring your umbrella. It does not matter if you are there this year, next year or ten years from now. You will need it any year on that date. It almost always rains on July 29 in Waynesburg. Locals started keeping track of the strange weather phenomenon in the 1870s, when a farmer walked in to Daly and Spraggs Drug Store and mentioned that it had been raining on his birthday, the twenty-ninth, for several years.
Byron Daly, the pharmacist, used that piece of information to start betting prominent people in town that it would rain on July 29. They often wagered for a new hat. Soon, Daly had built up quite a collection. He continued the tradition for years, only losing twice. When he died, his son John continued wagering for hats. Over the years, it became a custom to bet with a local or national celebrity. Numerous celebrities turned over well-made hats to Daly and, more recently, the Special Events Commission that runs Rain Day festivities in the town.
