History of Rehmeyer's Hollow( From where I use to Live)18:59 Jan 18 2010
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The Germans, who immigrated to Pennsylvania in the 1600s to the early 1800s brought their healing and protective arts with them and traded their esoteric knowledge with Native American tribes who lived in the area. This blend produced a unique form of Shamanism that combines European and Native knowledge and practices. This mix is also called Hexeri and Braucheri and practitioners, respectively are called Hexenmeisters and Brauchers.
Shamanism is the oldest form of religion. The belief is that there is one Supreme Being and that all is derived from this and is interrelated. In Europe, Shamanic practitioners were persecuted as witches in the name of orthodox religion.
As with all religions, there is the upside and there is the downside. The downside of the Judeo-Christian tradition is Satanism, which corrupts this tradition as well as Western European Shamanism, also called Witchcraft, Paganism and Wicca. The downside of PowWow is a corruption by practitioners, Hexmeisters, who would cast hexes on anyone for a price. Even the police feared them. These German immigrants came to Pennsylvania during the late 1800s. Unlike the PowWows, who were mainly of the peasant class and came here for religious freedom, these newcomers were of the middle and upper classes. There was, at the time, a revival of occultism in Europe, some of which was Satanic. It was this influence they brought with them. This wave of immigrants is the Pennsylvania Germans. The first wave is the Pennsylvania Dutch.
In the 1920s, the Dutch Country of Pennsylvania was an eclectic mix of those who practiced the Witcherie, wannabes, never weres and never would be's who know little of the Dutch and Germanic practices and made up their own practices as they went along, and the Gypsies who lived with mainstream society.
John Blymire was born in York County, 1895, into this world of witchcraft, magick and superstition. His father and grandfather were PowWows. He inherited their healing abilities, but, not the strength of their skills.
When Blymire was five, he suffered from the opnema, a wasting away of the body that was believed to be caused by hexes, but was usually caused by malnutrition. Neither his grandfather nor father could cure him, so they took him to a powerful PowWow, a taciturn giant of a man, Nelson Rehmeyer who cured him. When the boy was ten, Blymire worked for Rehmeyer, digging up potatoes.
At age seven, Blymire "tried for" his first cure and was successful. He was of limited intelligence, homely and only modestly successful as a PowWow. People avoided him, except when they needed his PowWowing. He was lonely.
When he was thirteen, he quit school and worked in a cigar factory in York. He kept to himself, but word got out that he could heal. He supplemented his cigar factory earnings by accepted voluntary offerings for his work as a PowWow.
One day, there was an incident that should have made his reputation as a powerful PowWow. When work was done, Blymire and the other workers were leaving the factory and someone screamed that a "mad" dog was approaching. A collie, foaming at the mouth, was coming toward them. People tried to go inside the factory, but those leaving blocked their way. Blymire stood between them and the rabid dog, said an incantation and made the sign of the cross over the dog's head. The dog's mouth stopped foaming and it seemed to be cured of rabies. Blymire patted it on the head and the dog, tail wagging, followed him as he walked down the street.
Blymire, shortly after this, suffered from the opnema again. He was convinced someone had put a hex on him, maybe a jealous competing PowWow who did not want him to be successful.
He quit his job in order to discover who had hexed him. He worked as a janitor, sexton's assistant, busboy and PowWow for financial survival and lived in rooming houses.
It was at a rooming house where he met Lily, the woman who would become his wife. His health improved, he found a regular job and his PowWowing clientele increased. It appeared the hex was removed or no longer worked.
Then, Blymire's first child died within a few weeks, the second, three days after birth, his health declined and he lost his job.
He, again, consulted with other witches to find out who had hexed him. One was Andrew C. Lenhart, a powerful witch whom even the police feared. All Lenhart said that he was hexed by someone close to him. Blymire was convinced it was Lily. She began to fear him and her father hired a lawyer and had Blymire evaluated by a psychiatrist. The diagnosis was borderline psychoneurosis. Blymire was committed to a state mental hospital from which he escaped by walking out of the door. There was no effort to recommit him. Lily divorced him.
