Monday, October 4, 2010

River Witch of Marietta, Pennsylvania


Located along Front Street in Marietta is the former home of one of Pennsylvania’s most famous co-conspirators. Nellie Noll, a/k/a the “River Witch,” helped play a very key role in the murder of Nelson Rehmeyer. Nelson’s neighbor, John Blymire, had fallen on some very hard luck. He became convinced that someone had cast a hex on him. He was also able to persuade two teenagers that they, too, had been hexed, that’s the reason for their failing crops. Mr. Blymire contacted several local witches and was convinced that he had been hexed by someone near him. The trio then consulted with Nellie Noll as a last ditch effort. For reasons which are still unknown, she told the men they had been hexed by the Witch of Rehmeyer’s Hollow – Nelson Rehmeyer. In order to break the hex, she informed the men all they would need to do was to retrieve Rehmeyer’s spell book and burn it or get a lock of his hair and bury it six feet underground. The men’s plan eventually came to fruition after they murdered Nelson Rehmeyer in his home. They were never able to retrieve the spellbook of the imposing Rehmeyer, but his hair – and the rest of him – made it six feet underground. The ensuing murder trial made national news and was a media sensation. The Philadelphia Record called the trial “the weirdest and most curiously fascinating in the history of modern jurisprudence.” And to think all this mayhem occurred due to Nellie Noll, the River Witch of Marietta.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

All this came about because of ignorance. Nellie Noll had nothing to do with the death of Nelson Rehmeyer.