History & local legend
Brothers George and Joseph Cox disappeared from their home near Pavia in Bedford County on April 24, 1856. A prolonged search failed to find them. The story became known as the Lost Children of the Alleghenies because of the unusual explanation later given for the discovery of their bodies.
In Charles R. McCarthy’s historical account, Jacob Dibert dreamed repeatedly that he followed a route through the woods to the boys. His dream included landmarks such as a dead deer, a child’s shoe, a creek crossing, and a birch tree. Dibert persuaded his brother-in-law, Harrison Wysong, who knew the area, to accompany him. On May 8 they found the children dead near the place Dibert said he had seen in his dreams.
McCarthy included a later letter from Dibert’s widow describing the repeated dreams and the search. The woodland monument marks the place where the boys were found; their graves are at a separate cemetery. The tragedy and the dream tradition have remained closely linked in local memory.
