A Witch's Curse, a Killing, and a Community in Panic

Hi everyone, before today's episode, we want to tell you about What the Fact. It's a new show from Conor Tomlinson, who you know from Netflix's Love on the Spectrum, and Carter Roy from Murder, True Crime Stories. Every week they take three unbelievable true facts from history and tell you the full story behind them. Conor's infectious energy will make you realize history is the most fascinating thing on Earth. Follow What the Fact, wherever you listen, or subscribe on YouTube at What the Fact is. Today's case is super creepy, and to get you all excited for the story, we are going to play a little game of, would you rather? So we will pick two shocking moments from today's case, and we're going to see which one you think is the lesser of two evils. This week we're covering the story of the Hex Hollow Murders, where a practicing witch named Nelson Raymeyer was brutally murdered. Sabrina, here are the choices for Would You Rather? Would you rather live your whole life, convince that you've been cursed, or would you rather spend the night inside a haunted house, knowing that the ground beneath you might open up and just drag it out? Well given that we know this case, and you will see why we pick this, I'd much rather spend the night in a haunted house, knowing that the ground might open up and drag me to hell. What would be your tactic for not being dragged to hell? I'm down for health. To the wall? I'm down for hell. If the fair is lava, then just grab a ceiling. Right. See, I run cold. Like, I'm down. And I also- But then that's the end of your life. And then I'll haunt people. Okay. There's your answer. Because some people I feel like might be like, "Oh, I want to spend my life thinking I've been cursed." That was my initial response to what I would have chosen, but then I'm starting to think about just the anxiety in the paranoia to live the rest of your life, having everything seem to go against you and fail and how hard that would be mentally. So I might take my chances in the hellish house too. I feel like we've joked so many times that we are cursed. Well, I think that there actually was maybe a two-girls one that goes cursed at one time. But we never took it so far that we were like, "We have to curse the person who cursed us back," or whatever. It was just kind of like, "Ah, the silly little thing that we joked about." But unfortunately, we cannot say the same about one man named John Blimeyer, because he was certain that he and his family had been hexed by a local witch, so John Blimeyer recruited two friends who were willing to do whatever it took to end this hex for good. Welcome to Crimes of the Paranormal, a crime house original powered by paved studios. We are your hosts, Sabrina Deanna Roga and Corinne Vien. Every Tuesday, we're exploring a different corner of the True Crime universe, examining cases that left a permanent impact on society. This season, we are diving into cases where the evidence doesn't end at blood stains and fingerprints, but drifts into the unexplainable, into the unknown. If you're loving Crimes of, please follow, rate, and review us wherever you listen. It helps us build this community, and we also just love hearing from you. You can also catch us on YouTube where we include visuals that bring every case to life. Subscribe to Crime House Plus on Apple Podcasts for ad-free early access. And if you can't get enough True Crime, go search and follow Crime House Daily, our team's twice a day show bringing you breaking cases, updates, and unbelievable stories from the world of crime that are happening right now. Today we're talking about the Hex Hollow Murder. In the 1920s, in York County, Pennsylvania, Brow Hooray, a form of witchcraft, laid a very real role in many people's lives. When a man named John Blimeyer became convinced that he had been cursed, he sought a way to end this curse. But undoing a curse wasn't going to be an easy task. And unfortunately, John Blimeyer went to deadly extremes to make it happen. A warning before we begin, this episode contains descriptions of murder, torture, and violence. So please listen with care. On November 27, 1928, 60-year-old Nelson Raymeyer was murdered by three people, John Blimeyer and his accomplices Wilbert Tess and John Curry. John Blimeyer was convinced that Nelson had cursed him, despite there being zero credible evidence. And this was a brutal attack, and Nelson Raymeyer was the victim of a senseless, horrific crime by members of his own community. John Blimeyer's paranoia and his suspicion led him and his accomplices to do unspeakable things. And when you hear the term witchcraft, I feel like most people think of the Salem witch trials. Or even, you know, the more globally horrific witch trials from all over the world. So when you think of those, you also think they're so far in the past, hundreds and hundreds of years ago, between the 15th and 17th centuries, removed from us, except it's not as far back in history as we'd like to think, because less than a century ago, in York County, Pennsylvania, which is a small community, a local healer named Nelson Raymeyer was murdered for his practices. We actually record this podcast in Salem. Yes. We're right where the witch trials happened. We're actually basically steps away from where the judge, unfortunately, lived during this time. So we are kind of on the ground that haunted land. Yeah. We're innocent lives we're taken because, again, which is we're not killed in the Salem witch trials. It is so interesting because it's like, I feel like when we've researched cases, depending on when it happened in history and where it happened, being a witch is either a horrible thing, or it's like the best compliment you could ever receive. Today, call me a witch. It's the best compliment. It is such a compliment. Yeah. Like, in