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Goodling's Head Sawed Off

April 25, 2013, 9:00 am
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Barners and Goodlings were buried side by side at Barner's Cemetery, near Liverpool


One night in the October of 1900, a 65-year-old farmer named Adam Goodling from Juniata County was allegedly shot in the head by Absalom Barner, with whom he had been feuding.  The prosecution declared that no expense would be spared in bringing Barner to justice, and they were correct- the day after Goodling was laid to rest, the prosecution paid two doctors to dig up the victim and saw off his head, which was used as evidence at Barner's murder trial.


From the Middleburgh Post, January 17,1901:


Goodling's Head Sawed Off- Grave reported to have been opened and the victim's head secured as evidence.

Barner, the man accused of the murder of Adam Goodling, near Liverpool, on the night of October 2, will have a ghastly piece of evidence to confront when he is called before the court for trial.  Some time ago it was announced that the grave of Goodling had been opened and shot extracted from the dead man's head to be used in the trial.  The prosecution has gone a step farther than this and has secured the entire head of dead man.

One dark night not long ago two well known physicians of Mifflin, political enemies, went to the lower end of the county and met a well known character of Middleburg.  They hired a carriage on the pretext that they wanted to hold a consultation over a typhoid fever patient in the country and then drove over the hills and back to the old grave yard where the remains of Adam Goodling were laid to rest a day after he was foully murdered, supposedly by the man who stands charged with the crime.

There was no moon and the sky was overcast, an ideal night for secret operations.  The party arrived at the cemetery shortly after midnight and at once set about locating the grave of the murdered man.  This found, the Middleburg resident produced pick and shovel and went to work, his only light being the few rays shed from the muffled dark lantern in the hands of one of the physicians.  While the work went on the other doctor sat on the edge of a tombstone and tried to whistle a cheerful tune.

The grave was not opened save at the head.  When the coffin lid was struck the upper part was removed with a short axe and the Middleburg man was handed a short saw.  With this he cut completely off the head of the dead man and when the gruesome operation was complete handed it up to the waiting doctor, who placed it in a sack which had been brought along for the purpose.  Then the grave was refilled and the physicians drove back to town, while the Middleburg man went home.

They took the morning train back to Mifflin and now Adam Goodling's head is jarred and stowed away in the stable of one of the physicians to be produced at the trial.

The prosecution has been trying to keep the fact that they will produce the shattered skull quiet by circulating the report that only shot was taken from the body and that no part was removed from the grave.  The story leaked out through a stranger finding the head and demanding an explanation for its presence.

The prosecution claims to have a strong case against Barner and no expense is being saved to convict him.

(view original article here)

The ensuing trial became a sensational affair throughout Juniata County.  The prosecution claimed that Barner shot Goodling because the victim had been carrying on an affair with Barner's wife.  However, the defense established an alibi and Absalom Barner was found not guilty.  By the time the trial ended, more than one hundred witnesses had been called to the stand, and the affair cost the county $2,450 (roughly 70,000.00 in today's currency).

But the strange story does not end there.  In the fall of 1903, Mrs. John Barner- a relative of Absalom- was shot dead while she was clearing brush with her husband outside of their home in Greenwood Township.  Revenge?  The world will never know. 


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Man Boiled Alive in Vat!

April 27, 2013, 12:57 pm
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A vat at a dyeing facility in TN, circa 1910


There seems to be an infinite number of ways for a person to die, but the strange death of a Philadelphia night watchman in 1903 has got to be one of the most horrible.  From the May 7, 1903, edition of the Fulton County News:

Philadelphia (Special).-- J. Schlicking, 60 years old, of Seltzer and Salmon streets, a watchman at the Allen Dyeing Company's plant, Frankford avenue and William street, fell into a vat of boiling potash during the night, and the next morning early his skeleton was found by fellow-workmen protruding from the fiery bleaching liquid.  Schlicking was subject to attacks of vertigo, and it is believed that he was overcome immediately after turning on the steam under the big vat and pitched headfirst into the caustic liquid.

