Matthias looks at the ceiling, “Rumors are true. I have killed in my days here. I have killed eleven—no, fourteen—people before I lost count
with this sickness. Some of their heads are in the wells, I believe. What is left of them, unwanted peddlers, I placed in the forest for the animals
to pick apart, and a good job they have done.” Matthias smiles, even though he is in pain. “I just wanted to let someone know.” His eyes strain to focus. “How about that, the pain has finally stopped. I cannot see.” At this point, he seems to be talking to himself. “I am not mad!” He looks into an empty area of the room. “God, wife! You could cook so well. No one knew or cared about them.”

The Appalachian Mountains have always been full of mystery, abounding in legends and bloodshed during the French Indian War and the Revolutionary War. However, from 1850 to 1889, a new menace haunted these lands. Secrets of devious deeds that were carefully hidden behind the walls of a tavern owned by Matthias Schaumboch.

In his two-room tavern, Matthias confessed on his deathbed to murdering eleven to fourteen people before he lost count. Rumors had already abounded as locals whispered about Matthias killing lonely travelers for valuables and then dismembering the bodies. There
were even rumors of Matthias feeding his victims to unknowing guests at Schaumboch’s Tavern.

Only later were the atrocities confirmed when the property was purchased after Matthias’s death by William and Anne
Turner. They began to find human skulls in the water wells and human bones on the property. Based on true events and local history, this is the story of America’s first serial killer. Even today, curious visitors can drive the lonely road to Hawk Mountain Sanctuary and view the tavern
just off the road—at their own peril.