The Haunting of the Sammet Farm

 

 

Over a century ago, a ghastly crime was committed on a Lancaster County farm situated along Lititz Run, about midway between Zook's Mill and Rothsville Mill, in the shadows of Owl Hill. The brutal deaths of Richard Sammet and Kate Nagle Hornberger so rippled the peaceful countryside that countless locals insisted that the farm on which the tragedy occurred was haunted.

In 1924, 32-year-old Richard Sammet owned a sawmill and small farm between Rothsville and Millport. For eight years Richard had shared his home with 43-year-old Mrs. Kate Nagle Hornberger, but their relationship was one of constant quarreling, as Richard was insanely jealous of Kate. In this home also lived their three year old son, Richard, Jr. and two sons from Kate's previous marriage, Robert, age 8, and Albert, age 14. Richard's aged mother, Catherine Sammet, lived alone on the second floor of the farmhouse, having refused to live with Richard and Kate because they were unmarried.

Nine years earlier, Kate Nagle had been the wife of Martin Hornberger. Together they had five children, but Hornberger was granted a divorced from Kate on grounds of infidelity after she eloped with their neighbor-- Richard Sammet. Kate, who had been hired as a housekeeper by Richard Sammet, moved in with him, bringing Albert and Robert with her. But Richard often accused her of being "too friendly" with other men.

 

Caught in a Love Triangle

On Wednesday, April 9, Kate took Richard, Jr. to Dr. Walters in Rothsville-- or so she had told the boy's father. Richard, suspecting deception, followed her and discovered that Kate dropped the boy off at the doctor's officer before leaving with another man whom Richard had long suspected of having an affair with Kate. He followed Kate and her lover to Ephrata before turning around and returning home. He waited for her, and when she returned later that evening a bitter fight ensued, which culminated with Richard ordering Kate out of the house. Kate spent the night at the home of a neighbor who lived a half mile away, Mrs. Heck, but not before picking up a stone and throwing it through the kitchen window.

Richard Sammet, Jr.

 

According to Mrs. Heck, Kate appeared visibly frightened and had told her that Richard would kill her if she returned home. On Thursday morning, Mrs. Heck escorted Kate back to the Sammet home, but was promptly met by Richard, who ordered Mrs. Heck to leave the property. That was the last time she saw Kate alive.

"I went home with Kate," Mrs. Heck later explained. "When we got to the Sammet place, Richard came out and ordered her inside the house. Then she turned to me, and I could see she was frightened. 'You'd better go back home,' she said. Sammet started cursing me and when I got out in the road I told him what I thought of his actions. Then I came back home."

A Gruesome Discovery

It was around noon when 14-year-old Albert Hornberger returned home and made a shocking discovery. He opened the door and nearly tripped over the bloody and headless body of his own mother. A few feet away, in a pool of blood near a sofa, was the body of Richard Sammet. On the floor next to him was a double-barreled shotgun, and pieces of what had once been Kate's head. The youngest child, Richard Jr., wandered around in a daze from room to room, covered from head to toe in blood and weeping bitterly. Albert ran upstairs to spread the alarm to his grandmother.

 On the second floor, Catherine Sammet was entertaining her daughter and son-in-law, Mary and Harvey Kulp, oblivious to the tragedy beneath their feet. They had been away all morning, purchasing a gravemarker for Mrs. Sammet's late husband, who had passed away the previous summer. They had returned from the cemetery at around eleven o'clock that morning, entering Mrs. Sammet's apartment by way of a rear stairway which led directly to the second floor. They had heard little Richard's cries, but had thought nothing of it at the time.

The home and farm of Richard Sammet

 

The deputy coroner, Dr. Henry Walters (the same doctor Kate had taken their son to in Rothsville), soon arrived on the scene. After examining the victims Dr. Walters estimated that Kate and Richard had been dead since around nine o'clock that morning, which was around the same time that Mrs. Heck had left the Sammet property. The tragedy must've occurred just moments after Kate entered the house.

Dr. Walters found numerous injuries on Kate's body indicating that a terrible fight had taken place. He believed Richard had beaten her severely in one of the rear rooms before Kate tried to escape through the front door. Her hand was probably on the doorknob when Richard Sammet knocked her to the ground and blasted the top of her head off with the shotgun before turning the weapon on himself. Walters found a long stick near a sofa, indicating that Richard had been sitting down and had used the stick to press the trigger. 

The Sammet home. Arrow indicates where the body of Kate Nagle was found.

 
Rumors of Haunting

On Saturday morning, April 12, the body of Richard W. Sammet was laid to rest at Rothsville Lutheran Cemetery, with a graveside sermon by Rev. F.A. Weicksel. Kate Nagle Hornberger was laid to rest at Zion Cemetery in Rothville a few hours later after a short funeral service. Despite the sensational nature of the double tragedy, only a handful of relatives and close friends attended the services.

The following week it was announced that an auction would be held at the Sammet farm. Listed for sale was the 32-acre farm and sawmill, along with Sammet's Ford truck and touring sedan, steam engine, farming equipment, tools, furniture, and other items that had once belonged to the murderer. But, much to the despair of the auctioneer, the Sammet place was now rumored to be haunted by the ghosts of the suicidal farmer and his victim.

Albert Hornberger

 

Hundreds of curious locals gathered at the farm for the auction on April 29, but while Sammet's tools and furniture were easily sold, nobody dared to place a bid on the murder house, except for one person whose bid was so ridiculously low that the auctioneer refused to consider it. Those in attendance claimed it was because neighbors had reported seeing strange sights on the property from the summit of Owl Hill, which offered an excellent view of the Sammet farm. According to reports, mysterious shapes, whose movements were accompanied by otherworldly shrieks and groans, were seen near the family home. Ear-piercing wails emanating from the home had been heard ever since the tragedy by other neighbors and travelers along the road. As a result of the rumors, the property failed to sell, thereby remaining in the hands of Catherine Sammet.

Newspaper notice for the Sammet auction

Tragedy struck again in September of 1926, when Mrs. Sammet's oldest son, 37-year-old Frederick C. Sammet, was killed after his automobile was struck by a speeding train at Leola. After Frederick's sudden death, Catherine, who by now was living at the home of a daughter, once again tried to sell the farm But once again, no one was willing to purchase it. It was still unsold when Catherine passed away in 1929 at the age of 75.

As for the lone witness to the brutal murder-suicide-- three-year-old Richard Sammet, Junior-- he was adopted and raised by his aunt, Clara Nagle Eckenroad, after the tragedy. During WW2, Richard Eckenroad served in the Army Air Corps and participated in several key battles of the Pacific Theater, for which he was awarded numerous medals and bronze stars. After the war, he returned to Lancaster  County, married, had children, and lived a quiet life as a mechanic. He passed away in 2014 at the age of 92.



Sources:

Lancaster New Era, April 11, 1924.
Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, April 11, 1924.
Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, April 12, 1924.
Lancaster News-Journal, May 2, 1924.
Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, May 2, 1924.