(view original newspaper article here)
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Gruesome death in Columbia, PA

April 30, 2013, 1:21 pm
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The iron mill at Columbia, PA, circa 1930


One of the most interesting things about old newspapers is the way in which they describe fatal accidents.  Today's newspaper stories are bland and watered-down compared to stories from yesteryear.  This article is one such example, from the Fulton County Times, September 1, 1910:

Scott Hamaker, superintendent of the pipemill of the Susquehanna Iron and Steel company, met a horrible death in the mill at Columbia, Pa., last week.

The protruding key of a knuckle on a belt caught the tail of his coat, and he was drawn on to the belt and carried to a shaft which was making 1200 revolutions a minute.  Hamaker's body was whirled around this.  Three feet away was an iron trough, and with every revolution his legs struck it, both members being hammered off, piece by piece, clear up to the hips.  His feet later were picked up thirty feet away.

Below was another shaft, against which his arms and thighs hit with each revolution.  Every bone in his body was broken.  He lived twenty minutes after being taken to a hospital.  He was forty five years old, and leaves a wife and two children.

Buried at Mount Bethel Cemetery, Lancaster Co.


(view original newspaper article here)
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Bellefonte's River of Beer

May 5, 2013, 11:11 am
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Spring Creek


Not all of the newspaper stories we feature on this blog have to do with gruesome acts of violence or gory accidents.  The following, taken from the May 2, 1901, edition of the Middleburgh Post, is one such example:

River of Beer Wasted

Mathew Volk, proprietor of the Roopsburg Brewery, near Bellefonte, who was granted a brewer's license at the recent License Court, was unable to raise the $259 necessary to pay the license fee, and therefore left for other climes.

The failure to renew the license left the internal revenue collector with about one hundred barrels of beer on hands.  Being possessed of no legal warrant to sell the stuff, he settled the matter by emptying the whole lot into Spring Creek.
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Was the Queen of Babylon Buried in Fayette County?

May 10, 2013, 5:53 pm
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In the summer of 1878, a group of boys from Fayette County made an astounding discovery.  The story, which first appeared in the Brownsville Clipper, was later re-printed in other newspapers.  The following is the article which appeared in the August 7, 1878, edition of the Somerset Herald.

The Brownsville Clipper publishes a remarkable story of the discovery of a mysterious cave, on Dunlap's creek, near that place.  It appears that some boys had been given some powder by a party of sportsmen, who were engaged shooting glass balls on the Fourth of July.  The boys went down to the creek, dug a hole in the bank, and fired a charge of powder in it.  It made a terrific explosion, and after the smoke cleared away, they discovered a large hole in the ground.  The boys had dug down till they came to a micaceous sandstone.  The explosion shattered this stone to pieces which covered up the entrance to a large circular hole extending nearly six feet into the sand rock, at an angle of about forty-five degrees.

At the end of this passage was a rectangular excavation in the solid rock, measuring six feet by nine feet three inches, and four feet eleven inches in height.  The sides of the cave were decorated with figures of birds cut in demirelief.  A human skeleton was found in the cell, which crumbled to pieces a few days after being discovered.  On each wrist, arms and limbs were iron bracelets and anklets, connected with chains and iron bars.  A piece of metal resembling a dog or a wolf lay under the head of the skeleton.

At the foot of the skeleton was found a plate of metal, tightly bound between two strips of wood.  The plate was in a good state of preservation, and was decorated with engravings of birds and dogs, and a chain of hieroglyphics around the edge.  

The Clipper says these different articles were placed in the hands of a well known archaeologist for examination.  All the pieces except the bronze plate are so corroded by time that he has as yet been unable to decipher the inscriptions upon them; but very singularly he has been enabled to give what he claims to be a complete translation of the hieroglyphics on the plate.  The gentleman in whose care the articles now are has spent several years in Egypt and the Far East, studying the wonders of the Pyramids and tombs of the Nile, as well as the ruins of Ninevah and Babylon.

