Last weekend, I was part of a tour of Union Cemetery in Steubenville, hosted by the Friends of Beatty Park. There were a total of four guides, and almost 150 guests were led through the beautiful and picturesque grounds to learn of the cemetery’s more notable residents.

I talked about many folks who have appeared in my column through the years. One resident I didn’t mention on the tour was football star Calvin Jones. In my last article I erroneously stated that he reposed in Union Cemetery, but he actually remains on Slesse Mountain in Canada, the site where he was killed in 1956 when the aircraft he was traveling in crashed on the slope of the mountain. His name appears on the grave of his parents. Those details are not always evident while visiting cemeteries. Just because a name appears on a gravestone, it doesn’t always mean that their remains repose there. Alternatively, some folks who are buried in graveyards lie unmarked. Sometimes that indicates that there was no money or family left who could organize a fitting memorial. But, what if it was the final wishes of the deceased to lie in an unmarked grave?

Such were the final wishes of Beaver County Judge John H. Reddick, whose story has become a local legend in Hancock County. I first became acquainted with the story of Reddick from Hancock County historian Fred Miller. Miller related the story last year at the Hancock County Historical Museum during their spooky stories event, which coincidentally will be held this year on Sunday at 2 p.m. at the museum in New Cumberland.

Reddick was born in 1743 either in Virginia or Pennsylvania, but at some point he moved to Western Pennsylvania, settling in what is today Hanover Township in Beaver County. His farm was located on the state line between Pennsylvania and Virginia, now West Virginia, just off Hardins Run Road today. According to Thomas White in his book “Legends and Lore of Western Pennsylvania,” little is known about Reddick’s life other than he was appointed associate judge in Beaver County from 1804-1830. It is also noted that Reddick served in the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Also, we know that Reddick was a strong and outspoken abolitionist at a time when that view was very much radical.

According to Joseph Bausman’s 1904 book, “The History of Beaver County,” “early in the century, he (Judge Reddick) made up his mind that slavery was wrong, and he did not fear to let his views be known. When Benjamin Lundy established his first ‘Humane Society,’ in St. Clairsville in 1815, Reddick was one of the first to lend his aid and sympathies to it. He became so active in his championship of the slaves that at one time the residents of Virginia objected so strongly to his stand that a band of white caps was organized to punish him. The visit was never paid to him, however, and until his death he preached his doctrine of freedom.”

Although Reddick was outspoken in his views of slavery, White says that he was a fair and just judge in his professional career. Reddick’s passion, though, was for horse racing and, according to legend, he built a fine racetrack on his farm. It is here that history departs, and folklore prevails, and the story of Judge Reddick takes a dark turn.

Reddick had many horses, but his favorite was a white stallion that could not be beaten in speed. Folks brought their horses from far and wide to race against the judge, but ultimately, they all were defeated. Reddick would often boast that the devil himself couldn’t beat his prized white stallion. Naturally the boast made it all the way to hell, due to the fact that evil spirits are always listening. When the devil heard this boast, he wished for nothing more than to punish the cocky judge, and on one dark night, he met Reddick and challenged him to a race. The stakes were high, naturally, as the devil offered wealth and success beyond the judge’s wildest dreams if he were to win the race. If the devil won, Reddick would forfeit his immortal soul.

The judge, believing that his white stallion could prevail, agreed to race the prince of darkness at his racetrack on his farm. The devil called up a black horse that appeared to the judge to have been dead a long time, and who had reluctantly been called up from the grave. When the race got under way, Reddick’s horse had the advantage, but when the black horse breathed fire, the white stallion bucked, and the devil crossed the finish line in triumph. In his victory the devil vowed to return to Judge Reddick at his death to claim his soul as his prize.

For the rest of his life, Reddick sought to outwit the devil in gaining his soul. He believed he had the solution, and when he passed away in 1830, he was buried in an open-ended chestnut coffin on his farm in the center of the state line, with his feet in Pennsylvania and head in Virginia. His grave was to be unmarked so the devil could not find him, but a stone wall was to surround it to keep the evil out.

That did not stop the devil because his soul was eventually found. When the devil came to collect his soul, Reddick would roll to Pennsylvania and being the good judge he was, would demand extradition papers from Harrisburg, the capitol of Pennsylvania. When the devil returned with the documents, he would roll into Virginia and demand papers from Richmond, the capitol of Virginia. This went on until the statute of limitations ran out and the judge’s soul finally could rest in peace.

A more sinister version of the tale says that the devil obtained both writs of extradition, and the judge’s soul was captured. The devil then turned him into a white horse and on moonlit nights would ride the tortured judge in the woods near Hardins Run Road. Unlucky passersby would hear the gallop of hoofs and the screams of the judge as he was tortured by the devil for all eternity. I wouldn’t travel that road on moonlit nights if I were you.

What is true about this story is that Judge Reddick did pass away in 1830, and his grave was indeed unmarked and surrounded by a stone wall right on the state line between Virginia and Pennsylvania. His grave still exists on private property. If the judge’s soul was indeed still in turmoil, rolling between Pennsylvania and now West Virginia, the devil has now won his prize.

Just after the Civil War, when West Virginia became its own separate state, the state boundary was resurveyed and Reddick’s grave now sits about 10 feet in Pennsylvania. Also, his grave is now marked due to the well-meaning folks from the Hookstown American Legion, who placed a military headstone on his grave commemorating Reddick’s service in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.

If the story is true, I hope that the statute of limitations did indeed run out on the devil long ago because he will have no problem claiming the judge’s soul now. A visit to Hardins Run Road on a dark moonlit night will settle the debate. Let me know if you hear the gallop of a horse or the sad laments of a tortured soul. Some graves are best left unmarked.

(Zuros is the executive director of Historic Fort Steuben.)