The Lost Children of the Alleghenies
Continuing with our spooky theme, this week we discover the tale of the Lost Children of the Alleghenies. This sad story of two young boys takes place in Spruce Hollow during the spring of 1856.
They are Gone
Early on April 24th 1856, the Cox family were eating their breakfast. The family dog began to bark off in the forest. Samuel hurriedly finished his breakfast and rushed off hoping that the dog had found a squirrel. Susanna cleaned up the kitchen and began the chores of the day. At some point on that nice spring morning the two young boys George (7) and Joseph (5) wandered off.
Samuel failed to find the animal that his dog had cornered and headed back along a different route. When he returned to the cottage he noticed the young boys absence. They theorized the boys may have followed after their father and become lost in the large dense forest. Both parents ran out to search for the boys.
The Search Begins
After a thorough search of the surrounding area the Cox’s headed to the nearest neighbor. Riders began to travel along all routes to many surrounding houses. Eventually, a group of around 200 men met at the house and began searching.
Night was falling fast however. Many searchers stayed out all night. Some light fires in hopes the young lads would see the light and come towards them. The next morning dawned and still no children.
The word continued to spread about the Cox family troubles. More searchers showed up to help. Women brought food and clothes for those out searching. Local men who knew the area took turns organizing groups. They coordinated search parties so that nearly every foot of forest was searched. Some groups would cover the areas previously searched to make sure the children hadn’t wandered back. Upwards of 1,000 people were out searching.
Accusations and Witchcraft
After a few days someone had suggested the parents had murdered their children. Anger and desperation drove a few to go so far as to tear up floor boards of the cottage and dig up their garden. The children were not at the cabin.
After five days or so, some locals brought in a man from Morrison’s Cove. He was a well known diviner. He used a peach tree limb to find water and other various things in the past. Their hopes that he could find the path of the children quickly faded. He failed to find anything.
After the diviner failed, an old witch from Somerset County was brought in. She was known to be a conjure woman. The witch spent some time going through her rituals. Then, she declared that she knew where the children were. However, she required compensations to find them. The locals collected and paid her fee.
The next day she began to lead them through the forest. She wandered all over the forest followed by many of the searchers. She went until nightfall and then collapsed exhausted. They camped and started again the next day. It was a sad repeat of the previous day. Finally, at the end of the day, she fell exhausted again and claimed she could no longer find the boys.
The Dream
The Dream
Jacob Dibert and his wife lived about twelve miles from the Cox resident. While it appeared as though everyone within twenty plus miles were out searching for these boys, the Dibert’s did not help look.
About ten days after of thousands of other neighbors and locals searching, the boys still hadn’t been found. Jacob Dibert went to bed that night. He dreamt of being on a path in a little valley. This valley was between two large hills.
As he walked he came across a dead deer. Farther along the path was a small child’s shoe. His path took him to a large stream which he crossed by a beech log. Then he entered into a narrow valley. He found a small brook and followed it to the base of a birch tree. Lying dead in a semi-circle of birch roots were the two young boys.
Jacob woke with a start. He described his dream to his wife. He had the dream again that next night. And finally he had his dream a third night in a row. His wife felt she knew the place. She had grown up in the area unlike her husband. She suggested he visit her father and brother. They lived not far from where the children were to be found.
The Lost Children were Found
Jacob headed out. His father-in-law wasn’t home, but his brother-in-law was around. Harrison Wysong listened to Jacob as he described his dream. Wysong thought Jacob was crazy. It was only after Jacob threated to go by himself that Wysong agreed to go.
They headed out and found a path. This path led them to a dead deer. Then a child’s shoe. It continued to the large stream that they crossed by a beech tree log. They found the narrow valley with a small brook. After following it they found a large birch tree with its roots growing in a semi-circle. Within the semi-circle lay the two young boys.
Fifteen days after their disappearance, the cry rang out through the woods. Searchers heard and began spreading the news back the six miles to the Cox house. Samuel Cox was brought to the site to see his lost sons. He was devastated and broke down by their sides. The boys were carried back to the house.
A physician assumed they had been dead about three to four days. Both young lads were presumed to have starved to death. They were both skin and bone. They were covered in cuts from the brambles. Their shoes had been worn away from all of their wandering. The funeral was held a few days later.
Around five thousand people showed up to see the boys. Some came from Bedford, Johnstown and even Pittsburgh. They are buried in the Mount Union Cemetery in Bedford. Dibert and Wysong were rewarded $50 for finding the lads. They used the money to purchase tombstones for the boys.
The Lost Children of the Alleghenies Monument
On the 50th anniversary of their death, locals began to raise funds for a monument. In 1910, the monument was built on the site where their bodies were found.
The Monument is easy to find. We used Google Maps to get us there. The Monument is located on Blue Knob State Park land. Monument Road is narrow and winding. There is a sign before the small parking area.
The path is easy to follow. There are a couple of small bridges that you’ll cross over on your way.
Visitors will then continue on the path. They will eventually see the sign describing the reason for the monument and the monument itself.
Lost Children Monument Up-close
We Will Never Know
It is a sad, unsolved tale. Know one knows why the boys wandered off. Was it to follow their father? Or was it something else? How could the boys not have heard 200 men yelling for them the rest of that day. They couldn’t have gone so far as to not hear them, or to see the fires at night.
Why would the boys cross that stream? The stream was swollen with snow melt and dangerous. No one is sure how they crossed it. Perhaps they crossed on the same log as Dibert and Wysong. Why didn’t the searchers see their foot prints along the muddy banks of the same stream? Why couldn’t they find more foot prints? It had recently warmed enough to melt the snow, the ground should have been soft. In fact, some ten miles from the Cox residence some searchers found what they believed to be the boys foot prints. Why that far away and no foot prints closer?
Could some person have taken the children and hurt them? Could something supernatural have led them away and kept them lost and hidden? We will never know what actually happened to the lost children of the Alleghenies.
Charles McCarthy wrote a short book in 1888 about the children. This book is where I found the majority of my information. To read his short book, you can visit here. Alison Krauss sings a folk song that tells the tale. You can listen to it here on Youtube. Missed out on my first spooky post? Visit here to learn about The Lady in White.