Kirby's Introduction:
Urban legends and ghost stories are prevalent in nearly every city, town, and community. So
often they are nothing more than the brainchild of a creative con, perverted by generations of retellings with even more fabricated details. But when one of these stories is fact rather than fiction, the proof tends to border on the outright bizarre. Enter: Scripture Rocks.Scripture Rocks are an eerie, allegedly haunted even, monument to either one man's ascent toward divinity or descent into insanity. Located just outside of the small town of Brookville in the Pa Wilds, these hundred year old petroglyphs are perhaps one of the greatest legends of not just Jefferson County, but all of Pennsylvania.
Captain Crash happens to be a bit of an expert on this topic in particular. He even served as the head guide for a short but well made documentary about the legend of Scripture Rocks. His role in the video, presented below, serves as a much better medium than the usual picture and dialogue combination typically utilized here. Monty, co-directing the documentary, made a great effort to bring one of Captain Crash's best adventures to life and even add to it.
After the jump, a great documentary to watch, a fantastic legend to read, and thrilling pictures to view. Just Click 'Read More' from the homepage.
Monty's Video:
As Crash originally wrote:
"It was just a few years after the start of the twentieth century when Douglas Stahlman relocated to the bustling town of Brookville, the seat of Jefferson County, to become a new school teacher. He was, by most accounts, something of a smartass: a cocky, shrewd fellow who spent no time at church and plenty of time insulting other patrons at a tavern. So it wasn't very surprising when Stahlman finally said the wrong thing to the wrong guy, getting beaten to a pulp by a drunk lumberjack at the bar. Even the extent of the injury wasn't that surprising; it was scrawny intellectual versus a burly man of the forest. His skull was crushed so bad that the only medical fix at the time was to place a metal plate in his head.
What was surprising was the lifestyle Stahlman adopted after the near-death experience. Some say that his brush with death made him see the error of his ways, arising him to a new level of spirituality in Christianity. Others contend that the metal plate sustained such pressure on his brain that it drove the poor guy mad. Regardless of the cause, Stahlman quit his job and moved into the forest to begin his new mission: creating the Dedication Rocks, or, as they became to be known, Scripture Rocks.
For seven years, Stahlman carefully chiseled passages of the Bible on seemingly every surface of the forest he could. The words of God were strewn about every inch of boulder over several acres in four different locations. Even more were carved into the trees. The scriptures were written with painstaking perfection, until his conduct was finally noticed by the townsfolk and ol' Douglas was placed in an asylum for the rest of his days.
Stahlman's objective was still achieved, though. He put the words of the Bible into almost absolute permanence, with thousands of lines of scripture now set in stone, and much of it remaining today. While nature has erased much of what was chiseled, if you know where to look, many of the Scripture Rocks, now obscured by the pine forests of northwest Pennsylvania, are still just as legible as the pages of the Bible, serving as a reminder of dedication and perhaps insanity as well. While reports of Stahlman's ghost, and, strangely, occult activity, abound in the area, the Scripture Rocks need no paranormal tales, as the location itself is a haunting remnant of a creepy tale from a century ago."
//Kirby//
A book about Douglas Stahlman and the Scripture Rocks has been published by the Jefferson County Historical Society. http://www.jchconline.org/gift-shop.html
ReplyDeleteAll proceeds benefit the Jefferson County Historical Society.