It was an ordinary day. Going through my many links to the city of Lancaster when I came upon one that I hadn't checked for months. Website called "Uncharted Lancaster" which was started some time ago by Adam from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The story I came upon today was titled "Haunted Lancaster: The Witch Sisters and Chiquesalunga's Curse." It was posted on October 20, 2019 and told the story of three sisters who lived in a small house atop Chiques Hill in an area that was often referred to as Chiques Rock or "The Rock." I have written about Chiques Rock in the past and have made multiple visits to the location to view the park as well as the amazing Susquehanna River.
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Post Card showing Chiques Rock
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From the top of Chiques Rock (also known as Chickies Rock) you used to be able to see billows of smoke coming from Three Mile Island. The Nuclear power plant was recently shuttered. Looking in the opposite direction you could see Wrightsville which is a small town across the Susquehanna River from Columbia, Pennsylvania. Just beyond Wrightsville you can see Mount Pisgah and its bare open summit. To the far south of Wrightsville is the Mason-Dixon Line and its ultimate destination of the Chesapeake Bay. Chiques Rock has a 220 foot vertical wall that is pure heaven for rock climbers and is part of a 422 acre land preservation which is part of the Chiques Rock County Park. Much of the land was part of the old Pennsylvania Canal which I have written about in the past. At one time it was one of the largest Native American villages in Pennsylvania. It also was home of the Columbia & Donegal Railway (C&D) which would climb 1,900 feet on a 6% grade to reach Chiques Park. An amusement park was at one time planned in the Park. But...there was a home in the way that was occupied by the three sisters. It sat directly in the middle of the proposed site of the amusement park. It was a common belief in the nearby city of Columbia that these women were practitioners of the Black Arts, aka witches. Seems the sisters were content to be left alone away from the progress of the rapidly growing world. So, how can the railroad build a trolley line to reach the amusement park with a witch's home in the path?  |
Looking South from Chiques Rock
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The plan was to build tracks along the side of the ridge from Columbia to reach the amusement park. The C&D purchased all needed land except for the land owned by the sisters. They made several offers, but the sisters wouldn't give up their ancestral home. Can't say I blame them. So the park decided to build around them. That plan was scrapped because of all the problems that could result from it. So, the C&D convinced local officials to grant them the land through eminent domain. The sisters had no alternative but to leave. So...they made a suicide pact! But before they followed through with their plans, they turned to the Black Arts for revenge. They cast a spell from the Sixth and Seventh Book of Moses to curse the land in an affirmation of greed on the part of the new owners that would certainly bring death. The Book of Moses is an 18th or 19th century Black Magic text written by Moses and passed down as one of the hidden books of the Jewish Tanakh. The text was eventually brought to Lancaster county by German immigrants. According to folk lore, the book cannot be destroyed, unless cast into the fire by a boy born on the Sabbath. So, during the operation of the new trolley line, a tragic trolley accident occurred in 1896 that killed 6 and injured 68 others when a deadly swarm of potato bugs descended on the tracks. The trolley line was abandoned in 1932. And...the Black Magic spell still curses the ground today where the three witches lived. I tried to locate the area where the three woman may have lived, but was never successful. Now you can see why this story is part of the series titled "Haunted Lancaster." It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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