Philadelphia Weirdness

The Legend of the Hermit

Is it just a whisper on the wind that strange people, resembling a bizarre cult, once inhabited Philly and became known as the Wissahickon Cult? The cult is considered the first of such Doomsday worshipers and is said to have formed in the 1600s. Is there any truth in the murky legend that such a group also became known as The Society of the Woman of the Wilderness, a peculiar and clandestine tribe of elusive people said to practice a variety of magics and other related acts, such as astrology, herbal healing and alchemy?

Some would say they were once disciples of Satan, but perhaps their mystical awareness merely came from a worship of nature and an understanding of the planet, instead of from sinister sources. Strangely, there are roads in Philly named after the legacy of the people. Hermit Street and Monastery Avenue are said to be named after the cult who were also known as the Tabernacle of the Mystic Brotherhood. Their last surviving hermit supposedly had the ability to turn ordinary objects into gold. Legend states that he trusted a friend to cast a golden stone into the Schuylkill River as an ode to the "lady of the lake," and once thrown, shards of glittering gems littered the ground and a bright flash filled the night air. Variations of the legend claim that it was not a stone thrown into the depths, but a casket that exploded, its illuminations resembling spears of lightning.

No one really knows the truth regarding the unusual hermit clan, but at Fairmount Park a huge monolith stands to honor the founder of the order, a man named Johannes Kelp, who was known to his disciples as Kelpius.

A mysterious cave also remains in Wissahickon, which was supposedly once inhabited by such a group, or cult. There they were said to practice strange rituals and have visions pertaining to shamanistic powers and numerology. The truth of the brotherhood remains as hidden today as it did back then, yet it seems that these people were merely great visionaries and not something akin to witches, and so the tragedy of misunderstanding once again prevails, but thankfully there are still remnants of these gifted people in the modern day.

Image Credit: Flickr user freeparking