In 1928, Blymire returned to work at the cigar factory where he met 14-year-old John Curry who had a cruel childhood due to abuse. The youth believed he was hexed.
Shortly after this, they met a farmer, Milton J. Hess who believed he was hexed. He and his wife were of Pennsylvania Dutch stock. They believed in Hexeri and obeyed all of the regulations and rules Hexenmeisters gave them. Milton had been a successful farmer. His crops flourished, chickens laid the right amount of eggs and the cows' milk was plentiful. His wife, Alice had a stand at the farmer's market, for pin money, where she sold vegetables, flowers and fruit.
In 1926, for no reason that was apparent, things took a downward spiral. Crops began to fail, chickens were stolen and those that weren't did not lay eggs, cows would not eat and no longer produced milk. Milton's health was affected. Wilbert, his 17-year-old son was also affected, psychologically, by hearing his father complain about the failures and lack of money and his mother changing from an energetic cheerful woman into a sad and silent one who withdrew from communicating with family.
The family was convinced they were hexed.
Milton got a job as a truck driver for the Pennsylvania Tool Company on North George Street in York. Alice still had her stand, now, out of financial necessity.
In June, 1928, Milton met Blymire who lived in the Widow Detwiler's boarding house the alley. They would talk daily and the conversation, eventually, turned to hexes and the fact the Blymire was a Braucher.
It was about this time that Blymire consulted Nellie Noll, the Witch of Marietta, also known as "the River Witch" in the quest to discover who had hexed him. She told him that it was the Witch of Rehmeyer's Hollow, after much coaxing from Blymire, she named Nelson D. Rehmeyer.
Milton Invited Blymire, as a Braucher, to his farm where the witch could see its condition for himself. He asked Blymire who had hexed the family, but try as he could, he could not come up with a name, so he visited Nellie Noll again.
She told him who the hexer was. Again she named Nelson D. Rehmeyer. The Witch of Marietta added that Rehmeyer had also hexed Curry.
All they had to do was to get Rehmeyer's copy of John George Hohman's "Pow-wows or Long Lost Friend" and burn it. If they could not do that, they must get a lock of his hair and bury it 6 to 8 feet underground. Long Lost Friend was written in 1820 and is the spell book for PowWows. Sometimes, it is referred to only as "the book".
Blymire told the Hesses and Curry that Rehmeyer had hexed all of them. Plans were made for Blymire, Curry and Hess to visit Rehmeyer and get a lock of hair or the book, do with which they got as directed and the hex would be removed.
Once Blymire, Curry and the Hesses knew who had hexed them and what had to be done, there was a conference. Attending this meeting were Blymire, Curry and Milton, older brother Clayton and Wilbert Hess.
Blymire, Curry and the appointed Hess, Wilbert, would visit Rehmeyer and get a lock of his hair or the book. Clayton, the only family member who had a car, would drive them to the hollow.
As events happened, Wilbert said he did not feel well and did not want to go. Blymire said it was okay if he did not. He and Curry would get the book or the lock of hair and would do what they had to.
When they got to Rehmeyer's house, they discovered he was not home. They walked to the witch's ex-wife's house and saw light, so they knocked on the door. The duo was told that Rehmeyer was probably at his girlfriend's house. They walked back to the witch's house. There was light on the second floor.
Blymire knocked on the door. Rehmeyer opened the door. He was much larger than Blymire remembered and was mean looking. Blymire asked if they could come in and Rehmeyer led them to the parlor where they sat and talked.
Blymire asked Rehmeyer if he had seen the book. The response was yes. The next question was if he had one. Again, the answer was affirmative. Blymire was satisfied with the answers. The conversation, then, turned to more mundane topics. Finally, Rehmeyer asked them why they had stopped by. Blymire told him that he had cured him of the opnema when he was a child and he had worked by picking potatoes for him.
Blymire, while they talked, try to mentally will Rehmeyer to hand over the book, but this was not effective. After a while, Rehmeyer said he was going to bed and they could sleep downstairs if they wanted to.
