The Hex Hollow Murder: Witchcraft, Belief, and the Curse That Killed

0:00 Speaker 1: Dear listener. There are some stories where the crime is

0:03 Speaker 1: the headline, and then there are stories where the belief

0:06 Speaker 1: behind the crime is the real story. Because what happened

0:09 Speaker 1: in Hex's Hollow wasn't just a murder. It was the

0:12 Speaker 1: final step in something that had been building quietly, invisibly

0:17 Speaker 1: inside the mind of a man who became absolutely convinced

0:21 Speaker 1: that something unseen was controlling his life. And once that

0:25 Speaker 1: belief took hold, everything that followed began to make sense

0:29 Speaker 1: to him, even the unthinkable. Tonight, we returned to the

0:33 Speaker 1: quiet farmland near York, to the rolling hills and isolated

0:37 Speaker 1: properties of Hex Hollow, where, in nineteen twenty eight Nelson

0:41 Speaker 1: Raymier became the center of a story that still feels

0:45 Speaker 1: unsettling nearly a century later, not because of ghosts or shadows,

0:51 Speaker 1: but because of how real it all was to the

0:53 Speaker 1: people involved. At first, nothing about this place suggests anything unusual.

0:58 Speaker 1: It's the kind of landscape where time seems to slow down,

1:02 Speaker 1: where traditions linger longer than they should, and where belief

1:05 Speaker 1: systems don't disappear just because the rest of the world

1:08 Speaker 1: has moved on. In this part of Pennsylvania, those beliefs

1:12 Speaker 1: included pow wow, a form of folk healing brought over

1:16 Speaker 1: by German immigrants, blending Christian prayers with ritual charms and

1:21 Speaker 1: spoken words meant to heal illness, protect against misfortune, and

1:26 Speaker 1: give people a sense of control in a world that

1:28 Speaker 1: didn't always offer it to most. It was harmless, even comforting,

1:34 Speaker 1: but like any belief system, it carried a shadow, because

1:37 Speaker 1: if someone could heal, then someone could also harm. And

1:41 Speaker 1: for a man named John Blimeyer, that shadow became his reality.

1:47 Speaker 1: He wasn't just having a streak of bad luck in

1:50 Speaker 1: his mind, something deeper was happening. He felt targeted, followed

1:55 Speaker 1: by illness, misfortune, a sense that something was working against

2:00 Speaker 1: him in ways he couldn't see or explain, and instead

2:04 Speaker 1: of dismissing that feeling, he leaned into it. He sought answers,

2:08 Speaker 1: not from doctors or reason, but from someone who operated

2:12 Speaker 1: within that same belief system, a powwow practitioner, someone who

2:18 Speaker 1: understood the language of curses and protection, and what he

2:21 Speaker 1: was told would change everything. He was told that yes,

2:25 Speaker 1: he had been hext and more than that, he was

2:28 Speaker 1: told who had done it? Nelson Raymier. That moment is

2:32 Speaker 1: where the story truly begins to unravel. Because Blemeier didn't

2:36 Speaker 1: invent the idea of the curse on his own. It

2:39 Speaker 1: was confirmed, validated, given shape and direction by someone he trusted,

2:45 Speaker 1: someone who spoke with authority in a world where unseen

2:48 Speaker 1: forces were considered just as real as anything you could touch,

2:52 Speaker 1: And once that idea took hold, it didn't feel like

2:55 Speaker 1: paranoia anymore. It felt like truth. He was also told

3:00 Speaker 1: how to fix it. To break the hecks, he would

3:03 Speaker 1: need something personal from Raymire, a lock of hair, perhaps,

3:08 Speaker 1: or a book of his spells. And if that didn't work,

3:11 Speaker 1: there were other ways, darker ways, methods rooted in belief,

3:16 Speaker 1: not logic. But belief is powerful enough to make anything

3:20 Speaker 1: feel logical when you're afraid, and Blimeier was afraid. So

3:24 Speaker 1: on November twenty seventh, nineteen twenty eight, he didn't go

3:28 Speaker 1: to He's Hollow alone. He brought two other men with him,

3:32 Speaker 1: men who either believed the same thing or believed in

3:35 Speaker 1: him enough not to question it. They went under the

3:38 Speaker 1: cover of night, not as thieves, not even fully as killers,

3:43 Speaker 1: but as men convinced they were about to take control

3:46 Speaker 1: of something that had been controlling them. When Nelson Raymeyer

3:50 Speaker 1: opened the door. What followed wasn't a calculated act of violence.

