The Headless Dog of the Susquehanna Valley

 The Headless Dog of the Susquehanna Valley

By Cole Herrold

Now it isn’t often that I stumble across a legend or entity that occurred literally in my general area that I hadn’t heard about before, yet I recently got a book entitled The Headless Dog: and Other Extraordinary Far-Fetched True Tales of Central Pennsylvania By Beverley A Conrad and Gregory T Burgess. The title caught me instantly as I tend to investigate Central Pennsylvania more than any other part of the state mainly because of how close to home it is. I also strive to point out that Central PA is just as active in phenomena as say Westmoreland County or Lancaster County which are known for areas like Gettysburg and the Chestnut Ridge. Central PA has a ton of incidents and events that are associated with major phenomena Williamsport was for example one of the way-stops of the Jersey Devil during the 1909 flap. Williamsport a couple months back was the site also of several square UFOs. Harrisburg the state capital was hit with a major UFO flap over the course of several days and sightings of UFOs are reported all over the state to this day. Northumberland County where I live is home to a variety of legends many of which I have covered previously like the Ghost Werewolf of Northumberland, the Northumberland Mystery Beasts, and the Susquehanna River Monster. Sunbury where I grew up also was a major Fortean landmark as UFOs were reported in the area during the 70s, bigfoot sightings were reported in the wooded game areas outside the city limits, a case of Spontaneous Human Combustion occurred on Race St, A large home located by the Mansion hospice and nursing center was an incredibly haunted location involving violent poltergeists who harassed the crew of Herrold and Son Masonry as well as the resident and were so violent that they pushed the owner of the home down the stairs crippling him. The most famous haunted location in Sunbury however would have to be the Edison Hotel and its resident ghosts. Needless to say, the area is seething with phenomena yet very few focus on the area as a Fortean hotspot.

Now with all that said in the area of Snyder County which lies just north of Selinsgrove there is an area known as the Bloody Triangle. This area starts at the High Hill of Penn Township a mountain ridge that runs along RT 204 to Fair Oaks and from this location it connects to the ridge south of it. This area forms a wedge-shaped valley which leads to the triangle title. This area is home to several strange reports often associated with the ghosts of Native Americans many who feel cursed the area or put some sort of spell on the land. Yet of all the apparitions and phenomena associated with the area the one that intrigues me the most to the point I’m planning an investigation into the case is that of the Headless Dog. The origin of this dog is unknown it simply seems to of just materialized to haunt the area. Something that is common in ghost canine reports, particularly of the shuck or hellhound variety as these entities tend to manifest in areas known for tragedy or high strangeness. Reports of this canine are few and far in between however reports do occur one of the oldest accounts comes from Foster Kreamer who told local historians about his experiences with the dog. Foster experienced the dog back when he was a boy at the Fisher’s School House which was west of Rolling Green Park. He and another boy were standing at the front of the building by the main doors when suddenly a huge coal-black dog without a head manifested in between them. The spectral animal did not make any noise but simply began to walk through the doorway and into the school. Kreamer’s fellow schoolmate ran terrified away from the building to his home which was within reasonable running distance. Kreamer realizing that such a run for him was impractical proceeded to bravely enter the school whereupon he did not see any evidence of the animal. Kreamer walked around the building and searched for some other verification and asked the teachers and students if any of them had seen something strange or a big black dog yet all of them responded in the negative. This sighting happened many years ago and by 2017 the old school was then an Ice Cream Parlor and as far as what was known no one had reported seeing the dog.

The headless dog is reported in other locations within the Bloody Triangle however and one of the more recent reports is also one of the more violent ones. In the area around Fair Oaks, there is a crossroads that is north of the Village of Salem and it is here that the Ghost Dog is said to frequently haunt. Motorists and those who choose to walk or bike the area often report seeing the headless dog crossing the road and ascending the bank of High Hill which is a 70-80 degree climb. In the area around this location, there is also an old oak tree that the Ghost Dog is said to manifest in. The dog in these situations typically is violent and will shake the branches and make terrifying noises. Maria Stahl was one such person to experience this side of the ghost dog's behavior. Maria was an elderly woman who lived in a house that would later be owned by Mrs. William Bingaman and was returning home from a visit with friend Hiram Smith. The steps to her house led her past the old oak tree and as she passed under the branches she suddenly felt a heavy weight fall on top of her. Unable to get a good look at what this being was she was even more terrified but what she could make out was that the creature was awkward in appearance and that it had furry hands or paws that were now tightly wrapped around her throat. This black shapeless entity continued to hold on to the woman until she managed to get to the border of her property. The woman finally losing strength and out of breath collapsed and touched the gate of her house. Wherein the beast removed itself from her back and throat and disappeared. The woman could not describe the creature clearly but knew the legend of the ghost dog and felt that it was just what she experienced. For some reason, she felt that if she could not have made it home that she would have been killed by her supernatural assassin.

