replaced the dark thoughts that had clouded Jonathan’s young mind: “From that time forward . . . I became newly inspired with dawning hopes and prospects, that God could not reasonably act so cruel in his judgments as he is represented by the clerical Bible canonaders of the day and age. I hoped most anxiously that God would be kind enough to overlook my unavoidable fruits of imperfection.” Jonathan Koons not only found a more positive worldview but became intrigued with the altered state of consciousness that was the instrument of his deliverance. From then on, he would meditate—and in doing so, find the space to turn his theological world upside down.
* * *
THE stories Koons heard from his father were entirely different from those of his saintly mother. Sitting around the fire at night back in Bedford, Peter and other relatives would tell tales of magic and wonder—of haunted groves in the woods, a mysterious light seen steadily traversing the ridgetops, and witches shape-shifting into animals. As a grown man, Koons remembered those tales and took the time to write them down. “These were listened to attentively, with a sort of reverential awe, and were generally believed,” he wrote. “Many of these occurrences, as was claimed, took place within my father’s family and circle of friends. This inspired me with a sort of fear and desire to see a ‘ghost’ or ‘spook’ as the Germans denominated a spirit, although I can not positively say that my desires were granted until recently.”
One such story involved his father and a neighbor woman named Mrs. ——, whom the family referred to derisively as “that old rib.” On a Sunday morning Peter went out to round up his cows and took along a rifle in case he chanced upon some game. As the family prepared breakfast, they heard several shots fired in quick succession. They guessed that he had come upon a flock of turkeys. Breakfast was postponed, and the family’s expectations grew high as they waited for Peter’s return. Soon he appeared with the cows—but minus the birds or any type of wild game.
Disappointment spread among the children, but as the head of the household Peter was not questioned. The family silently took their places around the breakfast table. Young Jonathan could tell that something was bothering his father. In fact, Peter had no appetite and Margaret had to beseech him to even sip a cup of coffee. Finally, Solomon, the second-oldest son, who had already taken a wife, summoned up the nerve to ask his father what had happened.
“When I came upon the cows I saw a small deer in the midst of the herd,” Peter related. “I fired upon it. This only caused it to give one or two bounds, and stopped without manifesting any fear or alarm. I repeated my firing; this caused it to act with a sort of contemptuous defiance, without expressing the least degree of alarm. Thus I continued to fire at my object which at times was within five or six paces, until all my balls were exhausted.” When the smoke cleared, the little deer had vanished.
Without another word Peter rose from the table, grabbed his hat, and set off, all the while mumbling something to himself. The family knew exactly where he was headed: to see a witch. Jonathan listened in fascination as his brothers and sisters, sister-in-law, and mother speculated about what would happen next.
“I wonder if that old rib will be able to relate the morning transaction without personal information as she is in the habit of doing,” said Margaret.
“I have no doubt of it,” her daughter Rachael replied, “for she appears to know everything that transpires in the neighborhood, and of course she will know the present occurrence.”
“I wonder how she comes by her intelligence,” said Lewis, one of the Koons brothers.
“Why! The Devil brings her the intelligence, and it was none else but Satan who transformed himself, to deceive father,” Rachel explained.
“Moderation, children,” Margaret broke in. “You must not be so profane. Let us look to God for protection, and we need not fear the power of Satan.”
“I will not judge, but I can not avoid an opinion,” said Solomon. “If half the reports are true, she evidently is a witch.”
The group fell into a discussion of the evidence against the “old rib.” Solomon’s wife Nancy said that one night she had been alone in her bedchamber awaiting her husband’s arrival when someone entered the room. She assumed it was Solomon and lifted her head from the pillow; by the light of a few coals from the fire, she saw Mrs. ——standing by the bed in a nightdress. Nancy found herself pinned to the bed, rendered powerless to move, and felt a weight upon her breast. Solomon quickly dismissed his wife’s experience as a classic nightmare, but his sister Elizabeth insisted that the same thing had happened to her.
“Hark,” Margaret said, silencing the back and forth. “Father is coming home. Let us wait and see what discoveries he has made.”
As Peter entered the room, Solomon’s wife could not resist teasing her father-in-law. “Been taking abroad, eh?” she asked.
“Yes,” Peter replied with a smile playing on his face.
“Suppose we shall have a wedding soon, seeing [as] you visit Mrs. ——so frequently?” Nancy continued. She turned to Margaret. “What do you say, Mrs. K, do you not entertain fears of your husband’s becoming espoused to Mrs. ——?”
“Judging from previous visits, we might presume so,” Margaret said.
“All but the wedding,” Peter shot back. “I have peculiar objects in view, besides her personal beauty and deportment, which incite my frequent visits.”
When his audience could bear the suspense no longer, Peter explained that he had hurried to the woman’s house so that he would be the first to see her after his encounter with the deer. He had long entertained suspicions about “that crooked rib” and her ability to tell of events she had not personally witnessed or heard about. He wanted to outrun any news that might have traveled about the peculiar animal in the forest. Mrs. —— was waiting for him at the door, as if she knew he was coming.
“Well Mr. Koons,” she said, “you have been shooting at a deer this morning, and you did not get it either.”
“Yes,” Peter said, “and a tormenting deer it was too! I shall take a little further trouble in ascertaining the character of such mysterious forms.”
“Oh, you need not take that trouble,” his neighbor assured him. “The next deer you fire upon you will get.”
Peter left her home feeling a bit sheepish about the prediction. If it proved to be true, he would have game for the family—but would have been “out generaled” by the witch, his reality shifted.
About a fortnight later Peter set out again with his rifle. At a spot about 4 miles from the home of Mrs. ——, he took down a deer from an unusually long distance. He was surprised to have hit it, but he wasted no time in hanging the carcass up in the woods and made a beeline for his house, where he dropped off the rifle without a word to his family. Soon he was back at the doorstep of Mrs. ——.
“Well! Mr. Koons, you got your deer this time, eh? Did I not tell you so?”
* * *
WITH such recollections to amuse him as the days grew shorter, 22-year-old Jonathan continued south on his journey through Ohio and eventually reached Athens County. By the time of his visit Europeans had been living in the area for more than three decades. Athens County had been established in 1805 and the town of Athens—the county seat and home to Ohio University (founded 1804)—was incorporated in 1811. The first generation of settlers, erstwhile wearers of coonskin caps and tanned deer hide, now garbed themselves in linsey-woolsey
