Hex murder compared to O.J.’s, Anna Nicole Smith’s cases
The Nelson Rehmeyer’s Hex murder house in North Hopewell Township was to regain its 1928 appearance with plans for tours this summer. Here, author Ross McGinnis gives a tour of the house. (Update, 10/2/12) The plan to open the murder house as a museum was eventually rejected by supervisors.)
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 practitioner 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:
About Rehmeyer’s Hollow
·What: Historical exhibits and tours of the Nelson Rehmeyer house, where he was murdered in 1928
·Where: Rehmeyer’s Hollow Road in North Hopewell Township
·When: This summer
·Why: The practice of powwowing led three young men to murder Nelson Rehmeyer in 1928, sparking a witch trial that drew an international flood of astonished spectators and reporters to York County.
·Cost: An admission fee, to be determined, will be charged.
For further reading, see J. Ross McGinnis’ “The Trial of Hex,” available via the York County Library System and Borders Books in York.
Also of interest:
To see all Hex Murder posts/photos from the start, click here.
Or if you prefer, click on these individual links with their extensive collection of photographs:
Powwowing: ‘… It was here, and it had many adherents … , ‘Powwowing was done for good’, Hex headache cure: ‘Tame thou flesh and bone’, Relative: Evil in Hex murder came from outside, Hex murder fascinating tale of mysticism, occult: Part 1, ‘Trials of Hex’ makes sense of notorious murder case: Part 2 , Little-known facts about Hex murder trial emerge, Hex murder compared to O.J.’s, Anna Nicole Smith’s cases, Hex house visit offers surprises, Visiting the scene of the crime.
