The Murder of Nelson D. Rehmeyer

Jul 30, 2024
30 mins

Episode Description

Pennsylvania Dutch powwower Nelson D. Rehmeyer was murdered in 1928. The Philadelphia Record called the murder trial “the weirdest and most curiously fascinating [trial] in the history of modern jurisprudence.” Because Rehmeyer’s killers feared he was practicing witchcraft against them, the trial captured national attention – and nearly destroyed the practice of powwow, a Pennsylvania Dutch healing tradition. This episode features Patrick Donmoyer, Director of Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center, Kutztown University; Daniel Harms, translator and editor of Der Lange Verborgene Freund (The Long Lost Friend by John George Hohman) and Associate Librarian, SUNY College at Cortland; Thorn Nightwind, Initiated Witch & Powwower; and Robert Phoenix, Powwowe, and author of 'The Powwow Grimoire'. Learn more at https://www.magicintheunitedstates.com/.

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