HEX HOLLOW MURDER & BIRTH OF AN URBAN LEGEND | The Witch’s Curse to Murder | CRIMES OF CROSSOVER 348

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Howdy.

We have a very special episode today for all of you. It's kind of a collab.

It is. And we are collabing with two girls.

They're so cool. [laughter]

We know them really, really well.

Do we? We try to learn more about them every day.

Every day. We're trying to get closer and closer with them. Their names are Sabrina and Karen. We're collabing with ourselves.

We [clears throat] have a new show. It's called Crimes of and it is a true crime podcast where we have different seasons where we cover true crime cases and it's still the two of us together kind of like riffing and doing the

riffing dynamic

DJing. [laughter]

It's actually just a DJ podcast.

No, no.

We're dabbling into some really interesting true crime cases and season

our second season. It's all about paranormal meets true crime.

Yes. And there's one topic that has been on our list on Two Girls Ghost.

Yours specifically so long.

I had it on my list for a really long time

and now we're covering it on Crimes of

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It's called the Hex Holo Murders. And so we were like, let's do a collab with us. And we're going to show you and give you an episode of Crimes of the Paranormal, the Hex Holo Murders. Um, where Karin and I share the story with you. And we just wanted to give you a little teaser and taste of the format of Crimes of. If you like Two Girls, One Ghost, we think you'll we hope you'll like Crimes of each season season in quotes because it's like eight episodes.

It's a weekly show.

Yeah.

But we break them up into certain like topics and themes.

So like the first season was Crimes of Infamy and we covered a lot of different notorious killers who inspired big

horror movies. We still find a way to make it make it a little bit more horror genre.

So, this current season is Crimes of Paranormal: The Hex Holo Murders is wild. It's a tragic and spooky story that inspired an urban legend. So,

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here's that story and go check out more episodes of Crimes of on Crime House Studios on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Enjoy.

Yeah. Yeah.

Very spooky.

Welcome to Crimes Of... The Paranormal

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 a hex hollow murderers where a practicing witch named Nelson Raymeer was brutally murdered. Sabrina, here are the choices for Would You Rather. Would you

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rather live your whole life convinced 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 you to hell? Well, given that we know this case, and you will see why we picked 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? like glue yourself to the wall.

Down. I'm down for hell. I'd rather

lava than just grab a ceiling, right?

See, I run cold. Like I'm down and I I also

But then that's the end of your life

and then I'll haunt people.

Okay. Well,

yeah,

there's your answer.

Cuz some people I feel like might be like, oh, like I want to spend my life thinking I've been cursed.

That was my initial response what I would have chosen. But then I was starting to think about just like the anxiety and the paranoia to live the rest of your life having everything seem to like go

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against you and fail and how hard that would be mentally. So I might take my chances in the hellish hellish house too.

I feel like we've joked so many times that we are cursed. Well, there was a I think that there actually was maybe a two girls one ghost curse 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 Blimeier because he was certain that he and his family had been hexed by a local witch. So, John Bier recruited two friends who were willing to do whatever it took to end this hex for good. Welcome to Crimes of the Paranormal, a

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Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. We're your hosts, Sabrina, Deanna Roga, and Karen Vienn. Every Tuesday, we're exploring a different corner of the true crime universe, examining cases that left a permanent impact on society. And this season, we are diving into cases where the evidence doesn't end at blood stains and fingerprints, but it drifts into the unexplainable, into the unknown. Make sure to hit that subscribe button to join our community so you never miss an episode. Today we're talking about the brutal murder of an innocent practicing witch named Nelson Ray. Over the years, this case has become famously known as the Hex Hollow murder and has even birthed a haunting urban legend. So, let's get into it. A warning before we begin. This episode contains descriptions of murder, torture, and violence, so please listen with care.

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On November 27th, 1928, 60-year-old Nelson Rayer was murdered by three people, John Blime Meer and his accompllices, Wilbert Tess and John Curry. John Blimeier was convinced that Nelson had cursed him despite there being zero credible evidence. And this was a brutal attack. And Nelson Rayer was the victim of a senseless, horrific crime by members of his own community. John Blimeier's paranoia and his suspicion led him and his accompllices 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. But when you think of those, you also think they're so far in the past, like hundreds and hundreds of years ago, between the 15th and 17th centuries,

right? 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,

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Pennsylvania, which is a small community, a local healer named Nelson Ray was murdered for his practices. We actually record this podcast in Salem.

Yes. 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.

