Results tagged “Hex Murder” from York Town Square

This was Hex murder victim Nelson Rehmeyer's copy of "The Long Lost Friend," a target of his assailants.

Some enterprising bookshop owners are selling a CD-ROM of the book "The Long Lost Friend," that became part of the Hex murder in York County in 1928.

The assailants in the murder case of Nelson Rehmayer sought, among other things, the suspected witch's copy of the book.

That book contains such advice as:

Nelson Rehmeyer, victim in the Hex murder of 1928, is seen in this family photo on his East Hopewell Township farm.

On Thursday, the media was granted access to the house of Nelson Rehmeyer, victim in the Hex murder case.

York Daily Record/Sunday News photographer Paul Kuehnel was there with both video and still cameras.

Paul nicely captured the scene in his video.

Caryl Clarke reported from the scene and came up with a message from victim Nelson Rehmeyer's great-grandson: "Whatever befell this small, turn-of-the-century German farmhouse came from the outside, not from within."

We wish those behind the effort to showcase the house the best of everything.

But we will put up this precaution in our Sunday Viewpoints section in Scott Fisher's opinion piece "Hex house to offer tours":

Nelson Rehmeyer, victim in the Hex murder case, is seen in an inset to this photo of his house where the crime took place. Courtesy of Ross McGinnis.

J. Ross McGinnis, long-time attorney with York's Stock & Leader firm, simply did a wonderful job in his "Trials of Hex" of telling the story of the Hex murder.

The story line is simple: A trio set out to remove a hex on one of them cast by a practitioner of powwow, later described as a witch. In the process, the practitioner, Nelson Rehmeyer, was killed. The three assailants were convicted in York County Court in 1929.

To give some flavor for McGinnis' admirable work, I've excerpted the opening lines of his 454-page book:

Five quick notes about the Hex murder of 1928, back in the news because of the proposed opening of the site of the notorious York County powwow killing: ...

The Nelson Rehmeyer's Hex murder house in North Hopewell Township will regain its 1928 appearance with plans for tours this summer. For developments on the plan to open the Hex murder house for tours, see 'Hex plans surprise officials'.

The southern York County house where the world-famous Hex murder occurred in 1928 will soon be open for tours.

That was the house where an assailant, seeking to end a spell cast by a powwow doctor, and two other men killed the practioner of white magic.

The burn spot where the trio set Nelson Rehmeyer's body ablaze remains on the floor of the house.

The promoter's Rehmeyer's Hollow Web site breathlessly states:

This was the site of the infamous murder of the "Witch of Rehmeyers Hollow" also known as the Hex murder. After years of whispers, mis-information and ghost stories, the home of Nelson Rehmeyer will be opened as an historical exhibit in the summer of 2007. The exhibit will tell the true and complete story of local legend and Pow Wow doctor Nelson Rehmeyer known as the Witch of Rehmeyer's Hollow. His murder in 1928 was a media sensation much like that of O.J. Simpson or Anna Nicole Smith is in our time. The exhibit will show actual items owned by Rehmeyer on the night of his death. Visitors can take the tour and turn back the clock to the night when 3 men came for a book and left with blood on their hands thus sparking the trial of the century here in York County. The exhibit will be open to the public by scheduled tours and special appointments only. An admission fee will be charged.

Equivalent to Simpson's and Smith's proceedings? Not so sure. Newspapers and occasional radio stations were the only media of that day. But the trial is referred to locally as the most noticed before the circa 2000 York race riot proceedings.

Anyway, in a story titled "Infamous home to open", the York Daily Record provided other details about the planned museum: