History & local legend
Snavely Cemetery in Cambria County is associated with “Becky,” a woman said in local legend to have been hanged as a witch. Stories include teenagers seeing an apparition at night and cars refusing to start when visitors try to leave.
Investigator Walter Hutsky examined the story because the woman named in it, Rebecca Kring, was a distant relative. The historical account was very different. Rebecca and her husband died in January 1892 when fire destroyed their home in Elton. Neighbors tried to reach the room where the couple slept but could not save them.
Rebecca’s gravestone is in Dunmyer Cemetery, several miles from Snavely. The distinction separates a real person and a documented tragedy from the later witch story. Snavely remains the setting of the legend, while Dunmyer is her burial place.
Sources
- Walter Hutsky, Becky’s Grave: The Truth Revealed, account of family history, local stories and onsite visits
- The Cambria Freeman, An Aged Couple Burned to Death, contemporary account of the fire, January 29, 1892, p. 3
- Penn Lines, June 2025, A Case of Mistaken Infamy, photographs the actual gravestone in Dunmyer Cemetery, p. 14
- OpenStreetMap, named Snavely Cemetery, Richland Township