addition to calling you Mommies, you're all our witches. Yeah. And it's a term of endearment. We love you. Yeah. So proud to be a baby witch. A baby witch. But, you know, everyone has their own feelings about witchcraft and spells and curses, and they certainly can be used for bad. So we do want to hear what you think. So let us know. Let us know your thoughts on witchcraft. But if there's one thing that this particular story has taught us is that there are no limits to what can motivate murder. Anything can be twisted by fear, and when superstition becomes stronger than a reason, even the unthinkable can be justified. It's Thanksgiving Day, 1928. It's a gray, cold morning that settles over the rolling hills of York County, Pennsylvania. The kind of chill that seeps into your bones before the day even starts. Outside his farmhouse, David Vanover pauses. Something feels off. The wind carries a strange sound across the fields, and the cries of livestock, bleeding, moving, squealing. He realizes it's coming from his neighbor Nelson Ray Meyers Land, just a few miles away. That's odd. Nelson's always very diligent when it comes to his animals. So why, David wonders, are they crying out as if they hadn't been fed in days? Concerned, David decides to pay Nelson a visit. He walks to Nelson's farm, and finds the animals restless, pacing, stomping their hooves against the frozen ground. So David stops long enough to feed them, water them. But as he approaches the farmhouse, David notices a new sensation. A smell. You can't place it, it smells like burnt wood, and something else. Whatever it is, it's extremely unpleasant. David looks around, but he doesn't see Nelson anywhere, and now, feeling even more uneasy, he goes to get another neighbor, Oscar GladFilter, and together they approach Nelson's house. They knock. There's no answer. The silence feels ominous, heavy. Now growing more nervous, they circle Nelson's home until they find a window, and David and Oscar appear inside. What they see will haunt them for the rest of their lives. Nelson Raymeyer lies face down on his floor. His head twisted at an unnatural angle against a pile of firewood. A rope is looped around his neck. Blood spatters the floor and the walls, and parts of the room are scorched, blackened by a fire that never fully took, and there's that smell again. The scorched odor of burnt wood, and beneath it, the unmistakable stench of death. David finally realizes what that smell was. It is the smell of Nelson Raymeyer himself. His body charred and rotting, lying about was once his sanctuary, now a scene from hell. By the time his neighbors, David Vanover and Oscar Glatfelter found him, 60 year old Nelson Raymeyer had been dead for two days. In such a small community, news like this, it traveled very fast, and it was super clear that Nelson Raymeyer had been brutally murdered in his home, and the case very quickly attracted press who descended on York County to cover the case. And it didn't take long for police to find culprits, 33 year old John Blimeyer, and his two accomplices, 18 year old Nelson Raymeyer. Wilbur Tess and 14-year-old John Curry. But why? Why did this group of three potentially kill this beloved member of their community in such a violent manner? So in order to understand this of what happened and why, we're going to go back to before the murder took place. It's 1920s, and York County, Pennsylvania is this area of mostly small farms, rolling hills, tight-knit communities, and life was ruled by the seasons by church bells and the sound of livestock. It was a very quiet place. Many of the people living here were Christian and descendants of German immigrants who had come to Pennsylvania in the 1700s. And while many, many years had passed since they immigrated here, their traditions and practices remained prevalent and strong. And when something went wrong, when a child got sick, cattle stopped producing milk, they didn't always call a doctor. No, they'd call a powwow or a brahwarae practitioner called a brahwara. And to be clear, this term doesn't really have anything to do with the Native American practices of holding powwows, which are cultural celebrations of dance and other traditions. But in this specific case, the definition of the term powwow is something totally different. But for the purpose of this episode, not to get too confused, we will refer to these practitioners as hexenmeisters, practitioners of brahwarae. Brahwarae was a century's old form of folk magic that actually worked in tandem with their Christian beliefs. Brahwarae was a mixture of scripture, charms, rituals, and incantations used for healing, protection, and banishing evil. It was faith in action. We even have the long-lost friend, which is a book that a lot of hexenmeisters brahwarae practitioners used. A hexenmeister could heal, protect, and bless, and anyone could be a practitioner as long as you were born with the gift. Believers often used special gifts that detailed rituals and prayers to tackle almost any problem. It's very similar to a shaman. Very. Yes. They had basically phrases you could repeat to help prevent toothaches. They had forms of letters you could write to help aid your crops. They could help stop wounds from bleeding. And from the outside and from an outside perspective, it could be seen as witchcraft. But to those who believed it was very, very real. But with this, there was also a dark side. Hexenmeisters were called to protect. Protect from what you may ask? Well, even in this book, the long-lost friend, there are rituals to protect against evil. Hex doctors, because where there is good, there is evil. And in the wrong hand, a practitioner could curse. And this is what brings us to Nelson Raymeyer, because Nelson, he was born, raised in York County and in 1928. The six-year-old was living a very modest, quiet