THE GHOST OF BETTY KNOX
There is nothing more frustrating or sad than an unsolved missing persons case. Unexplained disappearances haunt our history, and clues fade with the passage of time, leaving only memories.
Such is the case with Betty Knox of Dunbar, Pennsylvania. Her story begins back in 1842 on the ridges of the Dunbar Mountains in Fayette County. There, on a rough farm at Kentuck Knob, Betty Knox was born. She was the only child her parents would have. Much like the difficult land they worked, farming life had many hardships. When sickness came, the isolated mountain families had few doctors to turn to, and those few had often received limited training. Not that a doctor could have helped the Knox family. Young Betty was only three years old when her mother died from consumption, which was virtually untreatable. Her father raised young Betty the best that he could in such a circumstance.
As time passed, Betty became a strong and skilled mountain farmer. She was said to be able to perform the work of any man, and her father relied on her to help with all of the tasks that were performed to make the farm run properly. Nineteenth-century farming life was difficult, to say the least. Young Betty was responsible for or assisted with clearing the land, plowing, planting, weeding and reaping. Between the larger tasks, she found time to raise livestock and cook.
It was said that Betty grew into a very beautiful young woman with long auburn hair, a fair complexion and blue eyes. One could imagine why she was often pursued by all of the young men who lived in the lonely hollows around Kentuck Knob. Being both beautiful and skilled at farm work made her the desire of many. However, Betty resisted all of their advances and turned away potential suitors, waiting for someone she truly loved.
It was in her seventeenth year that a freak timber-cutting accident took the life of her father. The tragedy left Betty alone on the mountain, but farming was her life, and she would not abandon her parents’ homestead. To supplement her meager income, Betty had to take on additional difficult work. She began to haul grain in a wagon pulled by her ox for other nearby farmers. The young woman drove her ox and the grain-filled wagon over the mountains to the gristmill in Ferguson Hollow. In the evening, she would return the flour to the farmers. The grueling trip was about twenty-five miles in total and would consume the entire day. Betty followed the same trail so many times that part of it is still visible today. Other evidence of her journey survives as well. Betty Knox Park exists in the State Game Lands, on a level piece of land she usually traversed near Dunbar Creek. Nearby is a spring where she frequently rested on her long journey. To make its clean water more accessible, she lined it with stones.
Betty did eventually encounter one man with whom she became enamored, but like many other things in her life, it was a situation that ended tragically. On one fall evening in 1862, during the Civil War, Betty came upon a wounded soldier on her return trip from the gristmill. The young man was said to have deserted the Union army and wandered north into Fayette County. He was seriously wounded and delirious with fever. Betty took pity on the soldier and took him back to her farm. Desertion was a serious charge, so she kept him hidden from any unknown visitors. As she nursed him back to health, Betty began to develop strong feelings for the young man. He remained with her for over a year, never fully recovering from his injuries. The harsh mountain winter did not help his situation, and eventually the young soldier succumbed to his wounds. Betty buried him near her father’s grave on Kentuck Knob.
Following the death of the soldier, Betty resumed her daily trips over the mountains. Betty and her ox became quite well known among the people of the region in the coming years, especially during the harvest. Even though she was welcomed by all, she always kept a reserved distance. Her persistent and dedicated hard work had won her the respect of her neighbors. But this is where our story turns into a mystery for the ages. Sometime in 1878, Betty Knox’s famous mill trips came to an abrupt end.
Betty Knox had vanished without a trace. The local farmers began to notice that the grain was piling up in the log barns. Neighbors assumed at first that she took ill. A small posse went to her farm, expecting to find her there in bed. To their surprise, she was nowhere to be found. A search party was then assembled to scour the nearby woods and her trail to the gristmill. Still, they had no clues as to her whereabouts. Among the locals, speculation grew as to her fate. Some thought she might have been attacked by a scorned lover or a wild animal and dragged off into the wilderness. Others guessed that she might have left willingly, out of loneliness. The mystery deepened the following spring when some children made a startling discovery while out in the woods. Chained to a tree, they found the skeleton of an ox. This was highly unusual because the spot had been searched thoroughly months before. No one reported seeing a chained ox, and Betty was never known to use a chain to lead her oxen. Whatever happened to the ox, many of the local farmers believed that the animal had belonged to Betty.
A map of the Dunbar area in Fayette County in 1872. Editor’s collection.
To this day, the case has never been resolved, and at this point, it is not likely that we will ever know what happened to her. That does not mean, however, that people have not continued to see Betty. It is frequently reported that her pale specter wanders her old trail, sometimes on foot and sometimes driving her ghostly ox and wagon. If Betty Knox herself is not seen, sometimes her creaking wagon and the hooves of her ox can be heard. The legend of her restless ghost has been passed on since her disappearance, and Betty Knox Park is frequently visited by those looking to interact with the ghost. Some visitors claim to hear not only her ghost, but perhaps that of her fallen soldier as well. Allegedly, if you stand by the crossing at Dunbar Creek on a dark night, you can sometimes hear a man whispering, “Betty Knox, Betty Knox.” Does the ghost of this strong yet tragic woman still linger at the location of her unexplained demise? Or does the legend continue to be told simply to commemorate the life of this brave woman who might otherwise be forgotten in the pages of history? Maybe the legend is an attempt by the community to make sense out of Betty’s mysterious disappearance by always having her “present” in the form of a ghost story. Perhaps it is all of these at the same time. Like the details of Betty’s disappearance, we may never know for sure.
SOURCES
“Connellsville Ghost Stories—Legend of Betty Knox.” http://connellsvilleghoststories.weebly.com/legend-of-betty-knox.html.
Ellis, Franklin. History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men. Philadelphia, PA: L.H. Everts & Co, 1882.
“Pennsylvania Haunts and History: The Legend of Betty Knox.” http://hauntsandhistory.blogspot.com/2010/04/legend-of-betty-knox.html.