History & local legend
The Musser monument in Millheim’s Union Cemetery marks the graves of Daniel A. Musser and his wife, Lydia. A metal plaque bearing their names is mounted halfway up the granite column. Local stories say the stone bleeds.
The Pennsylvania Rambler grew up hearing the legend from his mother, who had heard it from her father. On examining the monument himself, he found a reddish streak running from beneath the plaque toward the letter U in the family name. His account describes the visible stain and the different stories passed down about it.
In one version, blood seeps from the carved letters. In another, a dagger appears on the monument and a drop gathers at its tip. A version published in The Daily Collegian in 1996 says townspeople covered the troubling spot with a brass plate, only to return and find the plate lying on the ground.
Sources
- The Pennsylvania Rambler, photograph and firsthand examination of the Musser monument, family tradition and variants
- Brian McClintock, The Daily Collegian, October 30, 1996, contemporary report on dagger and falling plaque
- Penns Valley Area Historical Museum, identification of Daniel Musser, 1822–1888
- Centre County Government GIS Department, Cemetery Index, Union Cemetery in Millheim Borough
