Dark History of Penn's Woods: Murder, Madness, and Misadventure in Southeastern Pennsylvania

by Jennifer L. Green

Overview

“Dark History of Penn’s Woods is the perfect book to keep you up all night… It’s ghostly, it’s ghastly, and we guarantee some of the included photos will stay with you!” — Philly Mag

When ships under the command of white Europeans first sailed into the Delaware Bay in 1609, southeastern Pennsylvania's documented history of the strange and unusual began. This book tackles seven true "dark histories" from Chester and Delaware counties, which include tales of murder, witchcraft, cannibalism, tragic accidents and macabre events that actually happened in the Greater Philadelphia region. All stories are meticulously researched and placed within the greater context of Pennsylvania and world history. For example, the murder of three children by an indentured servant is placed within the context the kidnapping of children into servitude in England for sale to the Americas. The trial and execution of a woman for killing her infants is placed within the context of the rights of women in early America and how the court system failed them. The treatment of witchcraft is placed within the larger relationship of Quakers with the supernatural in Pennsylvania. This is not a book of ghost stories; this is an exploration of the real events that led people to believe in ghosts. It aims to strike a balance between a colloquial work that is accessible by a variety of readers, and an solid academic work.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781955041003
Publisher:	Casemate Publishers
Publication date:	10/07/2021
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	651,536
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Jennifer L. Green graduated from University of Delaware with majors in anthropology and history, and earned her Master’s degree in American History at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. She has conducted research and written for websites like ExplorePAHistory.com and the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia and has worked at historic sites throughout Chester and Delaware counties. She is the author of Dark History of Penn's Woods: Murder, Madness, and Misadventure in Southeastern Pennsylvania (Brookline Books, 2021).

Table of Contents

Introduction: "Our Evil Twin, Our Shadow" ix

1 Demon, Witch, Cannibal: Pennsylvania's Early Settlers and the Supernatural 1

2 "Divers Horrid, Complicated Crimes": The Devil in Delaware County 17

3 "An Audacious and Profligate Tory": The Rise and Fall of the Highwayman James Fitzpatrick 33

4 "What Heart So Hard, as "Not to Melt at Human Woe!" The Hanging of Elizabeth Wilson 47

5 Buried in Two Places: Mad Anthony Wayne's Gruesome Final Journey 63

6 Opening the Windows of Heaven: The Flood of 1843 81

7 The Saddest Song Ever Written: A Horrific Triple Murder in West Chester 95

8 Fire from Within: The Strange Case of Helen Conway 113

Acknowledgments 129

Editorial Reviews

It is a compendium of local bizarre and spooky events, stories, and customs… The book is a tribute to suburban Philadelphia weirdness, evildoing, and death.

Montco Today

"Dark History is a compendium of bizarre and spooky events hereabouts from the days of the earliest Swedish settlers up through a mysterious case of spontaneous human combustion (there’s a catchy acronym, SHC) in Upper Darby in 1964... [T]he perfect book to keep you up all night."

Philadelphia Magazine

"Throughout the book, [Green] iterates that she is writing about history that has been largely forgotten and ignored due to its dark nature. By bringing these stories to the light again, she has given her readers a great gift... I cannot recommend it highly enough."

Broad Street Review