The engraving on the edges of the plate is similar to the cuneiform inscriptions found in the tombs of Assyria and Babylon, and being translated, reads thus: "This is the grave of the Mother of the Pee Wees."  This although correct English; is still mysterious, yet the archaeologist who is investigating believes he has struck the beginning of a curious and interesting history.

(read the original 1878 article here)

Important archaeological discovery or newspaper hoaxery?  Unfortunately, we haven't been able to find any further information about this unusual discovery. 


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Man's Eyes Blown Out By Dynamite

May 14, 2013, 9:27 pm
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Miners at Packer No.1 in the 1930s


Considering the dangers of living and working in the Coal Region during the late 1800s and early 1900s, it's amazing that anyone ever lived past the age of 20.  In the "good old days", death seemed to lurk around every corner.  A man could survive a mine cave-in, only to be trampled by a spooked horse while crossing the street, stabbed in a drunken bar-room brawl, or stricken with cholera.  No matter how lousy your job may be, it's pretty safe to say that you won't end up like John Dorrish.  From the Oct. 22, 1912 edition of the Reading Eagle:

John Dorrish, 50 years, employed at Packer No. 5 colliery*, was caught in a dynamite explosion and had both eyes blown out, his head badly injured, and both hands so badly mangled that they will have to be amputated.  His condition is critical. 



*Colliery was located about one mile east of Girardville.
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"A Troublesome Ghost"

May 17, 2013, 5:46 pm
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Mahanoy Plane, as it appeared in the late 19th century


In 1891, a family from Schuylkill County put up with nightly paranormal activity as long as they could; but when the ghost began climbing into bed with them, they decided that it was time to move.  From the July 25, 1891 edition of the Shenandoah Evening Herald comes this report of a haunting in Mahanoy Plane:

From "red-row", a row of houses owned by the P. & R. company and situated on Railroad Avenue, opposite the round house, Mahanoy Plane, comes a gruesome tale of ghoulish revels and hideous scenes enacted at the watching hour of midnight within the walls of a large double house.  Up to within two or three weeks this house was occupied by a very respectable family.  The sights the members of the family claim to have seen during their residence in the house are calculated to make the flesh of the most unsuperstitious person crawl.

They say the nightly revels commence at about the hour "when church yards yawn and graves give up their dead", at which hour there emanates from the cellar a series of unearthly groans and wails, after which there is silence, followed by the sounds of ghostly footfalls slowly climbing the cellar stairs and passing along the hallway.  Then they proceed upstairs to the attic, accompanied all the way by a clanking as of rusty chains dragged across the floor of the attic.  The soul-harrowing groans are renewed with an occasional interval of demoniac laughter that would freeze the blood of the bravest man.  This is followed by a sound of muffled sobs and wails, and then the footfalls are heard again coming down, passing from room to room, finally reaching the cellar, where the performance ends with a series of hair-cudling sounds too horrible for description.

These little pranks on the part of the ghostship did greatly disturb the tenants, and they were becoming accustomed to the nightly peregrinations when the ghostship allowed its curiosity to get the better of its judgment.  The tenants objected when it entered the sleeping apartments, got under the beds and, humping itself, spilled the occupants upon the floor, and then disappearing, groaning horribly amid a suffocating atmosphere of sulfurous fumes.  It was too much and the family moved out.

(view the original newspaper article here)   
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Cut in half and disemboweled!

May 21, 2013, 10:04 am
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Catasauqua, circa late 1890s

This is one of the more gruesome newspaper stories I've stumbled across thus far (from the Dec. 27, 1895 edition of the Bloomsburg Columbian):


Cut in halves and disemboweled, the body of a young man 18 to 20 years was found Friday evening by the crew of Central train drawn by engine 319, midway between the Catasauqua and Lower Catasauqua stations of the railroad.

The men came across the ghastly sight about 6:30 o'clock.  The body was lying across the tracks near Bower's slaughtering house.  The corpse had been cut in two by the wheels of the cars.  The entrails lay scattered about.  The body was still warm.  It was supposed the young man had fallen off that same train and met his horrible death.  The body was removed to Undertaker Stewart's morgue and Coroner Yost was notified.

