FARMERS MILLS — It’s the witching season, and several ghostly stories emerge in many conversations this time of year, including in Penns Valley, which has had its own ghost story for about 130 years.
The Bethesda Evangelical Church stands near the village of Farmers Mills in Gregg Township. The church, founded in 1855, acquired the nickname “Swamp Church” because of the boggy landscape nearby. The last service in the church was held in 1961, and the church has been privately owned since 1964. A house once stood near the church, and in the 1880s was occupied by Jacob Schultz and his wife Rebecca.
The story goes that one spring night in the 1880s, on a May 3, sometime between 9 p.m. and midnight, the Shultz couple was sitting on their front porch relaxing and enjoying the night air, when suddenly, a chilling breeze blew across them. They looked toward the church and saw a figure walking slowly toward the church entrance. A closer look revealed the figure to be a young woman, who was carrying a bundle that appeared to be a baby wrapped in a blanket. They could hear the woman softly and repeatedly uttering the name “Will” as she walked.
As the specter approached the church, and stood in front of the building, the doors flung wide open and the gas lights and candles flared brightly to life. The woman entered the building and proceeded to walk down the aisle, as if introducing her baby to a non-existent congregation. When she reached the podium in the front of the sanctuary, she turned around and walked back up the aisle. When she reached the church’s door, the lights spontaneously extinguished, and the woman disappeared into the night, leaving the couple fearful and staring in disbelief.
Who the woman was is not known, but it is believed she was a member of the Bethesda congregation in the 1860s. She was in love with a young man who joined the Union army and was assigned to the 148th Company D late in 1862, and they were to be separated for a time. They pledged to get married, and as things happen, they probably celebrated a bit too much, and the woman found herself with child. Her fiancé was killed in the war and their child was born out of wedlock a few months later. The church congregation apparently did not believe her story of impending marriage and cast her out as a fallen woman. What became of her and her child is unknown.
Civil War records show that there was a soldier named William Knarr, from Gregg Township, who was killed in action in the battle of Chancellorsville on May 3, 1863. It is thought that Private Knarr is the “Will” the ghostly figure was summoning in her mournful calls when she was seen by the couple.
Several other people have claimed to hear the ghostly laments of “Will, Will, Will” over the years since. It is also claimed that she shows up once a year on May 3 at midnight. Another source claims she appears on Halloween night.
Did the Shultz couple really see a ghost? Who is the mysterious spirit? Was William Knarr the woman’s fiancé? These are questions that will most likely never be answered, but still, the legend persists in the annals of the interesting history of Penns Valley.
