Yost’s Ghost

For Halloween, I have a ghost story for you from the Oley Valley in Berks County.

Yost Yoder died in 1742 and was sorely missed from the old homestead along the Manatawny Creek. His daughter Elisabeth, especially, wondered about him — Where was he? How was he?

On an August morning the year following her father’s death, Elisabeth sensed his presence in the home. So overcome was she, that she couldn’t eat or sleep. The next day, while outside at work, something pulled her back into the house. And there, sitting on the bed, was her father — dressed and looking just as he did in his coffin a year earlier. Elisabeth ran back outside, fell to the ground, and began shaking violently.

Her mother was worried and arranged for her daughter to go to a neighboring farm for a few days’ rest. But Elisabeth found no rest there; something deep inside pulled her back home. The next morning, she returned and went straight to the bedroom. The room turned pitch black and silent, an eerie feeling surrounded her. She wasn’t alone. Just then a bright light appeared in the darkness — the glowing ghost of her father, Yost Yoder!

They spoke with each other, and she learned that he had returned from the grave to tell her two important things. One: to heed her mother. And two: to heed the “Frenchman” — for he preaches the truth. Elisabeth tried asking more questions, but all that came was a warning. She would suffer a terrible illness in the coming days and come close to death — whereupon she would recover. With that, her father's ghost disappeared.

That evening, Elisabeth fell ill, declining slowly over the next two days, until finally on the third night those who watched over her were certain that death had come calling again at the Yoder home. But by morning, exhausted, Elisabeth awoke, gaining in strength, and ready to tell everyone her story.

And so, it was written up from Elisabeth’s own retelling and published by Christopher Sauer in 1744 in a book of ghost stories. The “Frenchman” was George de Benneville, a Huguenot and Christian Universalist preacher who lived in the Oley Valley.