life. He was alone on his farm, taking great care of his animals. And people in the community thought of him as really kind and really friendly. A man who kept himself, but he was also a little bit unusual. He was a little bit eccentric. And there are a couple things here at play. So for one, he had a wife and kids. But his wife and kids had actually moved out of the home and moved like some a mile down the road, and they were living separately. But they never got divorced. And they even stayed amicable. It sounds so strange, but I actually grew up with a friend in middle school whose parents were divorced, but they all lived together in the same house. And it was a four-story home and the two great co-power. Yeah, it was like the bottom floor with the dad, the top floor with the mom, the two middle was like the group, family, space, the vacation together, travel together. So like sometimes people, today it just makes sense. Realize, yeah, like we were supposed to be friends. And we can work friends. Yeah, right. But back then in 1928, this is unusual. And just a little bit odd. Yeah, yeah. So the second thing is that Nelson kept quite a lot of socialist literature, which at the time and the social climate of the time, this was considered dangerous. But despite those oddities, Nelson was still a very beloved member of this community. And he was also known as a Hexenmeister, a practitioner of Brawhurai. And he was the good kind, right? He wasn't dabbling in the dark, doing bad Hexes and conjuring evil. He was known good. Yes, he was a healer and he helped people in the community. But not everyone believed that Nelson was using his gift for good, specifically 32-year-old John Blimeyer. So John Blimeyer also grew up in New York, County, Pennsylvania, but he didn't have an easy upbringing. And he was plagued with illness, fatigue, stomach pains, low energy. And while his family didn't have a ton of money, they spent a lot of money bringing him to all types of doctors, both medical science doctors and Hexenmeister's Brawhurai doctors. They tried everything to cure poor John. But nothing seemed to work. John continued to suffer in pain. He couldn't sleep. He couldn't eat. He couldn't relax. One doctor suggested that John had a nervous disease. And I'm going to try really hard to say this correctly. Hypocondriacal melancholia. But today, I think we would probably diagnose we as medical professionals here would probably have diagnosed John with anxiety and depression. But mental health in 1928 wasn't where it is now. No. In 1928, one of the doctors admitted John Blimeyer to a psychiatric hospital. And it was there that he was given electric treatments. And he was determined to be suffering from delusions. And John hated this facility. Actually, most people, if not everyone, basically, he did it. Yeah. Yeah. They were really not good places. But from what we know of them in the 1920s, there was reason for John to hate it so much. And reason for him to do what he did, he knew that these shock treatments were not helping him and that these medical professionals were maybe harming him more than helping. And so he decided that he needed to get out. He wanted to return to the healers, to the heck stockers. And so what did John do, Sabrina? He ran away. And he ran away to his wife. And details here are kind of vague. But this is where, as you probably know, ready from the beginning of this episode, John Blimeyer is sus. He apparently tried to kill his wife. And he was arrested. He was released after four months. And he was finally able to seek out those healers. So he went healer after healer asking for help, trying to figure out what was plaguing him, why he was in so much pain. But there were little to no answers. John continued to suffer. And on top of the physical pain, John couldn't seem to hold down a job either. And then tragically in 1922, of his three children died. And after an especially intense fight to his wife left him, our mind already tried to kill her. And after so much pain and so much heartbreak, John was like, I need answers. And so he sought out more healers. And soon the answer became clear. John must have been cursed. In his mind, if he's cursed, a supernatural problem requires a supernatural solution. So he sought out the help of a few local hex doctors or hexenmysters, hoping that one of them could help free him from his hex. The first few hexenmysters told John what he wanted to hear. That yes, he was cursed. That what he was suspecting was real. And that with magic, they could help him. But whatever spells or rituals they performed, they didn't seem to work or they didn't seem to satisfy John. So he kept looking for other healers who could take on his problem more aggressively in a more complete way. Because no simple protection spell was working. Enter the river witch of Marietta, which is such a cool name. I know. I love that name. Her human name was Emma Noel. And her human name. Instead of just sort of like, you know, her stage near the river witch of Marietta. So Emma Noel, we don't really know much about Emma. She might have been around seven years old, but some people said that she was closer to 90. So she was older and older. Rich. And supposedly Emma kind of looks like the typical old witch. You know, she had practically no teeth. Her eyes were really dark impenetrable. And she had an abnormally long tooth in her upper jaw that kind of stuck out right outside of her mouth. And she was this powerful practitioner of Brahurai. So John went to see her. And finally, after years and years of suffering, John got an answer. Emma Noel hadn't answered for him. And he finally found out who put this lifelong curse on him. Happy Halloween. Crime House listeners. I'm Vanessa Richardson. Did you know horror films like Abigail and Sinister were based on true stories? Join me every