Curry quickly fell asleep while Blymire stayed awake trying to will the old witch to give them the book. Finally, he woke Curry and told him that he could not control Rehmeyer's mind. Should they try to use force and make him give them the book or a lock of hair? Blymire decided against this because the old witch was a big man and could easily overpower them. He decided they needed help.
That morning, Rehmeyer got up early and made the duo breakfast before left. The two hitch-hiked back home. At some point, they bought a 25 foot length of strong rope and cut it into lengths of about 14 ½ inches.
On Wednesday, November 27th, 1928, the night of the full moon and eve before Thanksgiving, Clayton drove the trio to Rehmeyer's Hollow. The three walked to Rehmeyer's house.
They demanded that he give them the book. He threw his wallet at them. Then, the three attacked Rehmeyer. Blymire wrapped a length of rope around Rehmeyer's neck. The trio fought savagely with the old man, then Curry got a block of wood and hit Rehmeyer in the head. The old man was kicked in the head and the stomach and his face was battered. Blymire said he groaned, took a few breaths, then died.
They ransacked the house and found, according to Wilbert, $.97. According to DA Herrmann, later, it was $2.80. The trio decided they had to get rid of the evidence that would tie them into the murder. Curry thought setting fire to the house would achieve this. They lit matches and dropped them in the house to set the fire. The house was smoldering when they left.
The house did not burn as they thought it would. A neighbor, Oscar Glatfelter, passing by Rehmeyer's house on November 30th, heard his mule braying. When the man checked on the animal, he saw it had not been fed. Glatfelter knocked on the door and there was no answer, but the door was unlocked. After the neighbor entered the house, he saw the Rehmeyer's corpse lying on the floor.
It did not take the police long to arrest Blymire, Curry and Wilbert for the murder of Rehmeyer. All three confessed and Blymire said he was at peace now that he had killed the witch. He was glad the witch was dead. The newswire services informed the public that a practicing witch had been killed in York County, Pennsylvania. This was the beginning of the publicity that was to attract Clarence Darrow's attention.
Although Curry was only 14, the age of reason, in Pennsylvania, at the time was 7, so he was tried as an adult. Although Darrow was outraged, he offered no legal assistance to Curry.
The trials began on January 9th, 1929. Judge Sherwood presided. DA Amos W. Herrmann represented the commonwealth. Public defenders Walter W. VanBaman represented Curry and Herbert B. Cohen, Blymire. The Hess family could afford to hire Harvey A. Gross, the best criminal defense attorney in the area.
Judge Sherwood decreed that all mention of hexes and witchcraft in the confessions be edited out of the confessions before they were admitted to records. The attempts of the defense attorneys to make hexes and witchcraft a matter of record via testimony were quashed.
Herrmann made his opening statements, avoiding all mention of witchcraft and hexes and forgot to mention the motive for the murder that the judge wanted. He was sharply reminded of this. The decreed motive was robbery and, then, was stated.
When Cohen tried to bring out testimony about witchcraft, the judge thwarted his efforts.
The trials were the speediest in Pennsylvania. By obstruction of justice, the judge got what he wanted, guilty verdicts, Blymire and Curry, murder in the first degree and Hess, murder in the second degree.
The sentences were handed down on January 14th. Blymire and Curry were given life in prison and Wilbert was given 10 to 20 years. In 1934, Hess and Curry were paroled and lived quiet lives in the York area. Curry became an artist and died in 1962. Blymire was finally paroled in 1953, returned to York and worked as a janitor.
Had the trial been held today, undoubtedly, the references to witchcraft and hexes would have been part of the defense under the First Amendment rights. Curry would not have been tried as an adult. Blymire and Wilbert might have been found not guilty by reason of insanity. The jury, primarily made up of the Pennsylvania Dutch, because of the society they lived in, most likely would have shared the same belief as the defendants did and, because of this, acquitted them of murder. But, now is now; then was then.
Is it possible that spell casting works, albeit it, if merely psychologically? The answer is yes. According to those of us who have studied hexes and curses and why they work, we have found that the spell caster has to believe that she or he has the power to cast hexes and curses. The target has to have the same belief. The psychosocial environment they live in, in general, has to support this belief. What happened in the Rehmeyer murder evidences this.
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