Hexeglaawe: Bloody Mary

There is much debate on the origins of the folklore ritual which attempts to invoke the appearance of Bloody Mary.  While staring into a mirror in a dark, candle-lit room, say her name three times and she will appear.  Descriptions vary, though typically she is described as being a corpse, a witch, or a ghostly form - often covered in blood.  

A number of historical figures have been cited as the possible source, including Mary I of England, who put to death over 300 Protestant dissenters during her reign in the 1500's.  In the 17th century, Elizabeth Bathory, a Hungarian countess, allegedly tortured and killed over 600 young women, bathing in their blood to keep herself young. On American soil, Mary Worth is a strong contender for the legend.  She was rumored to have killed slaves escaping the South via the Underground Railroad.  

Pennsylvania has its own tale, offering another origin for Bloody Mary.  Her name was Mary Gansmueller.  In the late 1700's, in a village in Lancaster County, children began to disappear.  An investigation led to Mary's small cottage in a wooded area nearby.  Mary was an elderly woman who sold herbal remedies to the surrounding villages.  During the search, townspeople noticed her appearance had changed - she was now much younger.  Unmarked graves were discovered in the surrounding woods.  She had murdered the children and used their blood to regain her youth.  

She was dragged from her home and burned at the stake.  Before her death, she screamed a curse from the flames.  If anyone mentioned her name before a mirror, she would avenge herself upon them.

Despite the nebulous origins of the urban legend, it's a genuinely spooky concept.  Once, when I was very young, my sister must have learned of Bloody Mary and wanted to see if she was the real deal.  With a keen sense of self preservation, she placed ME into our family's upstairs bathroom, lit a candle, turned out the lights, and forced me to call to Miss Bloody Mary.  I was horrified and truly believed I was about to see some horrid ghost in the mirror.  I said her name three times. 

Bloody Mary

Bloody Mary

Bloody Mary 

Thankfully, no one showed up.  

My sister was extremely disappointed.  

Hexeglaawe: The Kecksburg UFO Incident

Pennsylvania's Roswell

On the evening of December 9, 1965, a large, brilliant fireball was seen in at least six U.S. states and Ontario, Canada as it streaked over the Detroit, Michigan–Windsor, Ontario area. Reports of hot metal debris over Michigan and northern Ohio, grass fires, and sonic booms in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area were attributed to the fireball.  Some people in the village of Kecksburg, about 30 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, reported wisps of blue smoke, vibrations, and a "thump" and also that something from the sky had crashed in the woods. 

In 1990, Unsolved Mysteries aired an episode partially devoted to the incident. It suggested an extraterrestrial craft had crashed. It featured local residents who said they had found an object in the woods shaped like an acorn and about as large as a Volkswagen Beetle, bearing writing resembling Egyptian hieroglyphs.  They said it was subsequently removed in a secret military operation.  A prop from that show currently remains on display in Kecksburg.

We traveled there in September for a look at the area and to photograph the monument.  It seems locals still have their own theories about what really happened there on this date fifty-nine years ago today.

Click here to see the Unsolved Mysteries episode.

Hexeglaawe: Hexenkopf Rock

Pennsylvania Dutch settlers called this place Hexenkopf  (witch's head) due to an outcrop of rock resembling the profile of a witch.  Sometimes it's called Misery Mountain or Haunted Hill by the locals.  There are tales of unholy shrieks, evil spirits, and an eerie glow in the moonlight (due possibly to large deposits of mica embedded in the rock).

Lenape Native Americans used this rock as a site for rituals intended to take evil and sickness from the body. Later, immigrants continued this practice.  Local pow-wow doctors used Hexenkopf Rock as a place to transfer sickness, curses, and spells.  For two centuries, misery was deposited into this rocky landscape.

Similar to Mount Brocken in Germany, witches are said to congregate here on the night of April 30th, Walpurgisnacht.  

Hexeglaawe

We're getting ready to do some more field research for our Hexeglaawe series of Pennsylvania folklore.  Usually, paranormal researchers uncover very little actual evidence, but I'm feeling really proud of our irrefutable proof of the unexplained below.

Hexeglaawe: Crybaby Bridge

The latest expedition in our Hexeglaawe series.

Click below to learn about the dark legend of the Van Sandt Covered Bridge.

