They called it “murder marsh,” and by October of 1925, the name seemed horribly earned.
In the swampy ground between Newcastle Junction and West Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, searchers had already found the headless body of one man. The next day, his head was recovered.
Less than two weeks later, the marsh yielded another decapitated body.
Then, while looking for the second man’s head, authorities uncovered something even more chilling: the skull of a woman.
The discoveries turned the bog into the center of a grim mystery. State police, county officials, and local residents prepared to push deeper into the quagmires and quicksand, not knowing whether they would find more victims, clues to the killer’s identity, or perhaps even the murderer hiding somewhere in the swamp itself.
Bog Yields Up Headless Bodies
NEW CASTLE, Pennsylvania. — The recesses of “murder marsh,’ where the decapitated bodies of two men and the skull of a woman have been found within two weeks, will be searched today by state police, county authorities and residents of this district in an attempt to clear the mysterious murders.
Before starting out on the arduous task of traversing the quagmires and quicksands of the swamp, members of the party expressed the opinion that more victims of the murderer might be found, or the criminal himself might be discovered.
The swamp, situated between Newcastle Junction and West Pittsburgh, yielded its first victim Oct. 6, when the headless body of a man was found. His head was found the following day.
On Oct. 17, the second headless body of a man was found and in searching for its head, a woman’s skull was discovered yesterday. Nearby a bundle of men’s clothing was found.
Source: The Washington Daily News. Washington, D.C. October 20, 1925.
