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1) Contemporary newspaper lines & headlines (Nov 1928 — Jan 1929)
> These are short quoted headlines or brief phrases taken from newspaper lists and archival summaries of the 1928–1929 coverage (exact microfilm copies live in the York county papers / newspaper archives listed below).
“Youth, 14, admits York County murder.” — Carlisle (PA) Sentinel, Nov. 29, 1928.
“Murder farmer to get lock of hair to break spell, three confess.” — York Dispatch, Nov. 30, 1928 (headline summarizing early confessions).
“No pyrotechnics at murder trials.” — York Daily Record, Jan. 1, 1929 (reporting on the opening and the courtroom tone).
“Life term for Blymyer; Curry now faces jury.” — York Dispatch, Jan. 10, 1929 (headline indicating a life verdict and continuing proceedings).
“Find Curry boy guilty of first degree murder.” — York Dispatch, Jan. 11, 1929.
“Murder in second degree verdict passed upon Hess.” — York Daily Record, Jan. 14, 1929 (headline reporting Hess’s verdict).
(Those short headline quotations are pulled from contemporary paper indexes and later bibliographies that list the original clippings; the indexes are where the original microfilm headlines are recorded.)
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2) Trial records & sentencing — concise summary (what the court record shows)
When & where were they tried?
The trials took place in York County in January 1929 after the November 27–29, 1928 discovery of Nelson Rehmeyer’s body. The case received daily press attention and reporters followed testimony closely.
Who was charged and what were the verdicts?
John Blymire — principal defendant. Contemporary reports and court summaries show Blymire convicted of murder; early headlines and later records describe him receiving a life sentence (first-degree / life term coverage in the Dispatch reporting).
John Curry — age 14 at the time of the crime; contemporary headlines show found guilty of first-degree murder (Jan. 11, 1929) and an initially severe sentence (life), later subject to commutation petitions and commutations during the 1930s.
Wilbert (or Wilbur) Hess — younger accomplice; the newspapers report a second-degree murder verdict (Jan. 14, 1929) and a shorter prison term (commonly cited as approximately 10 years).
Sentences and later disposition (key points the papers and later documents record):
Hess’s conviction was recorded as second degree with a ~10-year sentence in contemporary headlines and later summaries.
Curry’s life sentence was later commuted (the pardons/commutation files and press reporting from the 1930s note commutation and eventual release activity — e.g., Curry’s term commuted to a shorter term such that his expected release was discussed in the late 1930s).
Blymire served many years; press clippings later report parole/commutation activity (Blymire was reported released from the penitentiary in later decades). (See yorkpaper obituaries and later Dispatch pieces cited below.)
Why the verdicts varied:
Contemporary reportage (and the court docket) shows the juries treated Hess differently (younger, different role in the assault) while Blymire and Curry were treated as principal actors — hence the heavier verdicts for the latter two. Several later pardon/commutation petitions argued that Curry (a juvenile) had been unduly influenced by Blymire.
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3) Where the full primary documents actually live (so you can get literal scans / trial transcripts)
If you want the actual scanned microfilm headlines, full trial testimony and the formal indictment/transcripts, start here:
York Daily Record / York Dispatch (microfilm / archives) — day-by-day reporting (Nov 28–Dec 1928; Jan 1929 trial days). Many of the headlines I quoted above come from these papers’ 1928–1929 microfilm. (Local library / York County Historical Center / Newspapers.com).
Pennsylvania State Archives / York County Courthouse — criminal docket, indictments, sentencing records, prison admission logs and pardon/commutation petitions (useful for the later 1930s-1940s commutation material).
Contemporary out-of-town coverage (e.g., Carlisle Sentinel, Philadelphia Inquirer indexes) — regional papers reprinted wires and local courtroom drama pieces; useful for alternative phrasings and national reach.
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4) Quick bibliography of the most useful modern wrappers (for context and links back to the original clippings)
York Daily Record retrospective and history posts on the Hex murder case (good starting points and they cite precise microfilm headlines).
The 2015 documentary Hex Hollow: Witchcraft and Murder in Pennsylvania (has interviews and timestamps pointing to archival materials).
Local histories, blog posts, and order-of-the-jackalope/archives that list the original newspaper headlines and give precise dates (handy finding aids).
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🕯️ The Old Witch-Book & the People Who Believed in It
Back in early 19th-century Pennsylvania, a modest book called Der Lange Verborgene Freund — better known in English as The Long Lost Friend — quietly spread across the rural German-Pennsylvania communities. Compiled by a German immigrant named Johann Georg Hohman, it was nothing like a doctor’s manual — but for believers, it worked like holy medicine. Its remedies ranged from healing human ailments, curing animal ills, banishing curses, and even making beer or preventing fruit from ripening before the proper season.
Possessing the book came with a grand promise: carry it, and you would be shielded from “all his enemies, visible or invisible”—safe from drowning, fire, unjust sentences, or even death without Jesus Christ’s holy corpse.
It wasn’t fringe — the book was a bestseller among Pennsylvania-German settlers, appearing in dozens of editions and translations, with hundreds of thousands of copies distributed over decades. What started as folk superstition melded into everyday life: healing in barns, charms on farmsteads, and prayers whispered under breath.
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The Healer: A Quiet Man in a Hollow
Enter Nelson D. Rehmeyer — a farmer living in a remote wooded valley known as Rehmeyer’s Hollow, in south-central Pennsylvania. He wasn’t a witch in the evil-witch sense; to many, he was what was called a “powwow doctor,” someone who used the book’s charms and rituals to heal neighbors. His services were rarely paid for in money — often just favors, goodwill, or gratitude.