Another sighting that occurred in the area of the oak revolved around a man bicycling at night. As he reached the area of the tree and the hill he suddenly saw that there in the center of the road was a colossal black dog that was preventing him from going any further. The man saw that this spectral dog was different from the legend as in this case it did have a head but was nonetheless terrified. The dog however did not harass him and instead proceeded to continue across the road and up the nearby hill without making a sound even as it entered the leaf-littered hill.

Now, this is all that has been reported seemingly about the ghost as attempting to find any further information on the apparition has been fruitless. This might be a very localized story and so a huge thanks to Gregory Burgess and Beverly Conrad to collecting the sightings. Oft times these localized ghost stories are more urban legends than anything else and are told to entertain or to deal with boredom in places where not much happens. The Headless Dog stories can be interpreted in a variety of ways the first account could very easily be a true encounter there’s not much outside of an outright fictional story to explain that case. The case of Maria Stahl however could be explained away as a natural animal attack or even a child in a costume pulling some sort of shenanigans. A large cat could easily have dropped on her back and with her flailing the animal could have held on for dear life or a child could have dropped down to scare the old woman. Granted the latter if true is extremely malicious and dangerous. These explanations are justified as possibilities as Maria did not get a good look at the creature and because of that it honestly could be just about anything. Then when we get to the bicycler we could just be dealing with a large dog crossing the road and a person associating a legend with it as there’s nothing exactly supernatural with what he witnessed outside the quietness of the animal.

Now while I may seem to be dismissing most of this phenomenon there is that first case which clearly seems to indicate something Fortean. Classically headless dogs are associated with a few different Fortean phenomena that sort of overlapped. The first is the faerie hound these large dogs were reported in Celtic countries and these dogs typically were believed to be omens of death and that hearing their baying three times no matter how close or how far away you are is enough for them to kill you. Not all faerie dogs were malicious however and some served faerie folks in the same way humans would earth-oriented hounds. The other type of phenomenon is the hellhound or shuck these entities traditionally were savage killers of people either by supernatural means such as appearing three times or as in a case where one attacked members of a congregation, physically with its teeth and claws. These entities can burn victims and there are even scorch claw marks on an old church door claimed to have been caused by one. These legends extend and mirror those of black dogs which again are omens of death yet they are not as violent as the case of the Black Dog of Hanging Hills of Connecticut which states that if you see the dog once it actually gives you good luck and is always described as being playful and not malicious in the slightest.

Now I bring these three options up as they tend to fit the appearance of the ghost reported. If the Maria Stahl sightings are accurate then the first two types are also possibilities of just what type of creature this would be. This area of Pennsylvania is filled with Irish and German descendants and often it does appear that phenomena from other countries like fae folk or family ghosts will follow those they attach themselves to and in doing so will haunt the area. An interesting point to these sightings is that this dog haunts both crossroads and an old oak tree so while it does seem to have some mobility in its reach it is very much localized to certain points something we see in Hellhound reports. Yet the Kreamer and bicyclist sightings could fit in that what was witnessed was just a ghost dog. Often in cases of headless ghosts, there are reports of ghosts such as say Anne Boleyn who will alternate in appearance from headless to having their head and so perhaps this is the case with this dog if all the sightings are authentic and not misidentified.

