It was the dark of night on Thanksgiving Day 1928, when three farmers stole into the house of another man located in York County's Rehmeyer's Hollow. They tortured and murdered Nelson Rehmeyer, spurred by the belief that he was a witch doctor steeped in the old Dutch mysticism known as Pow-Wows.
In 1820, John George Hohman, a German author penned a book titled The Long Lost Friend, which was composed of a "collection of mysterious arts and remedies for man as well as animals." There were spells, recipes and talismans to be used as cures including domestic troubles. It served as the blueprint for folk magic practiced by the Pennsylvania Dutch known as pow-wowing.
