Haunted Roads of Western Pennsylvania by Thomas White

Author:Thomas White [White, Thomas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2015-01-15T05:00:00+00:00

A group of Gypsies near Pittsburgh in 1909. The well-known evangelist Gypsy Smith is in the center. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Not knowing what to do, Biebighauser put Mary’s body in the trunk of his car and left it there overnight. He made himself a suspect when he showed up at the Crotty family home the next day feigning concern about Mary’s sudden disappearance. When questions began to be asked about his role in the young woman’s disappearance, he drove out to Axe Murder Hollow and dumped her body in the woods. Attempting to hide the true cause of death, he cut her throat and stabbed her torso fifteen times. Then he left her clothes near the side of the road, hoping it would lead someone to the body. Biebighauser erroneously believed that he had made it appear that someone else had picked her up and killed her. The police brought him in for interrogation, and in less than an hour, he confessed to the murder. He then led police to the body, which had not yet been found. Biebighauser was convicted for the crime and sentenced to life in prison in May 1963.

If that story were not tragic enough, another nearby murder in the 1960s may have also contributed to the legend. In July 1966, the body of ten-year-old Christine Watson was found in nearby Walnut Creek. She had been playing with her friends near the creek when a stranger lured her away. A short time later, she was discovered with her throat slashed. It would take until 1989 for Eugene Patterson to be convicted of the murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Unfortunate crimes like these—especially involving young people—have a tremendous impact on local legends. This is especially true once they are a generation removed, and the accounts of the crimes are told secondhand. Details and locations blur together, and a narrative is constructed in which these terrible murders that impacted the community evolve into “evidence” to support the urban legend. There may not have been an axe murderer, but these brutally real crimes overlap with the unproven and fictional elements of the story.

Today there is not much of the hollow left along Thomas Road. It has been replaced with new homes and community buildings. The property is private and a trip to Axe Murder Hollow does not seem nearly as ominous as it once did. It is often told today as a short, or kernel, narrative, without any direct firsthand experiences attached to the story. But because of the Internet, the legend will live on at least a little longer, as the recollections of those who went to the road are accessible in an electronic form. Ironically, like some of the other legends, this tale of the supernatural survives because of modern technology.

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