Sunday this month on Crime House 24/7 for Crime House of Horrors. Where I dive into four stories behind some of our favorite scary movies. From Abigail, the autopsy of Jane Doe, Sinister, and the taking of Deborah Logan, you'll find one thing in common. The truth is scarier than fiction. Listen every Sunday on Crime House 24/7 or join Crime House Plus for all four right now. Add free Don't forget to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or at crimehouseplus.com. It's November of 1928. John Blimeyer sits nervously before Eminol, the river witch of Marietta, in her creaking wooden home. He's paid her about three visits already, but so far all she had told him was that he was, in fact, cursed. There's something different about today though. John can tell that Emma has something on her mind. The energy, maybe the witch has a new spell to try, maybe this time John can get closer to freeing himself from this terrible hex. Silently, Emma gestures for John to hold out his hand. He complies, and the witch smooths out a single $1 bill across his palm. When he removes the dollar bill, he will see the face of the man who placed the curse on him. It will appear right there in the palm of John's hand. John wipes his thoughts completely, so the only thing on his mind is the money in his hand. After a few moments, he rips the bill away and stares down. He cannot believe what he sees, because there, in the center of his palm, he swears he sees the face of a man. But not just any man, he sees without a doubt a familiar face. That of Nelson Raymeyer. And John in this moment, he is equal parts chocked and thrilled, right? Because finally he has an answer for all of his suffering. Nelson had lived in York County too, but he was a brawler eye practitioner and a recluse, and widely known as kind of a eccentric, strange person, and someone John's parents actually took him to as a child. So he did have prior contact with this guy, right? After all this time, all these years of torment, finally he found who he was looking for. But could this man be the reason for all of his life's miseries? He told Emma what he saw in his hand, and she insisted that this must be the witch responsible for the curse. And this news is beyond chalking to John. At first it doesn't even make sense, because he has no Nelson since he was a boy. Right. When he was around five years old, and John's illnesses became more serious, the family called Nelson to their home, and Nelson supposedly saved John's life. Yeah, because he's a good kind guy and a wonderful healer and practitioner. And then Nelson also gave John a job, picking potatoes on his farm. So like he's known Nelson for 20 years, which at this point is now two thirds of his life. He's 32. Yeah. But if everything Emma is saying is true, Nelson is purposefully making John suffer. Which is this kind of hard, because it's like Emma saying, yes, it's him, it's him, but she didn't conjure up his image, like, this is John saying that this is who's responsible. Right. And John is not about to question the ancient practices of his people. So by the end of the session, John Blimeyer knew exactly how to break this hex. All he had to do was secure a lock of Nelson's hair and bury it in the ground six to eight feet deep. Or he needed to find Nelson's copy of long lost friend, a common bra huri text, and burn the book to ash. So either option should successfully end the hex on John. So easy enough, right, harmless enough. But as you already know from the beginning of this episode, wrong. So John Blimeyer leaves his appointment with Emanol. He's feeling optimistic for the first time in a very long time. He's this close to being healed. The hex would be over soon. And seren dipitously to John, he needs a man named Milton Hess, and this meeting changes their lives forever. So Milton Hess was a factory worker who lived on a farm in town with his family. One day while on a break at work, he stepped outside and ran into John Blimeyer. The two of them work at the factory. They now get to talking. And Milton confides in John. He tells John that he and his family are having tons of problems on their farm lately. Animals are going missing. The harvests are failing. One of Milton's sons, Wilbert, had been so sick for his entire life. But that's not even the end of it. Milton Hess went on to explain that his sister in law owned the farm next door. And the two of them had been having land disputes that were so volatile that he actually wouldn't be surprised if his sister had paid a witch to put a hex on him. So alarm bells are ringing in John's head. And he's like, ooh, the sounds oddly familiar. And his mind starts to run. And he's thinking, well, if Nelson Raymeyer was as malicious as it seems, then maybe he did curse John. And what's to say that Nelson hadn't put multiple curses on multiple people. And it seals that belief when he learns the next fact. That the Hess farm was less than 10 miles away from Nelson Raymeyer's farm. So now John is convinced that Nelson Raymeyer has hexed not only him, but also the Hess family as well. But great thing he knows how to remove the hex, right? So John forms a plan. All he needed to do was to get Milton Hess on board to help him. Right. And he was like, well, this won't be very difficult because I myself am born with a gift. John has a gift. He was born with the gift and abilities needed to be a powerful brahurai practitioner. All he had to do was tell Milton Hess of the curse that he could help him remove it too, because he had this ability. John had this reputation because there were rumors around town that he actually was a powerful brahurai. One story said that one afternoon while John was on his break at a cigar factory, a rabid dog approached him and his co-workers aggressively. It was foaming at the mouth ready to attack when John stepped forward