Members of the South Central Pennsylvania Genealogical Society look on as J. Ross McGinnis gives a tour of the Nelson Rehmeyer house, where the famous Hex murder occurred in 1828. The group is standing over the spot where Rehmeyer was killed. McGinnis is referencing a copy of a photograph of the kitchen depicted after the murder. Background post: Hex book: How powwow doctors plied their craft.
It was a perfect story.
The plot brought J. Ross McGinnis, the foremost authority on the Hex murder of 1928, to the site where it occurred, the Nelson Rehmeyer house in North Hopewell Township.
Not only did McGinnis write an authoritative and readable book on the murder, but he's a master story teller to boot.
"I feel like I'm walking here on hallowed ground," McGinnis told members of the South Central Pennsylvania Genealogical Society.
A wonderful fund-raiser for some group would bring McGinnis to the Strand-Capitol in York to tell a similar story before a showing of "Apprentice to Kill," the 1988 film inspired by the Hex murder.
On second thought, given McGinnis' storytelling ability, forget the film. The Strand would be filled.
The York Daily Record reported on McGinnis' visit to the house in a story headlined: "The scene of the crime:"