The circumstances connected with the case are extremely sad.  The youth, who was still a mere boy, was handsome and well-dressed.  He wore a blue suit, tan shoes, blue overcoat, and derby hat.  From letters found in his pockets it was learned that he was Joseph Girton, of Bloomsburg.  He was a silk worker.  The story of the letters is that he had a widowed mother.  A letter from his mother contains the usual affectionate terms.  She talks about John and Bernard, evidently brothers, cracking nuts in the kitchen, and mentions two other children, Alex and Lizzie.  The mother says that if he was determined to go off and see the world, he should always be a man and a Christian and do right, for that was the only way to get along.  The letter indicates that the boy left home against his mother's wishes.

(view the entire newspaper story here)
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Human Hand Found in Lycoming County

May 27, 2013, 3:26 pm
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The Pine Creek suspension bridge, near English Centre


The following is from the September 6, 1895 edition of the Bloomsburg Columbian:


A Mystery in Lycoming County-- Part of the Remains of a Corpse Discovered in the Woods

The citizens of Cammel have been living in a state of suppressed excitement since Thursday evening, because of a miraculous yarn told by a young man of 20, who, while coming through the woods from English Centre, came across a ghastly find- a human hand.

The wayfarer lost his way when about two miles from Cammel, which took him into the wildest recesses of the forest.  Evening was fast approaching, and as the young fellow did not fancy the idea of spending the night in so undesirable a place he kept pushing on, trusting more to luck than anything else to bring him to English Centre or some habitation where he might rest free from the dangers which lurk in this region.  

In pushing his way through an opening into a spot less densely grown with shrubbery and trees, the young fellow declares that he found a vest lying on the ground, and fastened to one of the lapels was an emblem of the I.O.O.F.  He removed the trinket, and on looking around discovered a felt hat lying nearby.  After a casual glance of the surroundings the young man started off again, but had hardly gone two paces when he barely missed stepping on a human hand.  

The shock following the horrible discovery rendered him speechless for a brief interval, but with an effort he regained his senses, and without waiting to pursue investigations any further, dashed off as fast as his weary legs would carry him.  Toward nightfall he reached Cammel in an exhausted condition.  At Hostrander's boarding house, where he put up for the night, he related his adventure, designating the spot as best he could, where the ghastly find was located.

The following day a posse of twenty-five citizens, with the young man in the lead, started on a search to investigate what to them looked like a murder.  The place was discovered after a diligent search and protracted hunt, the vest and the outstretched hand were wanted to establish credulity to the story as related by the hero of the adventure.  Despite the evidence which was wanting to give the slightest foundation to the yarn, the young fellow stoutly maintained that he was telling the truth.  There are quite a number of citizens who are disposed to pursue the investigation further, and the probabilities are that another party will be organized this week to make another effort to verify the story of the ghastly find and clear up the mystery.

(view the original newspaper article here)




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40 Injured at Funeral in York

May 30, 2013, 9:19 pm
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Quickel Lutheran Church, in Zions View, York Co.


In 1907, a double funeral for two murdered boys at a church in York County turned to a frightening scene of chaos, which resulted in babies being thrown out of windows and the contents of the caskets spilled onto the floor.  When it was all over, dozens were injured- some fatally.  From the November 28 edition of the Fulton County News:


Forty Injured During Frantic Stampede in York- Ghastly Scene in a Church

York, Pa. (Special).-- During the progress of the funeral at Quickel Church, near Zions View, this county, of William and Curvin Hoover, the youths who were murdered Saturday at Pleasuresville, a panic occurred among the several thousand persons assembled and about 40 were injured.  A rumor that the roof of the church was about to fall in, followed by a creaking noise and the collapsing of several stoves, caused a mad rush for the exits.

Cause of the Panic

The panic occurred shortly after 12 o'clock and at the most solemn part of the service.  When those present heard a creaking noise several among them began to cry: "The roof is falling in!"