Where innocent lives were taken because again

witches were not killed in the Salem witch trials. It is so interesting because it's like I feel like when you 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.

Like in addition to calling you mommies, you're all our witches and it's a term of endearment. We love you.

I'm 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

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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 reason, even the unthinkable can be justified.

The Day Nelson Rehmeyer Was Found

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, mooing, squealing. He realizes it's coming from his neighbor Nelson Ray Meyer's land just a few miles away. That's odd. Nelson's always very diligent when it comes to his animals. So why, David

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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. He 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 Glatfilter, 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 peer inside. What they see will haunt them for the rest of their lives. Nelson

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Raymire 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 Raymeer himself. His body charred and rotting, lying in what 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 Ray Meyer had been dead for 2 days. In such a small community, news like this, it traveled very fast and it was super clear that Nelson Rayer had been brutally murdered in his home. And

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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 Blime Meer and his two accompllices, 18-year-old 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

Inside York County’s Haunted History

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

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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 pow-wow or a browurai practitioner called a brower. And to be clear, this term doesn't really have anything to do with the the pow-wow doesn't have anything to do with Native American practices of holding pow-wows, which are cultural celebrations of dance and other traditions. But in this specific case, the definition of the term pow-wow is something totally different. Uh, but for the purpose of this episode, not to get too confused, we will refer to these practitioners as hexanemeisters, practitioners of browaray.

The Magic & Mystery of Braucherei

Browarai was a centuries old form of folk magic that actually worked in tandem with their Christian beliefs. Braharay was a mixture of scripture, charms, rituals, and incantations used for healing, protection, and banishing

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evil. It was faith in action. We even have the long- lost friend, which is a book that a lot of hexameisters, browarai practitioners used. A hexanemeister could heal, protect, and bless. And anyone could be a practitioner as long as you were born with the gift. M believers often used special gifts that detailed rituals and prayers to tackle almost any problem.

It's very similar to a shaman.

Very. Yeah.

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. Hexen misters were called to protect. Protect from what you may ask? Well, even in this book, the long- lost friend, there are rituals to

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protect against evil hex doctors because where there is good, there is evil. And in the wrong hands, a practitioner could curse. And this is what brings us to Nelson Raymeer. Because Nelson, he was born and raised in York County. And in 1928, the 60-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 to 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,

which separated, but

you It sounds so strange, but I actually grew up with a friend in middle school whose parents were divorced, but they

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all lived together in the same house, and they it was a four-story home, and two

great co-power. Yeah, it was like the bottom floor was the dads, the top floor was the moms, the two middle was like the group family space. They'd vacation together, travel together. So like sometimes people

today it makes sense

realize Yeah. like we were supposed to be friends and we were friends,

right?

But back then in 1928 this is unusual and just a little bit odd. 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 [clears throat] despite those oddities Nelson was still a very beloved member of this community and he was also known as a hexenmeister a practitioner of browurai and he was the good kind right he wasn't doing he wasn't dabbling in the dark doing bad hexes and conjuring evil.

He was known good. Yes, he was a healer

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and he helped people in the community, but not everyone believed that Nelson was using his gift for good. Specifically, 32-year-old John Blime Meer.

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Who was John Blymire?

oil. So, John Blimeier also grew up in 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 HexaMisters, Braharay 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. Hypocchondriacal

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melancholia. But today, I think we would probably diagnose we as medical prof professionals here would probably have diagnosed John with anxiety and depression. But mental health in 1928 wasn't where it is now. In 1928, one of the doctors admitted John Bllymeer 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. I'm sure most people if not everyone in this facility hated it.

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 hex doctors. And so what did John do, Sabrina?

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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 already from the beginning of this episode, John Blimeier is sus. He apparently tried to kill his wife and he was arrested.

Yeah. So, it kind of made sense for him to be sent away.

Yes. He was released after 4 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. Jon continued to suffer and on top of the physical pain, Jon couldn't seem to hold down a job either. And then tragically in 1928, two of his three children died. And after an especially intense fight, his wife left him. A reminder, he 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

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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 hexanmeers, hoping that one of them could help free him from his hex. The first few Hexmeisters told Jon 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 Jon. So he kept looking for other healers who could take on his problem more aggressively and in a more complete way because no simple protection spell was working.

The River Witch of Marietta Reveals the “Curse”

Enter the river witch of Marietta which is such a cool name.

I know. I love that name.

Her human name was Emma and

her human name [laughter]

instead of just her like you know her stage name the river witch of Marietta.