and recited an incantation. And it worked instantly. The dog stopped foaming at the mouth, it became docile, friendly, and it even followed him around for a while. So basically having this background and this rumored belief that he was a practitioner of brahurai as well, it almost made it easier to convince Milton Hess that yes. And also like, let's remember that the two people he convinced to be his accomplices were young men. One was a child and one was still a teenager. Yes, but Milton Hess is like an older father, but he convinces him that both his whole family and John have been cursed by Nelson Raymeyer. So he told John to handle the matter and he even allows his son, 18-year-old Wilbert Hess to assist. And John brought along one other accomplice, his prodigy, 14-year-old John Curry. Like John Blimeyer, Curry had lived a life full of misery and bad luck. He'd suffered a horrible abuse of childhood at the hands of his stepfather and had recently run away from home, so he really took to John and looked up to him. On November 25, 1928, John Blimeyer met these two boys at the Hess family farm and they were going to discuss their next move. Step one was to visit Nelson and get a lay of the land. It had been a really long time since he saw Nelson in person because he was really just being treated as a child at the time and now he was an adult. So he wanted to see what he was up against, who he was up against, which is kind of like an aggressive way to go at it. Totally. So on November 26, 1928, he and John Curry drove out to the area where Nelson and Raymeyer lived. And this is a really remote part of York County. It's called Raymeyer's Hollow, and it was very difficult to navigate the hollows full of trees. There's a few farms, just very little else. It's very remote. Yeah. So much so that John didn't even really know how to get to Nelson's farm. And he knew that Nelson Raymeyer had an estranged wife named Alice, who lived in the hollow nearby. So he stops at Alice Raymeyer's home and asks, like, hey, how do I get to Nelson's? And she thinks that these are presumably paying customers. So she directs them. She doesn't think it does. There's nothing to worry about. She gives the two of them, John Curry and John Blimeyer directions to Nelson's house, and they continued deeper into the hollow. When they arrived, Nelson happily welcomed them into his home. And they even, like, Nelson even invites them to spend the night, which is so sad. He's so sweet. He's like older man who's like, oh, I've known you since I've been very child. And I know this other guy's dad and it's just like, exactly. He's just a friendly guy. And they do spend the night. The three of them speak for a while before they sleep over with him. I know. They talk for a while before Nelson tells John and Curry, like, I need my rest. I'm going to go to bed. But during the sit down in the back of his mind, John Blimeyer is actually sizing Nelson up. Nelson Remire is a tall, husky guy. At six feet tall, Nelson towered over John Blimeyer and John Curry. So it appears that Nelson Remire is still physically fit. And if these three are going to steal a lock of Nelson's hair, John Blimeyer is thinking it's going to be a little bit more difficult. Which is so frustrating because I wish they just asked him for a lock of hair and said, like, oh, I think you curse me. And then it's like, no, I didn't. And it's like, well, if you didn't then prove it, give me a lock of your hair. There's so much about this that I wish went differently. But so Nelson Remire goes to bed and John Curry and John Blimeyer searched around the house for Nelson's copy of "Long Loss Friend." They don't find anything. - I was just going through in my mind of like where he probably kept it. I was like, is he sleeping with it? - Probably sleeping with it. - He's just pillow. But then I was like, well, he's been practicing it for so long. What if he doesn't eat it? It's just all in his mind. - The next morning, John Blimeyer and John Curry went home and they relayed all of this information to Wilbur Tess. So they decided to pay Nelson another visit that night. So now on November 27th, 1928, the trio drove back to Nelson's house. And keep in mind, John Blimeyer has told Curry and Hess that all they have to do is procure a lock of Nelson's hair. That is the task they have for these three men. But at the time, John Blimeyer clearly has some other things in mind because he brought with him 25 feet of rope to bind Nelson with. - So when they arrive, John strides to the front door and knocked briskly. The entire house was pitch black. Like, clearly Nelson's not expecting guests. From somewhere inside, the trio heard the sound of Nelson calling who's there. John replied saying that he forgot a book at Nelson's house in previous day when they spent the night. And so maybe comforted by the voice or believing John Blimeyer has nothing but good intentions. He comes downstairs, unlocks the door and lets the three men into his living room to have a look around. - I mean, they had just spent the night too. So it's like, I know. - Why didn't, when he was sleeping, why didn't you go sneak in and get a lock, this just, oh. - Again, so many things I wish had gone differently. - Yeah. - But I really do believe, and we'll talk about this later, but I think John Blimeyer was just kind of living in an illusion. - Yeah, he had a lot of illness. - Yeah. - But Nelson turns his back to his three visitors, which, I mean, not that anything would have saved him, but perhaps he was trying to make them a warm cup of tea and taking this moment, John Blimeyer rushes Nelson. He throws his arms around him and shouts for the other two boys to come help. And so Korean Wilbur are thrown off guard, 'cause again, they thought they were coming here just for a lock of hair, but now all of a sudden, John