South Central Pennsylvania Legends & Lore

Book excerpt: Powwow practitioners of York County, the headless ghost of a murdered girl that roams the back roads of Schuylkill County and the Hummelstown Hermit who still lingers in Indian Echo Caverns--these tales are all part of the lore of South Central Pennsylvania. Such legends offer a fuller history of the region, from the folkways of the Pennsylvania Dutch to the stories of the rocky relations between German and English settlers and local tribes. Folklorist David J. Puglia reveals this lore to a new audience and explores the region's more recent legends like the "Wizard of Cumberland County" and Milton Hershey's narrow miss with the Titanic. Join Puglia as he tracks through the hills, houses and hollows of South Central Pennsylvania in search of its legends and lore.