Instantly the several thousand persons arose in their seats and made a wild dash for the exits.  The windows and doors of the little church are small, and they were soon clogged with writhing forms.  Men, women, and children were trampled upon and mothers, in their frenzy, hurled their babies to those outside.  Other women, becoming separated from their little ones, attempted to force their way back into the building.  

Near the pulpit, where the caskets had been placed, a pathetic scene was presented.  The parents of the murdered youths, as soon as the rush for the doors and windows began, jumped quickly in front of the caskets and tried to fight off the maddened crowd.  Their efforts, however, were unsuccessful, both coffins being overturned and the bodies, rolling upon the floor, were trampled on by hundreds.

As soon as the crowd on the outside of the church realized what had happened the work of rescue began.  Chief of Detectives Charles S. White and Detective Cookes ran to a number of the most cool-headed and tried to stop the stampede.  In this they were partially successful, but not until several score had been hurt, some of them fatally.

A Ghastly Scene

At the rear exit, where the stampede was the greatest, the bodies of the injured were piled several feet high.  Revs. S.G.W. Enders and Adam Stump, of this city, remained at their posts, and when the panic started they cried out that everything was safe and that the crowd should stop.  Seeing that their commands were not obeyed, the two ministers then started to help in the work of rescue.  Finally everyone had left the little church, and a glimpse inside revealed a ghastly scene.

The two bodies of the murdered boys were lying upon the floor surrounded by overturned and broken benches.  The bodies were restored to the caskets and taken outside.  When the quiet was restored, Rev. Dr. Adam Stump , from the doorway of the church, preached the final sermon.

The bodies were then taken to the adjoining graveyard, where internment was made.


(view the original newspaper here)
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Bearded Skeleton Found in Mine

June 3, 2013, 11:08 am
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A typical Allegheny County mine entrance


From western Pennsylvania comes one of the most unusual and curious stories we have stumbled across.  A man named John Nevin made a discovery beneath the ground that was so bizarre, it caused him to faint.    So what did he find?  The November 10, 1892 edition of the Pittsburgh Dispatch explains:


Half sitting, half hanging was the dressed and booted skeleton of a man found in a coal mine in Braddock township.  Tuesday evening John Nevin discovered this weird, ghastly spectacle.  As his little lamp revealed to him the hideous sight, Nevin fell in a faint.

This is the most complete mystery unearthed in Allegheny county for many days.  The district where this case comes from is well suited as a birthplace of mystery.  The skeleton was found in Corry's deserted coal mine.  The old pit is on a hill above Copeland station and a half mile back from the railroad.  It has been over 11 years since any mining has been done there, the opening having become dangerous.  The land up on the hill belongs to J.B. Corry.  His tenants have for years been digging coal for their own use in the abandoned mine.  They never ventured far into the bank, through fear that the roof may cave in.

John Nevin Exhausted by Fright

Tuesday evening John Nevin went to the mine to get his usual allowance of fuel.  For some reason he did not stop at the entrance, but went on in.  By the aid of his little lamp he groped his way several hundred feet into the depths of the pit.  Here the first room leads off and it was there Nevin stopped.  He took his lamp from his hat and holding it above his head peered into the room.  The flickering coal oil light revealed a ghastly sight.

Suspended to the roof by a rope and slightly swayed by the breeze was a long haired whiskered skeleton.  Nevin was held spellbound by the scene for an instant, and then exhausted by fright he fell to the floor.  Recovering, he made his way out and spread the news of his awful discovery.  Later a party of men entered the mine.  They had given little credence to their neighbor's story, thinking that it was an optical illusion, but they soon saw for themselves.

A Bearded, Booted Skeleton Found

As these four or five sturdy countrymen stood in the doorway of that underground room, their nerve for a time departed.  Several minutes elapsed before any of them had the courage to approach the object of their fright.  Then one by one they entered.  The man had evidently committed suicide from the position he was in.  The room was not much over four feet high and the skeleton measured five feet nine inches.  Death had been caused by hanging.  The rope was still around the man's neck and securely tied to a timber in the roof.  The skeleton was in a crouching position, the man having evidently thrown himself forward.  The legs were crossed in front, and the arms hung down at his sides.  The fingers showed that there had been convulsions.  The flesh had entirely left the body save on part of the face.  The head was covered by a heavy and long growth of sandy hair, while the curly beard and mustache of the same color looked as natural as those on a living man.

