The Hex Hollow Murder of Nelson Rehmeyer

In November 1928, Nelson Rehmeyer was killed inside his farmhouse in southern York County, Pennsylvania. He was a farmer and a practitioner of powwowing, a Pennsylvania German healing tradition that used prayers, scripture, and folk remedies.

John Blymire believed a hex was responsible for years of illness, sleeplessness, and bad luck. After a woman told him Nelson was the person behind it, John became convinced that he needed Nelson’s copy of The Long Lost Friend or a lock of his hair to break the curse. He recruited 14 year old John Curry and 18 year old Wilbert Hess, and the three went to Nelson’s home looking for a way to end the supposed hex.

In this episode, we follow the murder at what became known as Hex Hollow, the beliefs and rumors surrounding the case, and the trials that followed. All three men were convicted of murder, but the story that survived in newspapers and local folklore often obscured the person Nelson was before his death.

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A. Monroe Aurand Jr., The “Pow-Wow” Book and account of the murder trials (1929)

Commonwealth v. Curry—Pennsylvania Supreme Court opinion (1930)

Morning Register—“Curry Goes on Trial,” January 11, 1929

Morning Register—“John Curry Is Convicted,” January 12, 1929

Knickerbocker Press—Wilbert Hess verdict coverage, January 13, 1929