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So Emol, we don't really know much about Emma. She might have been around 70 years old, but some people said that she was closer to 90. So she she was older, an older witch, 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 braharay. So John went to see her and finally after years and years of suffering John got an answer. Emma null had an answer for him and he finally found out who put this lifelong curse on him. It's November of 1928. John Blimeier sits nervously before Emma Null, 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

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fact cursed. There's something different about today, though. Jon can tell that Emma has something on her mind. The energy has shifted. Maybe the witch has a new spell to try. Maybe this time Jon can get closer to freeing himself from this terrible hex. Silently, Emma gestures for Jon to hold out his hand. He complies and the witch smooths out a single $1 bill across his palm. Emma stares down at the dollar bill, mumbling some incantation that Jon can't quite hear. She appears to be in a trance like she's in another world entirely. Suddenly, Emma jerks her head up to face John. She tells Jon to clear his mind and concentrate on the dollar bill. 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

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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 Raymeer. And John in this moment he is equal parts shocked and thrilled, right? Cuz finally he has an answer for all of his suffering. Nelson had lived in York County too, but he was a browarai practitioner and a recluse and widely known as kind of this 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

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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 shocking to John. At first, it doesn't even make sense because he has known Nelson since he was a boy,

right?

When he was around 5 years old and John's illnesses like became more serious. The family called Nelson to their home and Nelson supposedly saved John's life.

Yeah. Cuz he's a good, kind guy and a wonderful healer and practitioner. And then Nelson also gave Jon a job picking potatoes on his farm. So like he's known Nelson for 20 years, which at this point is now twothirds of his life. He's 32.

Yeah.

But if everything Emma is saying is true, Nelson is purposefully making Jon suffer.

Which this is kind of hard because it's like Emma's saying, "Yes, it's him. It's him." But she didn't conjure up his image. like right

this is

this is John saying that this is who's

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responsible

right and John is not about to question the ancient practices of his people so

The Deadly Cure

by the end of the session John Blimeier 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 6 to 8 feet deep or he needed to find Nelson's copy of longlost friend a common braharay 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 Blime Meer leaves his appointment with Emol. 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 serendipitously to John,

The Fatal Meeting with the Hess Family

he meets 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

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work, he stepped outside and ran into John Blimeier. The two of them work at the factory. They now get to talking and Milton confides in Jon. He tells Jon 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.

No. 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, this sounds oddly familiar." and his mind starts to run and he's thinking, well, if Nelson Ray Meyer 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

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belief when he learns the next fact that the Hess farm was less than 10 miles away from Nelson Ray's farm. So now Jon is convinced that Nelson Raymeer has hexed not only him but also the Hess family as well. But great thing he knows how to remove the hex, right?

Mhm. 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 braharai 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. And John had this reputation cuz there were rumors around town that he actually was a powerful braharai. One story said that one afternoon while Jon was on his break at a cigar factory, a rabid dog approached him and his co-workers aggressively. It was foaming at the

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mouth, ready to attack when Jon 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 like this rumored belief that he was a practitioner of Brocky as well, it almost made it easier to convince Milton Hess,

right? And also like let's remember that the two people he convinced to be his accompllices were young men. And 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 Ray. So he told Jon 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 prodigé, 14-year-old John Curry. Like John Blimeier, Curry had lived a life full of misery and bad luck. He had suffered a horrible abusive childhood at the hands of his stepfather

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and had recently run away from home. So, he really took to John and looked up to him.

Planning the Attack: The Night Before the Murder

Yeah. On November 25th, 1928, John Blire met these two boys at the Hes 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 cuz 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 26th, 1928, he and John Curry drove out to the area where Nelson Ray Meyer lived. And this is a really remote part of York County. It's called Ray Meers's Hollow, and it was very difficult to navigate. The hollow is 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 Rayer had an aranged wife named Alice who lived in the hollow nearby. So he stops at Alice Ray Meyer's home and asks like, "Hey,

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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's nefarious, right?

She gives the two of them, John Curry and John Blimeier, 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. This like older man who's like, "Oh, I've known you since you were a 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

do a sleepover with him.

I know. They talk for a while before Nelson tells John and Curry like, "I'm I need my rest. I'm going to go to bed." But during the sitdown, in the back of his mind, John Blimeier is actually sizing Nelson up. Nelson Ray is a tall, husky guy. At six feet tall, Nelson towered over John Blemier and John Curry. So, it appears that Nelson Ray is

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still physically fit. And if these three are going to steal a lock of Nelson's hair, John Blime Meer 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 cursed 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 Rayer goes to bed and John Curry and John Blime Meer search around the house for Nelson's copy of Long Lost Friend, but they don't find anything.

