Crum Cemetery

Entrance to Crum Cemetery

     Stories and lore tend to accumulate when you have an old cemetery that is out in the middle of nowhere. Crum Cemetery is no different and is host to stories ranging from early pioneer witches to modern-day suicides. The Cemetery was once part of the Village of Crum which was primarily a logging community that was started in the mid 1800s. The Village was later dismantled and residents were bought out of their property to allow for a pipeline to ship better drinking water to the local communities of Windber and Richland. Only a few crumbling foundations and the cemetery remain to this day.

      The most well-known haunting of the cemetery is that of Rebecca Crum. The story behind Rebecca however seems to related or confused with another local haunting at Becky's Grave. Still, the story primarily goes that Rebecca was growing and selling herbal remedies or she was learning spiritual and curative arts from the Native Americans. Either way, Rebecca was soon accused of performing hexes on local towns people in Crum and called a witch. Some believe her family and her were burned in their home. Others say she was buried alive and placed in an unmarked grave outside the limits of Crum Cemetery. Most of the stories agree that to this day, her vengeful spirit still walks the cemetery at night. A not as believable story claims she was burned with the Village of Crum due to a deadly plague she cursed upon it. However, records indicate that no such fire took place and the town was merely bought out and met an economic demise.

      Another story is that of a Man that lived only miles away on the mountain above Crum Cemetery. The story goes that in the 1980s, A man killed his children and wife one evening for no known cause. A short time later the man was apprehended but made bail. While awaiting trial, he killed himself either by hanging or in his vehicle near Crum cemetery. The story has some credibility since the remains of an abandon home on Ogletown Mountain fits the description. As far as records I have yet to find any that fi the story or any residents that recall the murder and suicide. These are only the more credible stories that linger in the near by community.

      Urban legends also abound in the cemetery. One states that if you find and lay on Rebecca's grave she will not let you stand until you were a true believer of her story. Another claim is that if you turn your car off near the cemetery you will have engine trouble or have hand prints on the outside of your vehicle. Lore of a black horse-drawn carriage is also seen passing the cemetery at night or the sound of horses. The last is a story of a so called "dead zone" where the barrier between our world and the spirit world is thin near where the man committed suicide in the 80s.

      Paranormal enthusiasts and professional investigators both tend to be on the fence about this location. Some say that the paranormal activity is merely what you would find at any given old cemetery, and Crum is nothing special. Others say that it has no activity whatsoever and it is just a bunch of urban legends. With all the stories from generation to generation it is hard to dismiss all accounts that have survived for all these years; especially when some are founded on documented history. Having been to this place a few times I have found it a very peaceful retreat in the mountains of Pennsylvania during the day. At night the cemetery tends to give off an eerie feeling, but I have never personally experienced any paranormal activity.