Ghost animal cases are so difficult to peg down because they mesh into all sorts of other phenomena outside of just ghosts. Witches are said to take the forms of animals that are almost spectral in their ability, familiars are said to appear as animals, then there are faerie animals, there are ghosts of humans who now appear as animals, there are ghost animals, and then there are supernatural animals either demonic or heavenly that cause and do all sorts of different actions. Needless to say, trying to rationalize the phenomena becomes difficult when there are so many other similar and identical types of entities out there. My personal thoughts on this is based on historical cases that this is something more than a traditional ghost yet without a back story I can't be certain. The roads of PA are desolate and dangerous and its entirely possible some pet was killed along the road and it now haunts the location. Yet until someone comes forward with an origin to explain this hound haunting we're left to mere speculation.

Quick Facts:

Species/Potential Species: Ghost Animal, Paranormal Entity, Faerie

Location: Bloody Triangle area of Monroe Township, Penn Township, Fair Oaks, Snyder County, Pennsylvania

Sighted: Unspecified

Works Cited:

The Headless Dog and Other Far-Fetched Extraordinary Tales By Beverly Conrad and Gregory Burgess

The Phantom Ferret of Middle Village

 The Phantom Ferret of Middle Village

By Cole Herrold

This case I came across years ago as a kid in the book Encyclopedia Horrifica which was a great book aimed for juvenile readers but was inclusive of all areas of fortean phenomenon including faerie folk, cryptozoology, ghosts, and other phenomenon. I remember as a kid being pulled to it like a magnet I don’t remember if I bought it at one of the Scholastic book fairs or through one of the book ordering catalogs that used to be sent to us through school. My taste was always into the paranormal and fortean and the vampire skull on its moving cover called to me like a lighthouse beacon. In one section of the book, they dive into the weird world of ghost animals some of which I’ve covered such as the Frozen Ghost Chicken of Highgate. One of the entries in the book revolved around a case of a haunted taxidermied ferret. I forgot all about the case until I started relooking into other animal ghost cases and that was one that I remembered and started doing some digging.

Ghost Hunter Dominick Villella began investigating ghost encounters in 2003 specifically in New York. His group called the Paranormal Investigators of NYC have looked into countless bizarre cases. On March 2005 he received a call from a family located in the middle village which can be found in Queens, New York. The family contacted him because they were experiencing a variety of paranormal phenomenon the family claimed to hear voices and see apparitions in the apartment Dominick and the other members of his crew were under the impression that what the family was experiencing was deceased family members visiting the family’s son. Yet there was a portion of the phenomena that seemed to indicate something more animal oriented. As the family would hear a bizarre kind of panting that did not seem connected to the other phenomena. Dominick entered one room to find that amongst the typical home décor was a stuffed ferret. Dominick whipped out his handy dandy EMF detector and surprisingly got high readings from the ferret specifically. Dominick decided this would be the ideal room to do an EVP session in and upon listening to the tapes he discovered he could hear a strange panting which he could identify. Dominick had at one point owned pet ferrets and after listening to the tapes he could hear the types of sounds these animals would make namely a kind of strange panting noise. Dominick got a hold of the family and told of his finding and stated that the family had best cremate the taxidermied ferret as it may be behind some of the phenomenon and suggested that to stop the phenomenon they cremate the animal. Villella hypothesized that perhaps the taxidermied ferret took in some of the electromagnetic energy coming from a nearby electric clock radio which in turn allowed it to manifest in some ways. If this spirit was trying to communicate what its purpose was, was never stated.

 There was no follow-up as to whether this ended the phenomenon at Middle Village or even for that matter if the taxidermied ferret was cremated. Dominick Villella was a carpenter and a stay at home dad before the subject of the after life got ensnared in him. It was while getting some wisdom teeth removed that he experienced an out of body experience and this totally changed the course of his life. This change led him into investigating any paranormal experience that came his way. Its from this that we can gage that he is investigating this phenomenon not for some fame but for an authentic interest into the phenomenon which is something I can surely appreciate. This added a quick google search of Dominick reveals about four articles involving his work so this adds to this hypothesis of a genuine researcher as he clearly has not been seeking major fame or attention from the wider public. I must say that it is a pity that we have to resort to this to gage his credibility yet with the Fortean it is almost mandatory now adays as there are those big names who seek the paycheck through fraudulent claims or as one particular infamous researcher who shall not be named who proceeds to use a drug overdose as evidence of Close Encounters of the Sixth Kind/Abduction case even after the family has reached out to cease such allegations.