Blimeyer-- - Which I find the guy and sniff it from the back. - Right, just so many ways to make this like an easy thing. But now, John Blimeyer is getting aggressive and violent, but they do, as they're told, and they wrestle Nelson to the ground. John starts barking orders, telling the boys to tie Nelson's legs with the rope they brought, but before they can, Nelson escapes. And he had been hearing John Blimeyer say the book, the book, the book, over and over. So he thinks he's being robbed and he literally goes to get, it breaks my heart. He gets his pocketbook and he gives it to them. Oh, thinking that they're there for money, but it's too late. John is growing more and more furious by the minute. He orders Curry and Hess to get Nelson by any means necessary. Curry, while trying to tie him up, gives Nelson a few kicks and Hess joins in too. Then, noticing a pile of firewood, John grabs a log and smashes it against Nelson's head again and again. And this is where it's so clear that it's overkill because he then grabbed a wooden chair and slams it on top of Nelson's head, sending wood chips flying across the room. The original plan of getting a lock of hair is now a distant memory. Nelson tried to fight off his attackers, but he was growing weaker by the second. He was outnumbered. He was being viciously attacked and hit in the head. And Curry and Hess were finally able to fully restrain Nelson. But once that was done, John still wasn't satisfied. He felt this fury rising in his chest so he grabbed the remaining piece of rope, tied it into a noose and placed it around Nelson's neck. And then he told John Curry to choke Nelson, which is exactly what the 14-year-old did. In a matter of minutes, Nelson Raymeyer was dead and what began as a potentially peaceful visit had turned into a murderous rampage. (dramatic music) Nelson Raymeyer's body lies limp and bloody on his living room floor. What was once a place of refuge is now his deathbed. It's late at night on November 27th, 1928 and no one is coming to help him. Standing above Nelson's body, 32-year-old John Baymeyer doesn't feel terror at what he, Wilbert Hess and John Curry had just done. He feels relief. Sure, the original plan hadn't been so violent, get a lock of hair, bury it outside, or take Nelson's copy of the long-lost friend and burn it to free them from the hex. But now Nelson lies before them, lifeless. The witch is dead, meaning now surely they'll be free. John tears his eyes away from the body to survey the scene. There's blood everywhere. On the walls, the floor, and on his own clothes. That will have to be dealt with. But behind him, Wilbert Hess can barely stand still. His hands tremble, his voice cracks, and he begs for them to leave. This wasn't supposed to happen. He thought they were going to retrieve a lock of hair, break a hex, but now he's an accomplice to murder. John doesn't move, his eyes have gone distant, flat. They must get rid of the evidence first. John wipes the surfaces, burns his own jacket, and then decides we must burn it all, starting with Nelson. Together, the three men cover Nelson's body with a flammable straw mattress and douse it in lamp oil. Then, Curry, just 14 years old, strikes a match. He passes it to Blimeyre, who takes it, drops the flame, and sets the crime scene ablaze. The fire catches, dancing up the walls of the farmhouse. And the three men step outside into the cold November night air. They watch the fire grow, planning to watch the house, the witch, the evidence, and the curse go up in flames. But the flames sputter. And that's when they feel it. Someone is with them in the darkness. Someone, no, something is watching them. They turn to look. And their standing in the road is a shadow, staring at them. Terrified about what they're seeing, the three murderers flee into the woods, stumbling over roots and frozen ground, but they do not stop until they reach the Hess farm some seven miles away. And once they fall to safe distance away from whatever that shadow was, the group decides, well, they must have just scared themselves, right? And John Blimeyre, he basically forces Curry and has to stay quiet about what happened. This would remain between the three of them. No family, no friends, no one could ever know what happened. The two boys swore. Yes, yes, John, there we will keep her mouth shut. Which lasted about a day. And I imagine that they're scared of John Blimeyre. They just saw him, you say what you need to say to like, get out of that situation. You're in like the deep woods in this deep hollow with this terrifying man. Yes, unpredictable terrifying man. So it was as if this old curse had been replaced for the new one, and this new one was the form of guilt for what they had done specifically for the two boys, the accomplices. 18 year old Wilbert Hess struggled the most, and after the murder, he just could not sleep. He was up all night replaying the memory of what happened. It was plaguing him night after night. Yeah. So the following morning, when he woke up, he had to confess. So he told someone, actually he told three people. He told his mother, his brother, and his sister-in-law, all about the murder of Nelson Raymeyer. And he told them in great detail. They did not turn him in. If anything, they tried to comfort Wilbert, saying that it sounded like things got out of hand. But unfortunately for Wilbert, that was just the beginning of his problems. Unpannones to all three, the fire they had started in Nelson's house had gone out quickly. We'll talk about this in a minute, but it's so bizarre that that happened. They doused the house and Nelson in lamp oil. Flambable lamp oil. It's like a whole lit house. Yes. So it should have completely burnt down. Right. But thank goodness it didn't. By Thanksgiving Day, 1928, only two days after the murder, Nelson's neighbor, David Vanover, had