In 1922, DeRussey’s lane wound down off of Easton Avenue into a rural landscape of trees and farmland: an out-of-the-way place for local lovers to tryst. The bodies of Eleanor Mills and Edward Hall, a couple engaged in a well-known affair, were discovered on the Phillips’ farm, just off DeRussey’s lane, by two other illicit lovers: Pearl Bahmer and Raymond Schneider.
The bodies were staged beneath a crabapple tree: Edward’s arm over lay Eleanor’s shoulders, his hat over his face, concealing a single bullet wound, and his business card propped on his shoe. Eleanor had been shot three times, her throat slit and her tongue and larynx both removed. Scraps of love letters littered the ground.
In the ensuing media circus, the crime scene and much of the area became a fairground for gawking tourists, pulling branches off the crabapple tree and buying peanuts from local vendors.
Though the events of the night itself remain an open question, we have two somewhat dubious eyewitness accounts: That of local farmer Jane Gibson, and that of Ralph Gorseline, a vestryman at St. John’s who was involved in an extramarital affair with parishioner Catherine Rastall. (Notice a pattern?)
After the nation-wide negative publicity surrounding the case, the town renamed DeRussey’s lane to Franklin Boulevard, attempting to erase this sordid bit of history. Today, no evidence or indicator of the crime scene remains.
Please note that we have not placed our Ghost Hunt: DeRussey's Lane geocache in the exact location where the bodies were found, but if you travel two blocks to the southwest, you will be in the approximate area. Please try to respect the privacy of our neighbors.
This mini-cache contains three QR codes that will unlock the next step in our exploration of the Hall-Mills tragedy. Please restore the QR codes so that the next Ghost Hunter can also enjoy them. Good luck, and keep an eye out for our other Ghost Hunt geocaches.