The Hand Of Glory

... is the hand of a man who has been hung, and it is prepared in the following manner: Wrap the hand in a piece of winding-sheet, drawing it tight, so as to squeeze out the little blood which may remain; then place it in an earthenware vessel with saltpeter, salt, and long pepper, all carefully and thoroughly powdered. Let it remain a fortnight in this pickle till it is well dried, then expose it to the sun in the dog-days, till it is completely parched, or, if the sun be not powerful enough, dry it in an oven heated with vervain and fern. Next make a candle with the fat of a hung man, virgin-wax, and Lapland sesame.

Text source.

Image by Beth Wilkes (Seance Stitches).

Hexeglaawe: The Mummy Ghost

Perhaps the strangest tale we researched for our Hexeglaawe Folklore Series was that of a mummified ghost haunting Chickies Rock.  According to the story, it was 1946 and a group of friends were enjoying the beautiful view from an overlook high above the Susquehanna River.  At some point, they realized they had forgotten to bring water, so a few of them left to retrieve it.  It was then that they saw a terrifying creature.  Described as having no visible arms or legs and being wrapped in old, tattered bandages, the entity towered above them at a reported height of sixteen feet.  As if the description above wasn't peculiar enough, they mentioned that six knives were protruding from the creature's head.

We scaled the rocky terrain of Chickies Rock again in the hopes of seeing such a monster, imagining what it must have been like all those decades ago.  As we looked out over the winding river from those quartz-filled cliffs, the cold biting wind was impressive through the leafless trees, and it forced us to cut the expedition short.  As we headed for the car, we hoped to be startled by the towering Mummy Ghost.  Except for the creaking trees swaying in the heavy wind, we heard and saw nothing.

We ducked into a local tavern to warm up and had a very interesting conversation with an elderly man sitting at the end of the bar.  We told him we were researching the Legend of the Mummy Ghost and he was quite delighted to set us straight.  He told us the name of the initial witness:  Harriet Horn.  He then said, "They weren't knives.  They were arrows." and added "And they weren't in its head."

He then reached into his wallet and revealed the below photograph.

Hexeglaawe: The Curse Of Chickies Rock

Continuing our Hexeglaawe series investigating the folklore of Pennsylvania, Wren and I traveled to the jagged quartzite cliffs of Chickies Rock.  She told me of the legend of a deadly curse there, and we set out to Lancaster County in hopes of finding some evidence... some photographic proof.

According to the legend, it was the late 1800's and there were plans to build a railway which would wind up the ridge along the Susquehanna River to the proposed site of an amusement park.  The park would be built at the top of Chickies Rock, 200 feet above the river.  

Unfortunately, there was a small house at the site, occupied by three sisters.  There was a belief by many of the locals that these sisters practiced the Black Arts.  Wishing to be left alone, with no interest in leaving their ancestral home, the sisters refused multiple offers to sell their land.  The railway company eventually convinced local officials to give them the land by invoking eminent domain.  

Rather than give up their home, the sisters cursed the land using a spell from the Sixth and Seventh Book of Moses.  They then committed suicide.  

Historical records reveal a series of mishaps for the park following the suicide pact.  The most deadly occurred on the evening of August 9, 1896, when an overloaded trolley car slid off the rails and fell over a 30-foot embankment.  The accident injured 68 people and resulted in six deaths, including the mayor of Columbia.  

Supposedly, the curse still infects the land, so as we hiked into the rocky terrain, we couldn't help but wonder if our plans to document the paranormal would be misinterpreted as ill intent.  We certainly had respect and compassion for those poor sisters forced from their home over a hundred years ago.

As I joked that I felt like Linus hoping The Great Pumpkin could sense his pure intentions, we spotted a crumbling stone structure.  Something Dark moved inside the archways.  We snapped the photos below and present them to you now as evidence.

Hexeglaawe: Rehmeyer's Hollow

In 1928, after years of bad luck, John Blymire believed that he had been cursed, or hexed, by a local folk healer named Nelson Rehmeyer, who practiced pow-wow or Braucheri (Pennsylvania Dutch folk magic). The source of Blymire’s hex was confirmed by another powerful local healer, Nellie Noll - the River Witch of Marietta. To break the curse, she instructed Blymire to obtain a lock of Rehmeyer’s hair and his spell book and bury them six feet underground.  In November of 1928, Blymire, along with two accomplices, broke into Rehmeyer's home.  A confrontation ensued, ending in Rehmeyer's death. The three men charged with the crime then set fire to the house, hoping to remove the curse and to destroy evidence of the murder.  However, the house did not burn down as they had hoped.  This reinforced the belief that Rehmeyer was a witch and that his power prevented the destruction of the house. 