Ghost encounters of this type are difficult to debunk or validate because they come from one group and practically nothing was written about the case. My initial thoughts are that there is very little to instigate a hoax. Frankly I had never heard of Dominick before or after the Encyclopedia Horrifica book and even then I had never seen his work extensively published or mentioned. So the purpose of him attempting to profit off this phenomenon is unlikely. Plus the events of this case frankly are boring if he was to milk this case for money we would expect him or even this case to be in the same vein as the Warrens or Zak Bagans or TAPS. The mundanity of the case seems to indicate a more truthful interpretation of the phenomenon and not that seen over and over at more “popular” paranormal researchers.

It’s from this that it would appear that this case is told exactly as it appeared it happened, and the theories told as what was felt. This is not some case that was generated into a demonic entity sent to tear the family apart or some other life altering event but told almost matter of factly. The phenomenon never became some bigger than life story that seemed to spiral out of control like what we’d see in Amityville or the Haunting in Connecticut case. It was a mere phenomenon is occurring; a simple investigation was conducted; this was the anomalies, and this is what they recommend. It’s from this I tend to believe that this is a real encounter. There was no fanfare or even major interest in the case, and it was just one of many accounts included in Encyclopedia Horrifica.

Ghost Ferrets or animals of a similar kind are not unheard of for those curious. Animal Ghosts of all sorts are claimed yet perhaps the most famous and more animated of them was a ghost mongoose known as Gef. A mongoose is not too dissimilar to a ferret, yet Mongoose are members of the Herpestes genus, while ferrets are members of the Mustela genus. Mongoose tend to be larger and thicker in form to Ferrets yet as carnivorous mammals they bear may features that are similar to each other.

Another thing I feel that I need to bring up is haunted or living taxidermy. There are several reported cases of this over the years and many legends exist about taxidermy suddenly returning to life but unable to hunt or do the things that it feels the need to do. In Pennsylvania there are countless legends of this sort the most famous of which being the Spook Wolves. A series of taxidermied wolves that came to life and are reported from time to time however these entities are now unable to hunt or hurt anyone. There is also the story of a taxidermied mountain lion that came to life. In this legend a mounted mountain lion was kept on the roof of a building only for its mate to drag the carcass back to the woods where it came back to life and is now occasionally seen. In ghost lore ghosts frequently are either attached to or seek out their original bodies or forms that would be similar to what they were when alive. This is where the countless cases of haunted dolls and toys came from as well as how cremating remains can end a haunting in a location. So what Dominick was describing, and the family was experiencing does have a background of similarly occurring accounts and phenomenon.

With all that said the Phantom Ferret of Middle Village is an interesting case of a taxidermied oriented spirit and I would love a follow up to the case as some of the phenomenon described by the family appear to be something more human than animal so one has to wonder if cremating the remains helped the family at all or if they are still experiencing phenomenon. I think the importance of this case and others is that animals are indeed an important part of our world and that they need respect as well especially after their own demise. Now Id love more of a back story on the ferret and how the family acquired it for something that many who know me know I was a hunter, and my family owns taxidermy and I own ethically sourced taxidermy of organisms like an octopus that hangs in my bathroom and several bats yet of all the taxidermy that I owned I’ve never experienced phenomenon associated with them and that’s even with them being in close proximity to electrical devices. Was this ferret a pet, killed by a previous owner, or killed to be taxidermied we will probably never know and so its from this that I wonder just how the animal passed and if that had something to do with its choice to hang around in spirit. The concepts of how a spirit works or how it connects to the flesh is something that has been debated about for centuries yet were no closer to finding an answer and I personally don’t think we ever will and so the same goes for this case. Is there something in all of us that keeps our spirit or even a fragment or partial piece intact or alive and that it can be re-animated through energy I’m not at liberty to say. Perhaps if someone invents some serum like what Herbert West had in Re-Animator we may come close to answering that but until that day arrives all we have at best is speculation.

Quick Facts:

Species/Potential Species: Ghost Animal

Location: Middle Village, Queens, New York City, New York

Sighted: March 2005

Works Cited:

Encyclopedia Horrifica Book by Joshua Gee

Dan Barry “That Noise? That Stuffed Ferret? Sounds Out of This World”.  New York Times. Nov. 1, 2006. https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/01/nyregion/01about.html. Accessed February 28, 2023.