Forgotten Tales of Pennsylvania Read Free Page B

EAD
    Hamilton Disston had a small problem at the end of March 1887. Apparently, everyone believed that he was dead. Rumors had circulated in Philadelphia that he had been hit by a train along the Pennsylvania Railroad at the Germantown Junction. The story had spread so quickly that family and friends were shocked when they saw him walking around. Hamilton convinced local newspapers that he was still alive, and they assured the public in print that he was, in fact, still living. He had no idea how the rumors got started.
    T HE O GUA
    The ogua was said to be an amphibious or alligator-like creature that inhabited the banks of the Monongahela River in the 1700s and early 1800s. According to the folklore of local Indians and some early settlers, the ogua reached up to twenty feet in length and weighed as much as five hundred pounds. The creatures supposedly spent most of their time in the water but would occasionally venture onto land at night to catch deer that would come to the river to drink. The ogua would grapple the deer with its tail and drag it into the water to drown before devouring it. There were several unverified reports of settlers killing some of the creatures. It is now believed that the story may have been a cautionary tale, much like an urban legend, to prevent young children from playing too close to the river.
    F IRE AT THE C ANDY F ACTORY
    A fire destroyed one of Philadelphia’s largest candy factories on January 25, 1880. Stephen F. Whitman & Sons confectionary at Twelfth and Market Streets caught fire sometime in the afternoon. The cause could not be determined. The third and fourth floors were completely burned out, and the roof collapsed through the building. The water used to extinguish the fire destroyed the candy-making machinery in the basement. The building itself suffered $5,000 worth of damage, and the company lost $65,000 worth of stock. That is a lot of melted chocolate.
    Another candy factory fire occurred in Saxton on December 6, 1924. It started in the afternoon on the second floor of the factory owned by James and John Morritz. Firemen said that the vats of sugar and molasses helped to feed the fire. In less than an hour, the entire building was in ruins. Approximately $8,000 worth of holiday orders were destroyed.
    T HE L IZARD M AN
    In February 1981, five boys playing in a railroad yard in Arnold, Pennsylvania, were being observed by a rather strange spectator. The boys stopped when they noticed that a small, green, hairless humanoid was watching them. It seemed to resemble some sort of lizard man. The boys tried to grab the creature, hoping to capture it. After emitting a loud squeal, the lizard man squirmed free. It then fled down a drainpipe and was not seen again.
    H OODOO M ADE A M AN S IGN L EGAL D OCUMENTS
    A rather bizarre complaint was filed with police in Scranton in August 1883. A man by the name of Hogan accused Foster Rankin, Dennis Sullivan, Edward Horan and Albert Hodge of conspiracy and necromancy. Hogan claimed that he had met the men at the Mansion House several nights before and shared several glasses of wine with them. As the evening progressed, the men introduced him to a “hoodoo” doctor, who claimed to have supernatural abilities. The hoodoo man quickly performed some type of ritual and passed his hand over Hogan’s head. Hogan claimed that the magical act caused him to believe that he was a judge of Lackawanna County, and he began to sign documents in his perceived legal capacity.
    One of the documents apparently relinquished all of his property to his former wife. Another was a biography of himself, in which he admitted to committing murder, arson and a variety of other crimes. Hogan claimed to have no control over his actions while the hoodoo doctor watched over him. When he was released from their control, Hogan claimed that the men demanded that he give them ten dollars or they would publish the biography.

    T HE L OST C AVE OF S ILVER
    According