The Voodoo Murder of Pennsylvania II, the Crime and Trial
be edited out of the confessions before they were admitted to records. The attempts of the defense attorneys to make hexes and witchcraft a matter of record via testimony were quashed.
Herrmann made his opening statements, avoiding all mention of witchcraft and hexes and forgot to mention the motive for the murder that the judge wanted. He was sharply reminded of this. The decreed motive was robbery and, then, was stated.
When Cohen tried to bring out testimony about witchcraft, the judge thwarted his efforts.
The trials were the speediest in Pennsylvania. By obstruction of justice, the judge got what he wanted, guilty verdicts, Blymire and Curry, murder in the first degree and Hess, murder in the second degree.
The sentences were handed down on January 14th. Blymire and Curry were given life in prison and Wilbert was given 10 to 20 years. In 1934, Hess and Curry were paroled and lived quiet lives in the York area. Curry became an artist and died in 1962. Blymire was finally paroled in 1953, returned to York and worked as a janitor.
Had the trial been held today, undoubtedly, the references to witchcraft and hexes would have been part of the defense under the First Amendment rights. Curry would not have been tried as an adult. Blymire and Wilbert might have been found not guilty by reason of insanity. The jury, primarily made up of the Pennsylvania Dutch, because of the society they lived in, most likely would have shared the same belief as the defendants did and, because of this, acquitted them of murder. But, now is now; then was then.
Is it possible that spell casting works, albeit it, if merely psychologically? The answer is yes. According to those of us who have studied hexes and curses and why they work, we have found that the spell caster has to believe that she or he has the power to cast hexes and curses. The target has to have the same belief. The psychosocial environment they live in, in general, has to support this belief. What happened in the Rehmeyer murder evidences this.
Guiley, Rosemary Ellen, The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft. ISBN: 0-8160-3848-1,
Lewis, Arthur H., Hex. Standard Book Number: 671-77156-6. No ISBN.
RavenWolf, Silver, HexCraft. ISBN: 1-56718-723-4. Now published as American Folk Magic, ISBN: 156718720X.
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