Rehmeyer's home, where he was murdered, still stands on Rehmeyers Hollow Road. The area has now come to be known as Hex Hollow.  Many locals believe it to be haunted.

This is the first entry in a series of blog posts investigating the folklore of Pennsylvania.  Hexeglaawe (the PA Dutch word for 'superstition') will hopefully reveal photographic evidence of rural legends, hauntings, folklore, and roads less traveled.

Thanks, Wren, for this neat idea and project.  I have a feeling we're just gonna find some monsters out there.

More information here. 

Order Rehmeyer's spell book here.

La Pisadeira

In Brazil, a tall, skinny woman with long yellow fingernails and red eyes creeps along the rooftops, and watches families inside of their homes. She watches them as they sit at the table for dinner. She watches them while they eat. 

Image source.
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Walpurgisnacht Reminder

A friendly reminder to swing by the blog on Walpurgisnacht...  regarding the below blog entry from the 13th of April.

Hexenkopf

Hexenkopf Rock or “Witch’s Head” is a large, hilly cluster of rocks which you’d probably walk right past if you didn’t know its long history of witchcraft, evil spirits, death and curses.

Ancient Native American tribes performed rituals of healing there, drawing the evil spirits out of the sick and entrapping them in the rock. The mountains were said to glow from all the evil spirits trapped in them. Early Pennsylvania German settlers, who called it “Misery Mountain,” began holding their own form of healing ceremonies there, called “powwows.” From the 18th century up until the 1950s, local powwowers healed the sick by drawing the evil spirits out of them and putting them in the rock, much like their Native American predecessors. Some say these evil spirits have escaped the rocks and now roam the surrounding woods.

But here's the part that most people don't know...

I was doing some research.  In the 1700's, in that same region, settlers would often find their iron cauldrons and kettles missing.  Unfortunately, they would blame this on the local Indian population.

They could never find them actually using the stolen items, so there's always been something of a mystery surrounding the disappearing iron cookware.  

Check back on Walpurgisnacht… I believe I’ve solved the mystery.

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Mari Lwyd

The Mari Lwyd is a wassailing folk custom found in South Wales. The tradition entails the use of an eponymous hobby horse which is made from a horse's skull mounted on a pole and carried by an individual hidden under a sackcloth. It represents a regional variation of a "hooded animal" tradition that appears in various forms throughout Britain.

The custom was first recorded in 1800, with subsequent accounts of it being produced into the early twentieth century. According to these, the Mari Lwyd was a tradition performed at Christmas time by groups of men. They would form into teams to accompany the horse on its travels around the local area, and although the makeup of such groups varied, they typically included an individual to carry the horse, a leader, and individuals dressed as stock characters such as Punch and Judy. The team would carry the Mari Lwyd to local houses, where they would request entry through the medium of song. The householders would be expected to deny them entry, again through song, and the two sides would continue their responses to one another in this manner. If the householders eventually relented, then the team would be permitted entry and given food and drink.

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The Ghost Of Mrs. Payne

Click below:

And click here for the peculiar Scarfolk Blog.

Thanks, Dave!

Urban Myth Hunters

Here's an old MTV feature on the editors of Weird NJ. It gives a good idea of what the magazine is all about.

Click below:


And here's their site:
weirdnj.com

I'm On The Second Step

I heard a coworker asking people if they remembered this spooky tale. I was the only one who remembered it. I brought up the story of the Green Ribbon. Nobody remembered that one. It's funny the things you assume others MUST know. Made me thankful my grade school years were filled with ghost stories and spooky tales every Halloween season.


Source.

Jenny Greenteeth

There are many fables and stories surrounding the rivers and waterways of Britain. However, if you go walking by any pool, pond or river at night, be on the look out for Jenny Greenteeth. She is most dangerous for those who are not careful by open water, as she lives beneath the surface on the muddy bottom and feeds upon the unwary. Her lithe form darts back and forth like a fish and with pale green skin and long dark green hair she is no beauty. Yellow frog-like eyes will peer up at you, then her long arms will wrap themselves around you, her foul-green pointed teeth will sink into your flesh and long bony fingers and sharp nails will stroke you into the deepest sleep there is.

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