29-03-2025
Ghost of Gordon Mountain legend persists 100 years later
Rumors of a ghost haunting Gordon Mountain circulated through Frackville in the summer of 1925.
'Several motorists have had the engines of their machines stopped on the road near the place where a murdered woman was found,' the Pottsville Republican reported on July 15, 1925.
One driver, unaware of the murder, simply restarted the car's engine and drove off.
'Others, knowing of the proximity to the scene of the gruesome crime of last spring, felt goose pimples come out all over their backs and got away as soon as possible,' the Republican reported.
Such began the legend of the Ghost of Gordon Mountain, which celebrates its 100th anniversary on April 5.
Say what you will about an elusive spirit roaming the mountainside at midnight, the legend had its roots in a disturbing real-life tragedy.
On April 5, 1925, Palm Sunday, hikers came across the body of a young woman along an old logging road on Broad Mountain, between Heckscherville and Gordon.
The victim, judged to have been between 16 and 20 years old, had died a horrific death. Badly beaten, there was evidence her attacker or attackers set the body afire to cover up their crime.
The curious thing was that nobody seemed to know anything about her — or at least they were not saying so if they did. To this day, she has never been identified.
There has been speculation that she was a runaway, or that she worked at what used to be referred to as a 'house of ill repute.' Neither has ever been proven, suggesting she might have been from outside the area.
The culprits were never found, and a century later it remains a cold case — one of the coldest in Schuylkill County history.
The incident sparked an intensive investigation, which ultimately came under the jurisdiction of District Attorney Cyrus Palmer.
In the days following the discovery of the body, some women were actually named as being the victim in news reports.
Ann Richards, aka Mrs. Charles Smith and 'Humpty' Sullivan, was thought to have been the victim. She was later found alive in Shamokin.
Several people were taken into custody, including a 'colored man' from Palo Alto, and released.
Occurring during the height of Prohibition, it was natural that roadhouses and speakeasies would be accused of involvement. There was also speculation that the KKK was involved.
Kids found a red hat near where the body was found, and turned it over to police. Investigators searched for a woman who left baggage at a railroad station and had not picked it up, apparently to no avail.
Dr. Robert Spencer, an Ashland physician, performed an autopsy. He concluded the victim had been dead or unconscious before being set afire.
Spencer created a cast of the victim's head, which he kept in his office for years. Primitive though it was, it was remarkable considering that it was made 100 years ago. It's now in the Schuylkill County Historical Society archive.
Dr. Spencer later achieved national fame as the so-called 'Angel of Ashland,' having performed thousands of medically safe abortions in his office over several decades.
Meantime, there have been numerous reports of a luminous specter roaming the mountainside, perhaps crying out in an endless search for justice.
Her restless spirit lives in lore, allegedly approaching stalled vehicles and peering inside, hoping to identify her attackers.
A Berks County blogger who went in search of the Ghost of Gordon Mountain reported that his vehicle did not stall near Rattling Run on Old Gordon Mountain Road. Nor did he witness a white-robed specter.
'The mere thought of her death sent goosebumps running up my arms,' the blogger wrote. 'But worse than that, she had died here alone and mostly forgotten.'
Large, very cold drops of water began falling from the sky, and he sought refuge in his vehicle. Still, he could not shake a feeling of remorse for the victim.
'Maybe with the death of her killer, she was able to finally find peace,' the blogger wrote. 'I can only hope so.'