He Died With His Boots On

The poor fellow had died with his boots on, and in fact all his clothes.  He wore a brown suit, made with a cutaway coat, a brown chinchilla overcoat, a checkered cheviot shirt and heavy topped boots, with his trousers tucked in them.  His clothes were badly rotted and nearly ready to drop off.  The only things in the room save the skeleton were a black stiff hat and a small upright lamp.  The latter was sitting off in one corner, the oil had all been burned out and only a little piece of the wick was left.  There was nothing in the pockets of the man's clothes.

The skeleton was cut down, removed to the outer world and the Coroner notified.  Coroner's Clerk Grant Miller spent the greater part of yesterday investigating the case.  Though all the people in that neighborhood were questioned no one could solve the mystery.  From the fact that the man was clothed for winter weather it is thought he must have been in the mine for a year at least.  It is altogether probable that the suicide was committed two years ago from the condition of the skeleton, while no one has been in that room for a longer period than that.  The man is supposed to have between 45 and 50 years of age.  He would've weighed about 175 pounds.

Late last night the skeleton was identified as the remains of James Bartin, who left home last February, taking with him the lamp and the rope, but his wife has always discredited the idea that he had committed suicide.  Bartin was 60 years old and a division boss on the Pittsburg, Virginia and Charleston Railroad.  Since his disappearance his wife has been making her home with a sister at Salt Works station.








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Boy Mangled by Trolley

June 8, 2013, 1:37 pm
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From the Scranton Tribune, May 27, 1896:

Reading, Pa., May 26.-- The 2-year-old child of John Oplinger was horribly and fatally mangled by a trolley car at Nineteenth Street and Perkiomen Avenue, this city, today.  The lad had been playing in the street, and running to get out of the way of a coming milk wagon ran in front of the car.  He was immediately removed to the Homeopathic hospital.  His leg was amputated below the knee.

He also received internal injuries from which he died at 8 o'clock this evening.
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Wire Cuts Man to Pieces

June 18, 2013, 2:23 pm
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Johnstown, before the 1889 flood.


This article from the August 5, 1879, edition of the New Bloomfield Times gives an extremely graphic account of a gruesome accident which occurred in Cambria County.


A Frightful Accident

A terrible accident occurred at the Rod Mill, at Johnstown, Cambria County, on the 19th ult., which resulted in the horrible death of a promising young man.  The victim's name was Richard O. Jones, and he lived with his step-father, Wm. S. Jones, on Market Street, between Main and Vine.

The accident happened at the Rod Mill, where he was employed as "sticker-in" at the finishing rolls, his work being to catch the end of the wire rods as they came through the rolls and guide them through the last pass before they are wound upon the spindle at the north end of the building.  At quarter after 5 o'clock Saturday morning, only fifteen minutes before the usual quitting time, one of the long red-hot rods, whose end he had just inserted in his part of the rolls, became twisted as it was guided along the iron floor behind him by a boy names James Bingham.  The rolls were running at a rate of four hundred and fifty revolutions per minute, and the twist caused the wire to curvet through the air, one of the loops falling over young Jones' body, just below the ribs, and drawing him down on his knees with his back against the rolls, through which the wire sped with lightning rapidity.

A fellow workman named John Devine was standing within a few feet of the victim, but was powerless to render any assistance.  John Rowley seized an ax and with one blow severed the wire, but not before it had cut and burned its way through the body of the victim.  The left arm was severed between the elbow and shoulder, the right between the elbow and wrist, and a portion of the backbone was all that held the mutilated body together.  His bowels were cut into small pieces and fell out in a mass on the floor.  Death is supposed to have resulted almost instantaneously.  There was a slight quivering of the muscles half a minute afterward, but that was all.