3:54 Speaker 1: It was chaotic, desperate, and terrifyingly human. They demanded what

3:59 Speaker 1: they believe they needed to break the curse. They searched

4:03 Speaker 1: for his hair, they looked for his book. They tried

4:06 Speaker 1: to follow the steps they had been told would free

4:08 Speaker 1: Blemire from whatever had been placed on him. But when

4:12 Speaker 1: Raymire resisted, when the situation spiraled beyond their control, fear

4:18 Speaker 1: took over. And fear doesn't think, fear reacts. Raymyer was beaten, strangled, killed,

4:26 Speaker 1: and then, as if still clinging to the belief that

4:29 Speaker 1: had brought them there in the first place, they attempted

4:32 Speaker 1: to burn his body, because somewhere along the way they

4:35 Speaker 1: had been led to believe that fire could destroy the

4:38 Speaker 1: curse once and for all. But nothing changed, because there

4:42 Speaker 1: was no curse, only belief. When the body was discovered,

4:47 Speaker 1: the story spread quickly, not just because of the brutality,

4:50 Speaker 1: but because of the reason behind it. This wasn't a

4:53 Speaker 1: crime of greed or revenge. It was a crime born

4:57 Speaker 1: from conviction. The trial that followed became national sensation, with

5:01 Speaker 1: newspapers across the country focusing on the idea that even

5:05 Speaker 1: in nineteen twenty eight, in a modernizing America, people could

5:09 Speaker 1: still believe so deeply in witchcraft, curses, and unseen forces

5:14 Speaker 1: that they would kill to escape them. It shocked people,

5:19 Speaker 1: not because violence was rare, but because the motivation felt

5:23 Speaker 1: like it belonged to another time entirely. And yet for

5:27 Speaker 1: those who lived near Hex Hollow, it didn't feel that

5:30 Speaker 1: strange because the belief was real. Even after the arrests,

5:35 Speaker 1: even after the confessions, Even after the trial had come

5:39 Speaker 1: and gone, the area didn't simply return to normal. People

5:42 Speaker 1: avoided Hex's Hollow at night. The name itself stuck, carrying

5:47 Speaker 1: with it a sense of unease that lingered long after

5:50 Speaker 1: the headlines faded. Some believe the land had been changed

5:53 Speaker 1: by what happened there. Others still whispered that Remyer had power,

5:57 Speaker 1: that something about him had been misunderstood, or maybe never

6:01 Speaker 1: fully understood at all. And then there's the detail that

6:05 Speaker 1: makes this story even more unsettling, because despite everything that happened,

6:11 Speaker 1: despite the arrest, the trial, and the undeniable reality of

6:15 Speaker 1: the crime, John Blemeier never completely let go of the

6:20 Speaker 1: belief that something had been wrong. He confessed, yes, but

6:25 Speaker 1: not in the way you might expect. He wasn't a

6:27 Speaker 1: man who suddenly realized he had imagined everything. He was

6:31 Speaker 1: a man who believed he had been dealing with something real,

6:34 Speaker 1: something dangerous, and that he had simply gone too far

6:38 Speaker 1: trying to stop it. That's what lingers, not the idea

6:42 Speaker 1: of a curse, but the idea of conviction. But the

6:45 Speaker 1: story doesn't end in nineteen twenty eight, because belief doesn't

6:49 Speaker 1: disappear when a case is closed. It evolves. Even today,

6:54 Speaker 1: in parts of Pennsylvania and beyond, Pow Wow, practices still exist,

6:58 Speaker 1: though not in the way the he x Hollow story

7:00 Speaker 1: might make you imagine. Modern practitioners often describe it as

7:04 Speaker 1: a form of folk healing rooted in prayer, tradition and

7:09 Speaker 1: cultural heritage, something closer to spiritual comfort than anything sinister.

