125 years ago, people were abuzz in Somerset and Johnstown, PA with a story of the paranormal that was occurring right in their own back yard. The story actually made the front page of the Johnstown Tribune on June 12, 1885. In fact both the Johnstown Tribune and the Somerset Democrat newspaper both ran a series of stories through the years chronicling the saga of Jacob Thomas and the seven devils.
Jacob Thomas was born in 1824 to John Thomas and Mary Kauffman of Thomas Mills, PA. The name of the town is not coincidental for Jacob’s father John purchased a tract of land and set up the feed mill that is still run by Thomas’ today. As the story goes, sometime during the civil war, Jacob saw four wagons passing by the mill towards Somerset on what is now Somerset Pike. He followed the wagons to a spot about halfway between Northfork Reservoir and Jennerstown, an area known as
Forwardstown. He watched as the treasure was buried
and vowed to return the next day and he help himself to the wealth. Unfortunately for Jacob, when he returned the next day he found the treasure being guarded by ” seven hideous devils and a woman without a head”. The devils roared at him and evoked a great storm that caused the earth to shake and the trees to twist. Sulfur burned his eyes. He took off for home, scared for his life.
Jacob never stopped thinking about the treasure and eventually he returned to the spot. Here the story gets even more unbelievable. According to Jacob, he kept on visiting the devils for close to twenty years and slowly coaxed six of them into subordination. The last one refused to let Jacob have the treasure. Finally they agreed to a deal in which Jacob should bring three brothers with him and the seventh devil would let him have the gold. Jacob arranged for his son-in-law, Austin Gardner and Austin’s two brothers to accompany him. One of them talked too much and many knew of this ongoing saga with the devils. So sadly, when Jacob and the Gardners returned for the treasure, a few townspeople had followed them. This angered the seventh devil and Jacob was refused the gold for another year. Jacob swore to anyone who would listen that he would get that gold yet.
While no one knows for sure,
it is believed that Jacob never did get the gold. He died 11 years later and is buried with many of his family at the Thomas Mennonite Church in Thomas’ Mills. During the turn of the century, interest in mysticism and all things paranormal flourished. It is interesting to note that
for years, wagons full of Somerset county citizens would flock to the supposed site, not to find gold but to get a chance to see, as the Somerset Democrat put it, “ethereal inhabitants of another world”.
This story does seem fantastic but what could have caused otherwise rational people(people that included detectives, elective officials and such) to believe such a wild tale?
There is a folktale from that area in which there is a deposit of gold that occurs in the ground there. One day gypsies discovered it while riding by. They, unlike the townspeople, knew how to extract the gold from the side of the mountain. But they soon began to quarrel over this “treasure” and eventually killed each other. Perhaps it is their ghosts that Jacob saw. Perhaps it was an overactive imagination. But the next time you are traveling on the Somerset Pike on a dark night, it can’t hurt to keep your eyes open for the devils. Maybe the gold could be yours.
Jacob and the seven devils of Thomas’ Mills, PA
https://anypit.com/jacob-and-the-seven-devils-of-thomas-mills-pa/
