BETTY KNOX

Inscription

BETTY KNOX
DISAPPEARED MAKING HER DAILY
TRIP TO GRISTMILL WITH OX. SHE
WAS NEVER FOUND, BUT BONES OF
HER OX LATER DISCOVERED. THEIR
SPIRITS SAID TO ROAM HERE.
THE PENNSYLVANIA CENTER FOR FOLKLORE
WILLIAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION 2025

Betty Knox lived in Kentuck, near Dunbar. Orphaned at a young age, she worked her farm and made daily trips by oxcart to the gristmill in Ferguson Hollow owned by Isaac Meason. Well-known by the locals and reportedly uncommonly beautiful, she lived alone until she met a wounded Revolutionary War soldier. She fell in love as she nursed his injuries. Unfortunately, he did not survive. Betty continued to drive her oxcart to the gristmill until 1778, when her daily trips suddenly stopped. Searching for her, local citizens followed the path she normally took each day from the top of the mountain to the gristmill and searched her home, but she was never found. The following spring, the bones of her ox were found tied to a tree near the spring where she would stop to water it on her daily trips; the bones had not been there when the area was searched the year before.

Cries of her ox can still be heard, and her spirit is seen drifting between the trees. This parking lot is important to the legend as the spring where Betty stopped each day to water her ox is nearby. Those searching for her ghost often come to this spot.