Lebanon's True Tale of The Blue Eyed Six

https://ko-fi.com/pahistoryfolklore Greed can really drive people to do heinous things in order to get money. And 147 years ago greed lead to the demise of 7 people in Lebanon county PA. Dembey 8th 1878 police found an elderly man dead. His name was Joseph Raber, and he was suspected of dying accidentally by drowning in the Indiantown river and was reported by both the Philadelphia inquirer and the Lebanon daily news. Yet Lebanon Daily news made hints in their articles that something was suspicious about this drowning. Lebanon Daily News, December 9, 1878 Drowning of Joseph Raber Yesterday morning about two o’clock Israel Brandt arrived in town from Indiantown Gap in search of the Coroner, stating that a man named Joseph Raber had fallen into Indiantown creek and was drowned. This neighborhood not being celebrated for the moral character of its inhabitants or its acts of charity caused a great deal of comment when it was understood that Raber was heavily insured, and the chief amounts held on his policies were residents of the neighborhood. The coroner saw no marks on the body of struggle or any sort of bruising. Charles Drew’s claimed he saw the man fall of the bridge over the water and Raber was deceased by the time he got down to the body. Several other witnesses backed up Drew’s and that life insurance was put on Raber of 10,000 a little before he died. The life insurance were put by Frank Stichler, Charles Drew, Israel Brandt, Henry Wise, Josiah Hummel, and George Zechman. Who all happen to have blue eyes. A few days after the death of Raber newspapers would bring up strange insurance payments to certain individuals who put premiums on him. Now Joseph Raber was considered pretty old as a man who lived in a hut in the mountains of the area at the age of sixty. Also interesting enough at the time if was not odd to take life insurance on someone else nor was it illegal. On December 10 the Cincinnati Star the following: Then the Reading Times: February 4th came along and the insurance group the men took out for Raber start to investigate what seemed to be suspicious. They took witness after witness to question them to get some answers.later all the men would be in custody. The risk then took place in the courthouse April 18th 1879. Many witnesses told the court they saw the men often meet up at Brandts tavern. Talking about how to execute their plan. Joseph Peter who was from the west Hanover township area was a witness to the murder seeing two of the men walking with Raber and drowning him in the shallow water and then threatened residents to stay quiet or they would pay the cost of snitching. Then men then eventually charged April 24th 1879, the six men with conspiring to kill Raber to get the insurance money. The men were sent to the Lebanon county prison for about a year when then 5 out of the six men were then sentenced to death. Wise, Drews, Stichler, Brandt, and Hummel all ended up confessing to the murder, but Zechman was granted a retrial and was found not guilty, convincing the court that he had simply been an investor. Charles Drews and Frank Stichler were the first two hanged on Friday November 14, 1879. Israel Brandt, Josiah Hummel, and Henry F. Wise weren’t hung until May 13, 1880. Brandt and Hummel even tried to escape and had somehow obtained ether to assist in the task. On the gallows, Wise was allowed to address the assembly before Brandt and Hummel were led out, and he declared that all six of them were in fact guilty. In fact, Hummel and Brandt had made secret confessions that weren’t to be released until a year after their death. George Zechman would go on to develop coughing seizures that were said to be very painful, causing some to speculate if that was his punishment. Zechman died at 39 years old of natural causes. But they lived on… in different ways. Henry wises grave was defiled and his skull was taken for some reason most likely speculated to be a relic seeker. Joseph Peter’s even said that he was haunted by the five men who died. Thinking they might be seeking revenge bewitching Peter’s. But the most well known haunt of these men would be the blue lights that are said to be seen at the moonshine church in indiantown gap near the military base where Raber is buried. The blue lights are supposedly to look like the blue eues of all the men still trying to hunt Raber. Some even claim to see a dark figure by Rabers grave, thinking it might be himself looking for revenge. But others think the paranormal sights long has to due with an entity called the red devil that haunts that area and is a poltergeist creating tricks on people. Some paranormal investigators have said to go and get evp responses. https://lebtown.com/2018/10/24/the-tr...