Out There: Stories from the Woods

By Christopher Miller

The words, “an evening with Lou Bernard,” or that other history guy as I refer to him in print publication, evokes an image of a man in a tasteful smoking jacket such as an introduction to PBS Masterpiece Theatre, or perhaps even Hugh Hefner.”

I was recently treated to such an evening at Hyner Run State Park last Saturday when local historian/ghost hunter/paranormal researcher/writer/librarian/and superhero-wanna-be Lou Bernard was doing a talk on the history of the general western Clinton County area for those camping overnight.

My wife and I made the trip up to Hyner after a long, hot afternoon of felling trees and trimming branches, which when writing this seems to be the opposite of why Hyner Run and Hyner View were created in the first place (think: preservation).

Needless to say, we enjoyed our evening drive under the cover of century-old pine trees.

About a dozen people sat in the campground amphitheater captivated by the tales of Clinton County’s days-gone-by.

Chapman Township
First-up was the story of how Chapman Township was founded and incorporated. Founded: 1819…Incorporated: 2010. Say what? That’s right, supposedly when breaking the news story in 2010 a local news source headline read, “Chapman Township Exists!” In funny-fashion, Chapman was 1 of 6 townships in the state that was never incorporated due to a fluke-finding in Harrisburg which changed that. Oh, and Bloomsburg is the only “town” in Pennsylvania.

“Dress’d” to Impress
Renovo was founded in 1861 and incorporated in 1866. In 1881 a story was published about a local man who was harassing women late at night in the streets of Renovo. Aptly named the “alley bird,” this person was known to wear a dress, boots, and a bonnet and would jump out and scare women as they were out walking in town at night. The Alley Bird supposedly never hurt anyone and would just scare others for the fun in it.
Why use 26 letters when 13 work well?

To celebrate The Record newspaper’s 150th birthday this year, Lou told the story of what almost happened to the newspaper on the eve of the first publication. John Upton Shaffer was the Publisher and forefather of what we knew today as The Record. The newspaper was established in 1871 as a weekly print edition – much like today’s. Upon ordering equipment to print the newspapers, it was heard that only half of the alphabet had arrived. Imagine trying to read the newspaper with only letters “a” through “m”! The rest of the letters arrived in time for the first printing, luckily.

North Pole Slides into Clinton County
In 1904 C. A. Simpson discovered the North Pole. In Clinton County. I kid you not. Simpson was a Renovo Railroad employee sleeping in a cabin a few miles outside of Renovo. Late one night he walked out of his cabin, perhaps a bit woozy from too much of the “apple cider” drinks, and discovered that the North Pole was actually located only 11 miles north of Hyner! Somehow overnight it had slid down through Canada, New York state, and Potter County to end up just a short drive from where we currently reside! It was rumored to have been staked out, marked with an American flag, and then celebrated with much whiskey and fanfare. Of course in typical early 20th century fashion, the discoverers spoke with local news media to report the find.
Baptism by Fire?

In November 1833, only a few days after Jerry Church staked out the town that would become Lock Haven, this area and much of the northern hemisphere was blanketed in a spectacular light show of meteors. Known today as the Leonid Meteor Shower, in 1833 it was thought to be the end of the world by those who saw it. Local panther hunter, Grizzly Adams model, and all around Chuck Norris impersonator Seth Nelson was camping out on Altar Rock when this was all taking place. He woke up to see meteors flying overhead and swore that some landed around him, hit him in the head…well after all, the man claimed to be immortal though he passed away in 1905.

Subs…but not the Eating Kind
A gentleman who lived out near Westport was a natural-born genius. I mean, this was on the census record so it had to be true, written on official United States Government paperwork. Brutus DeVilleroi had created one of the first submarines to be used in battle; the USS Alligator. This ons is true – it had sunk some time in 1863 off the coast of North Carolina and an interested government search party is attempting to raise it from the murky depths. The interesting thing about Brutus was that he did not possess the money to undertake such a massive project! It was theorized that when he purchased adjoining property to his own, he had located the site of an old fabled silver mine and was mining and selling the silver ore. Then he later re-sold the properties back to their original owners. Natural born genius? I think possibly-so.

These “strange but true” tales are thanks to the quirky things that are found in the card files at the Ross Library in Lock Haven, stories passed-down from generations, and people, like myself and that other local history guy who have a keen interest in protecting our local treasures.

I swear I felt a polar vortax blast of cold air hit me just now – the South Pole must have just slid in…