George Swetnam (1904–1999)

For a Pittsburgh native like myself, I was entertained by what "Devil, Ghosts, and Witches: Occult Folklore of the Upper Ohio Valley" had to offer. Before reading this, I didn't know that in 1759 there was a request to set up a 14th colony, "Pittsylvania" at the headwaters of the Ohio River." The book not only covers this area aka the Greater Pittsburgh Area, but expands it outwardly, from haunted St. Vincent's College in Latrobe to Taylor County, WV to a bit of Columbiana County, OH and everything in between.

Some of my favorites are the "Millvale Apparition!" There was a terrible spectre that appeared while Maximilian Vanka was painting the murals of St. Nicholas Catholic Church! There's the legend of Joe Magarac, which came from "the unionizing efforts during the Homestead Strike of 1892." His ghost "appears in the midst of workmen taxed beyond their powers to overcome their difficulty." He's like a local Paul Bunyan! Then there's John Reddick and the demon Asmodeus. Braggadocios Reddick thought not even the Devil could catch him on his fine grey steed. But when the demon came to "extradite" his soul after death, he made sure to bury himself on the state line! Richard Slyhoff pulled a similar trick by having his grave under a 45° angle rock. He reasoned that "as the earth trembled" during Judgement Day, the rock would fall and the Devil would never get him. And of course there are the stories of Moll Derry that I've mentioned before, and witch hunter John Meyers of Warren County.

The reason this book got 3.5 stars, despite being a treasure trove of local lore, it left me wanting more. The author collected folklore for 34 years! I would've had the book separated into 2 (ghosts vs devils + witches) to fit more lore! I still highly recommend it though, especially combined with the works of Thomas White.… (mehr)