I was just going through in my mind of like where he probably kept it. And I was like, is he sleeping with it underneath his pillow? But then I was like, well, he's been practicing it for so long. What if he doesn't need it? It's just all

right in his head,

in his mind. The next morning, John Blime Meer and John Curry went home and they relayed all of this information to Wiltes. 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 Blire has told Curry and Hess that

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all they have to do is procure a lock of Nelson's hair. That is the task at hand for these three men. But at the time, John Blime Meer clearly had some other things in mind because he brought with him 25 feet of rope to bind Nelson with. So when they arrived, 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 the previous day when they spent the night. And so maybe comforted by the voice or believing John Blimemyer 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 a

again so many things I wish had gone differently.

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Yeah. But I really do believe and [clears throat] we'll talk about this later, but I think John Byer was just kind of living in a delusion.

Yeah, he was had a lot of illness.

Yeah. 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 Blime rushes Nelson. He throws his arms around him and shouts for the other two boys to come help. And so Curry and Wilbur are thrown off guard because again they thought they were coming here just for a lock of hair. But now all of a sudden John

hug the guy and sniff it from the back. Like just so many ways to make this like an easy thing.

The Murder of Nelson Rehmeyer

But now John Blire 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 Blimemyer say the book, the book, the book over and over. So he thinks he's being robbed and he literally goes to get this breaks my heart. He gets his

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pocketbook and he gives it to them.

Oh.

Thinking that they're there for money, but it's too late. Jon 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 like so clear that the it's like overkill because he then grabs 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.

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It is sleek. Uh,

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Also, they have the Ridge Air Tag attachment so you can always know where your wallet is before panic [clears throat] kicks in. Like K said, Ridge isn't just about wallets. They also create premium everyday carry essentials like key cases, suitcases, and rings, all built with the same sleek and durable design. For a limited time, our listeners get 10% off at Ridge by using code TG at checkout. Just head to ridge.com and use code TG and you're all set. After you purchase, they'll ask where you heard about them. So, please support our show. Let them know that our show's into 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, Jon still wasn't

36:00

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 Ray Meyer was dead and what began as a potentially peaceful visit had turned into a murderous rampage. Nelson Ray Meyer'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 Blimeier doesn't feel terror at what he, Wilbert Hess, and John Curry had just done. He feels relief. Sure, their original plan hadn't been so violent. Get a lock of hair, bury it outside, or take Nelson's copy of the long-lost

37:00

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. Jon 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 Hes 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. Jon doesn't move. His eyes have gone distant, flat. They must get rid of the evidence first. Jon 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

38:00

old, strikes a match. He passes it to Blime Meer, 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 there, standing in the road, is a shadow staring at them. Terrified of 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 felt a safe distance away from whatever that shadow was, the group decides, well, they must have just scared themselves, right? And John Blime

39:00

Meer, 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, we will keep our mouths shut."

Which lasted about a day and I imagine that they're scared of John Blime Meer. They just saw him.

You say what you need 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,

Guilt, Confession & Discovery of the Body

it was as if this old curse had been replaced with a new one. And this new one was the form of guilt for what they had done specifically for the two boys, the accompllices. 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

40:00

someone. Well, actually, he told three people.

Yeah. He told his mother, his brother, and his sister-in-law all about the murder of Nelson Ray Meyer. 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. Unbeknownst to all three, the fire they had started in Nelson's house had gone out quickly, which is, 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. Flammable lamp oil. Yes. So it should have completely burnt down.

Right.

But thank goodness it didn't. By Thanksgiving Day 1928, only 2 days after the murder, Nelson's neighbor, David Vanover, had found his body. The news of the murder shocked everyone in York County. And it was really hard to imagine how something so terrible and so brutal could take place here.

41:00

And that someone like a human could do that.

Yes. And they were like, "Well, who who could this be?" One person had a pretty strong hunch. Nelson's wife, Alice Ray,

cuz she did not forget that visit from John Blimeier 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 Blimeier and John Curry. They asked about the visit, and then they learned about Wilbert Hess's involvement. And by December 1st, 4 days after the murder, local newspapers published confessions from all three of them.

