History & local legend
The abandoned railroad grades and mining settlements of Stony Valley have several traditions about headless men. One concerns a miner who lost his head in an accident near Gold Mine. In an October 2024 interview with LebTown, local guide Cliff Zeller described the figure pushing a wheelbarrow along the old route. In one version, his head lies in the barrow; in another, he is still searching for it.
Other stories attach similar figures to different parts of the valley. The Keystone Trails Association’s winter 2006 newsletter described a nighttime hike led by Brandy Watts, who told the group about a headless railroad worker at Kalmia and a man named Mason English.
English’s legend places his fatal train accident between Yellow Spring and Rattling Run.
Sources
- James Mentzer, LebTown, Is the Stony Valley area of northern Lebanon County haunted? Interview and field visit with Cliff Zeller (2024)
- Keystone Trails Association, February 2006 newsletter, account of Brandy Watts’s night hike, Mason English and the Kalmia worker
- Rails to Trails Conservancy, Stony Valley Rail-Trail and Rattling Run
- Susquehanna Appalachian Trail Club, Hike Meeting Locations, Gold Mine Road and Stony Valley Rail Trail