(view original newspaper here)
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Snake With Ears Found by Berks County Man

June 21, 2013, 2:44 pm
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An 11 foot long snake with ears?  According to this story, which appeared in the October 1, 1875 edition of the Reading Eagle, a farmer killed such a snake and had it stuffed.  Could the hood of a cobra have been mistaken for "ears"?  The average length of a king cobra is around 12 feet, so that may be a possibility, although it begs the question:  Just how the heck did a cobra get loose in rural Pennsylvania?


A large snake, supposed to be of the swamp species, was killed on Saturday afternoon last, about one mile and a half from Beckersville, this county, by Elhannon Hauser.  Mr. Hauser was out on a hill cutting wood when a boy named Garman told him that in the road just below, a large snake was lying.  Mr. Hauser left his work and went to the place and the snake did not move, when he struck it with a stick and killed it.  It measured 11 feet 4 inches.  The most surprising thing is that it had two well developed ears on its head, two and a half inches long.  It was skinned and will be stuffed.  Mr. Hauser thinks he will take it to the Centennial.


(view the 1875 newspaper article here)
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Unsolved Mystery: The Skeleton of Mocanaqua

June 22, 2013, 5:09 pm
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The old Mocanaqua breaker


In 1884, the bleached bones of a skeleton wearing the tattered remnants of an army uniform was found beneath the outcropping of rocks above present-day Lee Road.  The skeleton has never been identified.  Could it have been the skeleton of a deserter from the Union army?  Or perhaps a cave-dwelling hermit who had once fought in the Civil War?  Unfortunately, it seems to be a mystery that will remain unsolved until the end of time.  Here's the newspaper article about the skeleton, as it appeared in the August 8, 1884, edition of the Bloomsburg Columbian:

A man named Michael Boylan, a resident of Teasdale City, was looking for young foxes Sunday afternoon at the foot of the high rocks along the road leading from Shickshinny to Wanamie.  Under an overhanging crag, in sight of the road, he came upon the bleached skeleton of a man.  Mr. Boylan made known his discovery and quite a crowd collected.  Mr. F.D. Yaple, who was returning from Nanticoke about this time, saw the bones, secured a knife, bunch of keys and a briar pipe and brought them to town.  On Monday it became known that the skeleton had been found and many conjectures and wild stories were set afloat as to who was the owner of the abandoned bones.  In company with M.E. Walker, H.S. Clark and C.F. Stackhouse, an Echo representative, visited the spot to investigate.

The place is about two miles back upon the mountain from the Mocanaqua breaker.  When first found the bones were in their regular order with the shoes upon the feet, face upward.  The only portion of the clothing recognizable was a piece of soldier overcoat.  The large and small army buttons were confirming evidence that he wore a coat of that kind.  Several large buttons, such as are worn on drawers, and a small undershirt button were found among the decayed clothing.  The leather facings for a pair of mittens went further to confirm the belief that whoever the man may be his body was clad for winter weather at the time of his death.

Among other effects found were a razor and strop, shaving mug, satchel frame securely locked, and two bottles, one a pocket flask and the other a two-ounce vial such as laudanum is usually sold in.  The man must have been 6 feet tall, with a low, receding forehead.  His right leg had been broken at one time at the thigh.  How long the bones had lain exposed is not known.  Their bleached condition would indicate several years.  It is remarkable that they were not found before from their close proximity to the road.
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Gold in Sullivan County

June 26, 2013, 5:43 pm
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1911 postcard of Dushore, Sullivan County


From the Bloomsburg Columbian., May 01, 1902:

Peter Gilmore, a Sullivan County farmer, has found gold on his farm.  Recently he discovered what he thought was gold quartz and sent some of it to an assayer, who yesterday returned the analysis, showing that the quartz contains gold to the value of $1.40 per ton.

