In 1928, a quiet Pennsylvania farming community was shaken to its core by a brutal murder—one committed not for money or revenge, but to break a supposed curse.
A man named Nelson Rehmeyer, known locally as a powwow doctor—a practitioner of folk magic—was beaten, tortured, and burned to death by men who believed he had bewitched them.
The case became known as the Hex Hollow Murder, and it remains one of America’s most disturbing intersections of rural superstition, occult belief, and real-life violence.
This is the chilling story of how fear of the supernatural led to one of the strangest crimes in American history.
What is Powwowing?
Before the murder, Nelson Rehmeyer wasn’t seen as a villain. He was a local healer in York County, Pennsylvania, where many residents practiced “powwowing”—a form of Pennsylvania Dutch folk magic.
Powwowing combined Christian prayers, herbal medicine, and protective charms. While mostly seen as benign or helpful, some in the community believed that powwow practitioners could also curse others—especially if angered or offended.
This belief, mixed with rural isolation and religious fervor, set the stage for tragedy.
The Curse
Rehmeyer’s name came up when John Blymire, a former powwow himself, began suffering a streak of bad luck, illness, and hallucinations. Convinced he had been hexed, Blymire sought guidance from another folk healer who told him to locate the source of his misfortune.
He was instructed to retrieve the spell book of the one who cursed him and burn it—along with a lock of their hair.
Blymire believed the source was Rehmeyer.
In November 1928, Blymire, along with two accomplices—John Curry and Milton Hess—broke into Rehmeyer’s home late at night.
What followed was murder in the name of magic.
The Ritual Killing
The men tied up Rehmeyer, beat him savagely, and demanded his spell book. When they failed to find it, they set fire to the house in an attempt to destroy any lingering hex.
But the fire mysteriously failed to consume the home. The body was scorched, but the structure stood firm—an eerie detail that only deepened the legend.
Local newspapers seized on the occult angle, dubbing the crime “The Witchcraft Murder” and branding the area “Hex Hollow.”
The trial that followed shocked the nation.
The Trial and Public Reaction
All three men were quickly arrested. During the trial, Blymire claimed he truly believed Rehmeyer had cursed him and that the murder was a spiritual necessity. The defense argued diminished capacity due to delusional belief systems.
The jury didn’t buy it.
- Blymire and Curry were convicted of second-degree murder
- Hess was sent to a reformatory due to his young age
The crime exposed a dark undercurrent in early 20th-century rural America: that even in a modernizing world, fear of the occult still held deadly power.
The House That Wouldn’t Burn
Rehmeyer’s house still stands to this day. Known as Rehmeyer’s Hollow, it has become a site of paranormal fascination.
Visitors have reported:
- Cold spots and strange sounds
- Feelings of unease or being watched
- Objects moving on their own
Locals whisper that Rehmeyer’s spirit remains, not seeking revenge, but guarding the truth behind his death.
The house has since been turned into a museum and is occasionally opened to the public.
The Lingering Legacy
The Hex Hollow Murder is often framed as a cautionary tale about superstition and belief gone too far. But it’s more than that.
It’s a story about how fear can override reason, how ancient rituals can still spark real-world violence, and how rural communities can carry shadows long after the fire has gone out.
Over 90 years later, the echoes of the crime still linger in the Pennsylvania woods. And whether you believe in curses or not, one thing is certain:
Something strange happened in Rehmeyer’s Hollow—and it left a permanent mark on American occult history.
For more cases like this, explore our archive. SinisterArchive.com—where the legends are real.