found his body. The news of the murder shocked everyone in New York County. And it was really hard to imagine how something so terrible and so brutal could take place here. And that someone, like a human could do that. Yes. And they were like, well, who could this be? One person had a pretty strong hunch. Nelson's wife, Alice Raymeyer. Because she did not forget that visit from John Blimeyer and John Curry the night before Nelson's murder. So Alice told the police about it. The cops followed up on this tip, quickly tracked down both John Blimeyer and John Curry. They asked about the visit. And then they learned about Wilbert Hess's involvement. And by December 1st, four days after the murder, local newspapers published confessions from all three of them. And the motive is what turned this case into this international spectacle. So this was not some like love triangle gone rye or robbery gone wrong. Nelson Raymeyer was murdered because of his beliefs, because he was a witch. And reporters descended upon your county to talk to anyone who could give them any sort of a strong opinion about witchcraft. Because it's 1928. It is centuries after the sandwich trials and witch trials in general. So now, all of a sudden, there's this new video. murder of a community of witches, which on which crime? - A witch murder, yeah. - Alice Raymeyer spoke very tearfully to the press, telling them that she didn't believe in Brawch or I, and that Nelson's fixation is actually one of the reasons that their marriage fell apart. But the tragedy of Alice's story wasn't the kind that headlines of the newspapers wanted. They were far more interested in the bizarre, bizarre nature of this crime. - Yeah. - To many publications outside of the region, they felt outrageous that someone could just be killed because they practiced witchcraft. - And people also didn't really realize witches still existed. - Right. - Granted, they didn't call themselves witches, but stereotypically. - Yes. - He fell under the category of a witch, yeah. - Right, and also it's like that was so long ago that you just kill someone because they're a witch. - Right. - It seemed weird. Headlines talked about the quote, unquote simple people of York County, a place where spells and curses still posed as a real threat. But the truth was that witchcraft did feel very real to many of the people in the area and to the three defendants and their families. - Yeah. Wilbert's own mother told the press that after Nelson Raymeyer was killed, all of the troubles that their family had been dealing with virtually disappeared. The cows were producing milk again, the chickens were laying. Eggs again, like everything was back to normal. Even the family seemed healthier and happier and nobody had gotten seriously ill since that night back in November when Nelson was murdered. She believed that Wilbert, Curry and John Blimeyer had actually done the necessary thing to free themselves from dark magic, which of course the jury would have the final say about that. And also we know the solution was so simple. - Get the lock of hair, but they took it to this extreme. - On January 7th, 1929, the trials began in earnest. So John Blimeyer, John Curry and Wilbert Hess were all tried separately for their involvement in this crime. The defense had different strategies for each of the defendants. Wilbert and John Curry were painted as superstitious children who were swayed by John Blimeyer into committing this crime. And they thought that they were just helping their families. - Which is true. - Right. - They are children. - That quite literally, yeah. - They're young, it's the truth. - And they thought they were going for one thing and it turned into something. - Right. - And like imagine your panic as like something's happening and then there's this guy that you're told is really scary and ruining your family and then there's other scary men telling you like, "Get on, I'm toothless, you're just panic, you're doing it." - Yeah. - For John Blimeyer, they presented the case of basically him being this insane troubled person whose delusions of witches and curses drove him to commit a terrible act. - Which I do believe is true. They also tried to keep the witchcraft out of the trial thinking it would bring negative press. But at this point, it was too late. Like the news cycle was running with this story already. So it was hard to keep out. - Yeah. And despite the defense's best efforts, it was not enough to convince the jury. And in January of 1929, all three defendants were found guilty of murder. Which I actually was very surprised by. I thought at least one of the kids would get away. - I know. - In a way, they kind of maybe dead because Wilbert has was sentenced to 10 to 20 years behind bars for second degree murder, which was a lesser sentencing than John Curry. So both John Curry and John Blimeyer were sentenced to life imprisonment for murder in the first degree. - But guess what? Not a single one of them served those entire sentences. John Blimeyer, Wilbert has and John Curry were all released early. Wilbert was released in 1939 after serving 10 years, which I can get behind. At same year, John Curry was released under one condition that he joined the army. And he later wound up serving-- - Which is like, that's a weird, let's not encourage that. - No. (laughing) - But he did later serve as a cartographer for the Eisenhower administration, fun fact. And John Blimeyer spent 23 years and five months imprisoned at Eastern State Penitentiary, which we-- - Yeah, very haunted location. - Very. And also, again, it's in 1920s, we know about how terrible conditions were at these institutions. So we can imagine it was pretty terrible for John Blimeyer. But by and large, all three of these men lived the rest of their lives with little fanfare and supposedly, according to all three