Mhm. And the motive is what turned this case into this international spectacle. So, this was not some like love triangle gone ary or robbery gone wrong. Nelson Raymeer was murdered because of his beliefs because he was a witch and reporters descended upon York County to talk to anyone who could give them any sort of strong opinion about witchcraft

because it's 1928. It is centuries after

42:00

the Salem witch trials and witch trials in general. So now all of a sudden there's this new murder that

of a community of witches, a witch a witch on witch crime.

A witch murder. Yeah. Alice Ray Meyer spoke very tearfully to the press, telling them that she didn't believe in Brow Horai 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, it felt outrageous that someone could just be killed because they practiced witchcraft. And people also didn't really realize like 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

43:00

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 Raymeer 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 Blime Meer 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 Blime Meer, John Curry, and Wilbert Hess were all tried separately for their involvement in this crime. The defense had different strategies for each of the

44:00

defendants. Wilbert and John Curry were painted as superstitious children who were swayed by John Blime Meer into committing this crime. And they thought that they were just helping their families,

which is true,

right?

They they are children. That is the truth.

And they thought they were going for one thing and it turned into something horrific.

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 this other scary man telling you like, "Get on him, do this." You're just panicked.

You're doing it.

Yeah.

For John Blime Meer, 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

Verdicts, Sentences & Early Releases

efforts, it was not enough to convince the jury. And in January of 1929, all

45:00

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 did because Wilbert Hess was sentenced to 10 to 20 years behind bars for seconddegree murder, which was a lesser sentencing than John Curry. So both John Curry and John Blime Meer 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 Bimire, Wilbert Hess, and John Curry were all released early. Wilbert was released in 1939 after serving 10 years, which I can get behind.

That same year, John Curry was released under one condition that he joined the army, and he later wound up

like that's that's a weird let's not encourage that. No, [laughter] but he did later serve as a cgrapher for the Eisenhower administration, which I thought, fun

46:00

fact. And John Byer spent 23 years and 5 months imprisoned at Eastern State Penitentiary, which we

Yeah, very haunted location.

Very. And also, again, it's the 1920s. We we know about how terrible conditions were at these institutions.

Mhm. So, we can imagine it was pretty terrible for John Blire,

but kind of full circle for him.

Yes. 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.

Final Thoughts & Theories

It is hard because it's like the fact that things went well after that. Like, I do 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

47:00

mental state.

That's Yes. I think it's all I think all of this comes down to mental like the we can convince ourselves

in the world comes back to you.

Yeah. The power of thought and there's so much that Yeah. But we can convince ourselves of things. And I think John Bimmeire was so convinced. He believed in this folk magic in the good and the evil of

Braharay that he truly believed he was cursed. He believed every terrible thing that happened in his life was not because of anxiety, depression, 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 H family, too. everything going well with their family, their farm, the dairy cow is producing milk. Like I also feel like

they say like animals and kids, you know, like they pick up on your anxieties and that can totally be true for this family. Like the kids told about what happened, right? Like

48:00

families were made aware and so in their minds they're like, "Oh, we're free,

right?" Power of thought.

Mhm. And unfortunately the lack of mental health care back then I think made it more difficult for John Ber 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 Claude 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 looking for. Persuasion. There we go.

All right. Well, to this day, the murder of Nelson Ray Meyer haunts the woods of York County. To some, it's just another

49:00

local ghost story, a spooky tale of a witch's curse mixed with supernatural paranoia. But to others, it's nothing more than a senseless tragedy. But this true life horror has actually birds in urban legend in Ray Meers Hollow, which is now called Hex Hollow. And locals 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 perform a ritual, the ground will split open to [clears throat] 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 Ray Meyer 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 because there's still well there's two mysteries here that are still left with Nelson Ray Meyer's case. Who or what was the shadow

50:00

watching the three murderers? And despite dousing Nelson's body with lamp oil, 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 a ritual that you can speak. It's in the long-lost friend that you can say to extinguish fire with just words. So was his final act as a practitioner of braharay 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 Blime Meer, Wilbert Hess, and John Curry could have let Nelson live. All they needed was a lock of his hair and maybe his book. They could have taken those things, done as Emma Null had said, and maybe they would have felt just as free. But that

51:00

is not how this story ends. No. Curse or no curse, they took a man's life and there's nothing supernatural about that. Thank you so much for listening. We are your hosts, Sabrina, Deanna, and Karen Yenne. Join us next Tuesday for another peak 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 want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on all social media @ crime house. And don't forget to rate, review, and follow Crimesub 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

what your urban legends are cuz we are so curious.

Until then,

bye bye mommies. To catch every terrifying moment, subscribe to Crimehouse Studios on

52:00

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