Blue Eyed Six - Misconceptions

Misconceptions

The Blue Eyed Six are sometimes reported to have been hanged and to be buried in the cemetery at Moonshine United Zion Church (Moonshine is name of the family who donated the land the church and cemetery occupy) near the village of Green Point at Indiantown Gap, near the site of the murder. In actuality, the hangings all took place at the county prison in Lebanon. Although Joseph Raber, the victim, is buried at Moonshine Church, the six conspirators were all buried separately by their families elsewhere in the county.

Brandt and Drews are buried side by side in the veteran's section of Mt. Lebanon Cemetery in Lebanon. Hummel and Zechman are buried at Sattazahn Lutheran Church cemetery in Union Township, Lebanon County. Wise is buried at Evangelical United Brethren Church cemetery in the village of Green Point, Union Township, Lebanon County. Stichler is buried in the family plot on McLean Road, now within the bounds of Ft. Indiantown Gap.

Although none of the six had any known links to the Moonshine Church local folklore persists that the Six haunt the church and cemetery, and to this day ghost stories about glowing blue eyes in the church steeple are popular topics around campfires at the nearby Boy Scout Camp Bashore.

Some online accounts of the Six report that Josiah Hummel died in prison prior to his scheduled hanging. In fact, Hummel was hanged May 13, 1880, along with Wise and Brandt. As noted above, Zechman was acquitted and therefore escaped the hangman's noose. He was released from prison and died in 1887.