The following is a legend based on fact, and a story I grew up with. The setting is my own home area. The place, Central Pennsylvania, includes Harrisburg, the state Capitol; Hershey, the place where the chocolate is made and smells great on a cool summer breeze; Fort Indiantown Gap, a military base; and many small, green mountains with much wildlife. All are within minutes from where I grew up and from where I sit now.
Up around the top of one mountain within the Fort's property sits two churches by the same name; they are the Moonshine Churches. The Old Moonshine Church, and the New. Behind the very old lays a dark path straight to the ancient cemetary. Follow me now as I tell you an all-too-real story first, then the legend that sprang up behind it.
Back in the 1800's, Pennsylvania Dutch settlers worked the land here. They are the great-greats of the many PA Dutch who live here now. Five of them worked around what is now the Fort for a gentleman who had much property. This man had long, thick hair and lived as a recluse. However, he appreciated the help of the five hands so much that, ignoring the warnings of others, he put them into his will so that they would receive a good sum of money upon his death. Well, the young men saw the dollar signs and decided they could not wait. They tried to kill the man in several ways, all of which failed. They shot---and missed. They even devised a plan to drive a nail through his head, believing that the hair would hide the evidence (they were not too bright, apparently). In the end, after several frustrating tries, they found him one day on a bridge over a stream. They knocked him into the water and held him under until he stopped squirming. Then held him some more to make sure.
Success. Finally. But it came with a huge price.
Someone suspected them and told authorities. They were all arrested, tried, and took part in an observance that made Pennsylvania history: the only multiple hanging ever in the state. Someone in the crowd noticed that they all had blue eyes. That detail seemed to have stuck with the populace.
The five were buried in several different places. One was buried up in the cemetary here behind the old Moonshine Church. The gravestone still stands. Joseph Johns.
The legend tells that someone in the church one night felt watched. He turned to see 3 sets of blue eyes staring through the blanket of darkness behind the window into the room. The stares followed him everywhere; he could not escape them. He freaked. Since then, many, many people have told the story of seeing the 3 sets of blue eyes, or The Blue-Eyed Six looking at them through the window, or in the graveyard, or anywhere else around the church late at night. Many people have gone up there at night just to see...
Today, the Hershey Theatre has a play called "The Blue-Eyed Six" that it puts on from time to time.
One note: I have not done extensive research on this subject; I grew up here and tell it now as I have known it throughout my life. It may differ slightly in some details from one person to another. The story is true, and it can be found on the web, or in a few small books printed long ago about the legend. Hope you liked it. ~GypsyHawk~ How it changed my life:It's been with me my whole life, so instead of changing it, the story just added to it. A little. You can join Unsolved Mysteries and post your own mysteries or
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Christmas is Right around the corner.. .
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