The Moonshine Church sits along Moonshine Road
(Rt. 443) surrounded by Fort Indiantown Gap Military
Reservation. The road and the church are named for Henry
Moonshine who donated the land for the church and the cemetery.
There is a monument in the center of the cemetery stating that
he had designated the land as free burial ground in memory of
his son John died when only 14 years old. The current structure
was built in 1961 to replace the original that was located back
further from the roadside and destroyed by fire.
Many haunting stories exist about the church and
the cemetery. In the book "Weird Pennsylvania" the story is told of
how the Blue Eyed Six haunt the grave yard with their eyes. In 1878
The Blue Eyed Six were tried and convicted for the conspiracy
murder of Joseph Raber, a local laborer who lived in a one room
shack nearby. Five of the six were hung and the sixth died a year
later. None of them are buried here, but Raber apparently is, but
while we explored we couldn't find his head stone in the snow. The
book further states that if you wander into the woods behind the
church at midnight, you'll not be able to find your way back and if
you do you'll more than likely be welcomed by a pentagram on the
back door. More stories of seeing ghosts and soldiers walking
around in the church if you peer through the windows at night are
told. If a car is speeding past, it's said that it will stall.
Visitors are warned not to turn their car off because it will not
restart. During our visit we saw many speeders pass by without
stalling, but I must admit that Nathan insisted we leave the car
running while we explored. These ghost stories are quite popular at
the Boy Scout camp just down the road.
To find the final, you'll need to collect some
information:
- The posted coordinates take you to the head
stone of Sabina Drews, wife of Charles Drews one of The Blue Eyed
Six. Here you need her age at death.
- Look across the road and note the times listed
for Sunday School, Worship and Wednesday Evening.
- As you exit the grave yard, look up and note
the year high on the front of the church.
Final Coordinates 40 xx.xxx 076 yy.yyy
Subtract Sabina's age at death from the year on
the church and subtract 98 from that. Add that result to the posted
N coordinate and you'll have xx.xxx
Add the times* of Sunday School, Worship and
Wednesday Evening and add 276 to that. Subtract that result from
the posted W coordinate and you'll have yy.yyy
*Ignore the colons in the times posted - treat
them as numbers not times. Don't do anything crazy like dividing by
60 or anything. In other words don't over think this part the way
we typically would. ;-)
GUIDANCE: Daytime visits to the church
and grave yard are welcomed. You will need to traverse the cemetery
to get information you need at Stage 1. Please only use the main
gate and be respectful to the property and others during your time
there. DO NOT CLIMB THE FENCE TO GET IN THE CEMETERY. The property
to the south of the cemetery is private, please do not venture
beyond the cemetary into their forest. Be sure to recover the
benchmark KW1177 in the corner of the graveyard and complete the
Blue Eyed Six theme by finding the Virtual Cache just a little
further down Moonshine Road.
WARNING: Please be reminded that this
public road and private church property is surrounded by Fort
Indiantown Gap Military Reservation. Therefore, the property to the
north of the church is federal land and it is clearly marked. DO
NOT VENTURE PAST THE RED WHITE AND BLUE NO TRESPASSING SIGNS -
THERE IS NO NEED TO GO THERE - THE MP'S WILL ARREST YOU FOR
TRESPASSING.