7:15 Speaker 1: People still pass down Braucherr Eye traditions through families, quietly, respectfully,

7:22 Speaker 1: without the fear driven edge that define the events at

7:25 Speaker 1: hex Hollow. They use it for healing, protection and grounding,

7:30 Speaker 1: not harm. And yet the idea of Hex's hasn't disappeared.

7:35 Speaker 1: It's just chained shape. You don't always hear it called

7:38 Speaker 1: a curse anymore. Sometimes it's bad energy sometimes it's something

7:42 Speaker 1: following me. Sometimes it's just that lingering feeling that things

7:46 Speaker 1: keep going wrong in ways that don't quite add up.

7:50 Speaker 1: And while most people brush those thoughts aside, not everyone

7:53 Speaker 1: does because belief, dear listener, doesn't need proof, it just

7:58 Speaker 1: needs a foothold. There are still stories, quiet ones of

8:02 Speaker 1: people who swear they've been affected by something they can't explain.

8:06 Speaker 1: Not dramatic, not sensational, just subtle patterns of misfortune, illness,

8:12 Speaker 1: or unease that they can't shake. And sometimes they go

8:16 Speaker 1: looking for answers, not unlike Bleimeier did, not with violence,

8:21 Speaker 1: but with that same underlying question, what if something is wrong?

8:26 Speaker 1: And most of the time they're told it isn't, but

8:30 Speaker 1: sometimes they're told something else. And now a quick word

8:36 Speaker 1: from Tonight's sponsor.

8:37 Speaker 2: Feeling like your life has taken a suspicious turn into

8:40 Speaker 2: chaos for no clear reason, keys, missing emails, unsent coffee,

8:45 Speaker 2: mysteriously cold the second you sit down, introducing Hexure Life Diagnostics,

8:52 Speaker 2: the only service that confidently tells you whether you're cursed

8:56 Speaker 2: or just wildly disorganized. Our experts will analyze your pattern

9:00 Speaker 2: of unfortunate events, cross reference it with absolutely nothing scientific

9:05 Speaker 2: and deliver a clear verdict either you're fine or maybe

9:10 Speaker 2: stop making eye contact with strangers in antique shops. And

9:14 Speaker 2: for our premium members, we offer the just in Case Bundle,

9:18 Speaker 2: which includes a candle, a protective charm, and a reassuring

9:21 Speaker 2: shrug hex Sure trademark, because peace of mind is priceless,

9:27 Speaker 2: even if it's completely made up.

9:29 Speaker 1: Dear listener, here's where things get uncomfortable, because we've spent

9:33 Speaker 1: this entire time telling you there was no curse, no hex,

9:38 Speaker 1: no supernatural force at work in hex Hollow, just fear,

9:42 Speaker 1: belief and a tragic outcome driven by both. So tonight,

9:47 Speaker 1: as you go about your life, as things happen the

9:50 Speaker 1: way they always do, some good, some bad, some completely random.

9:55 Speaker 1: Just take a moment to consider how easily a pattern

9:58 Speaker 1: could form if you looked for one hard enough, how

10:01 Speaker 1: quickly coincidence could start to feel intentional, how a bad

10:06 Speaker 1: week could start to feel like something more. And then

10:09 Speaker 1: ask yourself, at what point would you start to believe it?

10:14 Speaker 1: At what point would you stop questioning it? At what

10:17 Speaker 1: point would you act on it? Until next time, Dear listener,

10:21 Speaker 1: stay curious, stay grounded, and remember, sometimes the most dangerous

10:25 Speaker 1: thing in History isn't what lurks in the dark, it's

10:28 Speaker 1: what we carry with us into it.

11:02 Speaker 2: Had budd had had