of them, no more curses. Although you could argue they're cursed to spend life in prison. - It is hard because it's like the fact that things went well after that. I believe two things to be true. I do think that Nelson was innocent. - 100%. - And at the same time, I also think that maybe something did shift within the families. Maybe it was like their own mental state. - Yes, all of this comes down to mental-- We can convince ourselves in the world, comes back to you. - Yeah, the power of thought. And there's so much that we can convince ourselves of things. And I think John Blimeyer was so convinced. He believed in this folk magic in the good and the evil of Brecherai that he truly believed he was cursed. He believed every terrible thing that happened in his life was not because of anxiety to pressure, which they didn't have the ability to diagnose it like that back then, or not because he wasn't a good worker or whatever it may be. It had to be a curse. - Yeah. And I mean, just like the Hess family too, everything going well with their family, their farm, the dairy cow, is producing milk. I also feel like they say animals and kids, they pick up on your anxieties, and that can totally be true for this family. Like the kids told about what happened, right? Like the families were made aware. And so in their minds, they're like, oh, we're free. - Right. - Power of thought. And unfortunately, the lack of mental health care back then, I think, made it more difficult for John Bayamire to see things in a different way. - Right. And this, it seems so wild of a story, but you covered on Two Girls One Ghost, a Ouija board murder that is, yes. Pretty similar in terms of, yes, blaming the supernatural powers of others. - And it was a lot of manipulation. It's the story of clocktield marchand in the 1930s. It's a really wild story, but it is a lot of power of what's the word? Like convincing someone to do something for you. - The power of persuasion? - Yes, that's the word I was like persuasion. There we go. - All right, well, to this day, the murder of Nelson Raymeyer haunts the woods of York County. To some, it's just another local ghost story, a spooky tale of a, which is cursed mixed with supernatural paranoia, but to others, it's nothing more than a senseless tragedy. - But this true life horror has actually birthed an urban legend in Raymeyer's Hollow, which is now called Hex Hollow. And look, we'll say that the place is cursed. It is a place where the devil walks and some say that if you visit the Hex Hollow farmhouse on Halloween night and performer ritual, the ground will split open to hell. Now, we know that this is an urban legend that it has been created out of something really horrific that happened, but there are reports of ghostly activity. Driving down the long dirt road that leads to the old Raymeyer farmhouse, some people's headlights might flicker or the lights will burn out entirely, your car might stall, and some even report seeing a figure in darkness. Well, there's two mysteries here that are still left with Nelson Raymeyer's case. Who or what was the shadow watching the three murderers? And despite Dowsing Nelson's body with Lamboil, the fire seemed to extinguish. So how could that happen? Well, here's theory, was it Nelson's spirit? That was standing in the shadows. And two, there is a incantation, a ritual that you can speak. It's in the long-awed friend that you can say to extinguish fire with just words. So was his final act as a practitioner of Braharai to utter these words, extinguish the fire so that his murder would be solved? Unfortunately, that's my theory, but we don't know those, for sure. I think we can all agree though, that this was a horrific tragedy. And Nelson did not deserve the violent end he got. No. John Blymeyer, Wilbert Hess and John Curry could have flattened Nelson live. All they needed was a lock of his hair and maybe his book. They could have taken those things done as Emma Noel had said, and maybe they would have felt justice. But that is not how this story ends. Curse or no curse, they took a man's life. And there's nothing supernatural about that. (upbeat music) Thank you so much for listening. We are your hosts Sabrina DeAnnaroga and Corinne Vien. Join us next Tuesday for another peek inside crimes of the paranormal. And if there are any cases you would like us to cover, let us know in the comments. Here at Crime House, we wanna thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on all social media at Crime House. And don't forget to rate, review, and follow Crime's Up wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback really truly does make a difference. And also let us know if you've been to the Hex Hollow and experienced anything paranormal or-- I know. Your urban legends are 'cause we are so curious. Until then, bye, mommies. Did you know the most feared pirate in the Atlantic, the man who terrorized an entire ocean for years, may never have actually killed anyone, or that the real Golden Age of Pirates was the most democratic workplace in the Western world? I'm Connor Tomlinson from Love on the Spectrum, and history is my thing. And I'm Carter Roy, and this is what the fact. Every week we take the most unbelievable true things in history and tell you the whole story behind them. Carter sets the scene, Connor brings the facts, the deep cuts, and the genuine belief that this is the most interesting subject in the world. It is. This is the history lesson. You actually wished you had in high school. New episodes every Wednesday follow what the fact on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or subscribe on YouTube at what the fact pod. The moment a body is found, the clock starts ticking, 48 hours. That's how long detectives have before the trail begins to go cold. 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