History & local legend
The Le Roy homestead near Penns Creek was attacked on October 16, 1755. John Jacob Le Roy was killed, the house burned, and his daughter Marie was taken captive. Marie and fellow captive Barbara Leininger later recounted their experiences together, preserving an account of the morning and their eventual survival.
The spring associated with the homestead became one focus of the region’s ghost lore. Stories collected along the wider Penns Creek landscape describe screams, wounded figures and large black dogs. Another includes a small, red-eyed creature.
Sources
- Ghosts of Central Pennsylvania, The Restless Spirits of Penns Creek, specific spring and wider creek folklore
- Marie le Roy and Barbara Leininger, captivity narrative, pages 407–408, the morning of the attack
- Kim Adair Mattern, The Leroy Incident and Observations, Union County Historical Society, homestead and historical variantsUnavailable ·
- Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Leroy Massacre roadside marker and coordinates, transcribed in HMdb