Rehmeyer lived simply: a log-cabin homestead among hills and creeks, built by his ancestors — German immigrants who settled the hollow, built wells, mills, and even a small community of homes. By the early 1900s, he had built a proper house beside the original cabin and become the hollow’s go-to healer.
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The Belief, the Fear, and the Murder
But faith is a double-edged sword in rural superstition. There was one former patient, John Blymire, who’d once been treated by Rehmeyer. Later, life turned bitter: failed crops, lost children, despair. Blymire became convinced he’d been “hexed.” In 1928, along with two teenage accomplices — John Curry and Wilbert Hess — he consulted a local “witch” who told him the source of his curse was none other than Rehmeyer. Their remedy? Burn the book or bury a lock of his hair.
So on November 27, 1928 — a full-moon Thanksgiving Eve — the trio crept through the hollow toward Rehmeyer’s home. When he refused to hand over the book, they attacked: rope, blunt force, then oil and fire. Their plan was arson + murder.
But the fire didn’t consume the house or his body. In their haste they sealed doors and windows — choking the blaze. Instead of disappearing, Rehmeyer’s corpse remained — the blood, the charred floor, a strangely preserved crime scene. A neighbor discovered the body days later. All three confessed; the short 1929 trial was headline news.
To the world, it became the sensational “hex murder trial” — disbelief, horror, fascination. For the Pennsylvania German community, it was a brutal collision between folk belief and modern skepticism.
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Haunted House, Tarnished Legacy — and a Descendant’s Mission
Decades passed. The house in Rehmeyer’s Hollow fell into decay. But in recent years, his great-grandson Rick Ebaugh — resembling the man in old family photos — decided to try to restore what was lost. He refurbished the home to resemble its 1928 appearance, removed modern siding to reveal original wood, and even preserved the hole in the kitchen floor — the exact spot where the murder happened — under a protective pane of glass for visitors.
Ebaugh’s dream is complex: he wants to honor his ancestor’s memory, perhaps clear his name, and show the world the home isn’t the sensational haunted house of lurid legend — just a quiet farmhouse that became the stage of tragedy born from fear, superstition, and greed. As he walks among old chairs, a clock that stopped at 12:01 a.m. (the moment of Rehmeyer’s death), and artifacts from the farm, you get a sense of a different atmosphere: not witchcraft, but grief; not curses, but community stories lost to time.
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Why This Story Still Matters
The story blends immigrant folk-traditions, spiritual healing, and rural life — an echo of a time when medicine, faith, and folklore were deeply intertwined.
It highlights how belief can inspire compassion and community — but also fear, paranoia, and violence.
It shows how a single book — the Long Lost Friend — could shape lives, heal (or comfort), but also become a scapegoat for tragedy.
It reminds us: history often isn’t tidy. The truth about people like Rehmeyer lives somewhere between legend and reality — forever on the edge of both.
Cool — doing a side-by-side chart of what the defendants said or confessed vs. what the court accepted / convicted them for in the Rehmeyer’s Hollow / Nelson Rehmeyer murder case. As with all things — there are gaps and contradictions, so treat this as known record vs. claimed motive.
Defendant Alleged / Confessed Motive & Description of the Crime Court / Trial Outcome: What They Were Convicted For / What the Official Record Accepted
John Blymire claimed he believed he (and his family) had been “hexed” by Rehmeyer (curse, bad luck, misfortune), and intended to “break the hex” by obtaining Rehmeyer’s copy of The Long Lost Friend and/or a lock of his hair — as allegedly recommended by a local “witch.” Then, when Rehmeyer refused to hand over the book, Blymire and others attacked, beat and strangled him; then they attempted to burn his body and the house to destroy evidence. The court accepted their actions as premeditated murder for robbery / violent assault — the “witchcraft motive” was stripped from the official record. <br> Verdict: first-degree murder; Sentence: life imprisonment.
John Curry (age ~14) — one of the young accomplices — similarly believed he was under a hex and joined Blymire in hopes of “breaking” it. In confessions he admitted assaulting Rehmeyer (with wood, ropes) along with Blymire and another accomplice. The court treated him as fully responsible — first-degree murder, life sentence. They did not give leniency because of his youth or the supernatural motive.
Wilbert (Wilbur) Hess (then ~18) — said he participated in the assault and believed in the hex curse; the group’s plan involved obtaining the book / hair to break the hex. He joined Blymire and Curry in breaking into Rehmeyer’s home; reportedly struck blows and helped subdue Rehmeyer. Court treated him as a secondary actor, with less culpability than Blymire/Curry. He was convicted of second-degree murder, not first-degree, and sentenced to 10–20 years in prison.
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🔎 Where “Confession / Motive” vs “Official Record / Verdict” Diverge — Key Tensions
The defendants openly admitted witchcraft / hex-belief and framed their crime as a ritualistic “curse–removal.”
But during trial, references to witchcraft / powwowing were expunged or suppressed: the court refused to allow “witch-craft” as a formal legal motive or defense.
Officially the motive was reduced to a robbery, or general unlawful violence — despite the fact that the trio only stole a small amount of cash (pennies) and left the larger goal (the book) unfulfilled.
Thus the sensational, cultural/folk-magic dimension — the reason they claimed they acted — was erased from the public/legal record. The trial was framed purely in rational-legal terms.
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⚠️ What Remains Unsettled / What We Should Treat with Caution
It’s unclear which of the men actually struck the fatal blow. In some confessions Curry is said to have delivered the deadly head-blow; but official records do not definitively assign the fatal strike.
The decision to treat all participants as rational criminals — ignoring their professed belief in curses / hexes — reflects the era’s legal and cultural discomfort with folk magic. This likely influenced the stripping of magical motive from the record.
Later pardons / paroles suggest the system may have considered age, repentance, or social pressure — but the reasons (officially) remain murky.