As mines in the Western fields producing as low as 30 cents per ton are operated, Mr. Gilmore is elated, and all land in the vicinity has taken a sudden rise.
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Skeleton Found in Rafters of K-Ville Hotel

July 2, 2013, 6:28 pm
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The Kleinfeltersville Hotel is known throughout Lebanon County as a great place to get a meal or enjoy live entertainment.  As a musician, I had performed at this venerable establishment many years ago and even though the food was terrific and the service was wonderful, I couldn't shake the "creepy" feeling which seemed to linger in the air.  While I have never heard of the Kleinfeltersville Hotel being haunted, it's the type of old building (the hotel dates back to 1857) which would certainly make a wonderful home for spirits.

Interestingly, in 1902 the skeleton of a child was found in the building's rafters.  Though I've spent hours researching this story, to the best of my knowledge, the identity of the child has never been established.  If anyone out there has more information about this strange discovery from 1902, please contact me at annanewburg@yahoo.com

Here's one account of the discovery, as it appeared in the July 10, 1902 edition of the Fulton County News:

The skeleton of a child has been discovered between the rafters of the Kleinfeltersville Hotel, Lebanon.  The skeleton was found wrapped in a red petticoat, which was in a fair state of preservation.  Just how many years the skeleton has reposed in this hiding place can only be surmised.  The house was built in 1857, and none of the oldest residents of the locality ever heard of a child being missed in the neighborhood.
 
(view the original newspaper article here)
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Hard Up For Friendship?

July 11, 2013, 5:30 pm
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Here's an interesting story about a robbery which appeared in the July 12, 1899, edition of the Juniata Sentinel and Republican:

Postmaster Geo. C. Wagenseller of Selinsgrove was returning home from Shamokin Dam the other night when two highwayment stopped his horse in a covered bridge across Penn's Creek and demanded his money.  He had left his pistol at home so he handed over the $16 he had in his pocket.  He wanted to give them his watch, but they refused to take it.  He invited him to go with him to Selinsgrove and have a drink, but they declined.

(view original newspaper article here)
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The Mystery Coffin of Loyalsock Creek

July 14, 2013, 8:51 pm
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A very unusual story which appeared in the Bloomsburg Columbian on April 24, 1902:

A mysterious, well dressed stranger arrived at Montoursville on Thursday and offered to pay Sheffer & Son, undertakers of that town, $200 if they would take a coffin twenty miles up Loyalsock Creek and bury it in a secluded spot to be designated by him.  The only provision that he required was that they sign an agreement to bury the coffin without opening it and ever afterward keep the matter a secret.

He said the coffin would arrive from St. Louis and that it was to be met at the train and immediately conveyed to the chosen place of burial without further question.

The undertakers declared they would not bury a coffin unless they knew what it contained.  The stranger was apparently much perturbed when he found his proposition was not accepted.  He then declared that if the strictest secrecy was promised he would withdraw the stipulation that the coffin should not be opened if they would agree, after having seen what it contained, to bury it in accordance with his directions as previously outlined.

When this proposition was also spurned the stranger immediately disappeared after a visit to the telegraph office.




(read original newspaper article here)

I can't help but wonder who or what was in that mysterious coffin from St. Louis.  A buried treasure?  The body of a murder victim?  The remains of Bigfoot or a space alien?  The mind races at the possibilities... well, mine does at least.  While the undertakers from Montoursville might not have granted the stranger's odd request, perhaps other local undertakers took the stranger up on his offer to bury the mystery coffin twenty miles up Loyalsock Creek, which, if my calculations are correct, would be a few miles south of Forksville, in Sullivan County.
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Three Headed Baby Born in Jefferson County

July 25, 2013, 6:17 pm
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Two heads are better than one, but what about three?


From the January 16, 1898, edition of the DuBois Express:

An unusual freak of nature was born at Beechtree recently.  The details are authentic but the parent's named are omitted for obvious reasons.  When born, the child, a male, had three heads, two growing out of each side of the central one, immediately behind the ears.  The central head was nearly perfect, except that it was flattened slightly on the top, but the two heads growing out of either side, while small, were almost perfectly developed.  The child lived a few days.

The parents were offered a considerable sum to allow the doctors to have possession of it, but they refused and it was buried in the Catholic cemetery.



(view original newspaper article here)
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