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Massacre of the Spatz family
In 1752, during the French and Indian War, a massacre of the Spatz family in a creek near modern-day Strausstown, PA caused the water to run red with the blood of the family. Afterwards, that creek was referred to “Bloody Springs” and the event the “Bloody Springs Massacre. ”The story of the massacre has been passed down through the Degler family, whose farm neighbored the Spatz’s.

Someone in the Spatz family killed an Indian. Furious, the tribe killed the entire family. When a tribesman was killed, a band of warriors attacked Degler's neighbors in retaliation. Not all of the settlers got along with the indians, though. The Indian tribe believed to be responsible is a Lenni Lenape tribe. George Degler got along well with the Indians, more than likely a Lenni Lenape tribe.

George Frederick Degler was, a German pioneer who settled in Berks County in 1738 who gave the local indians food and had a reputation among the Indians of this area as a fair and kind man.

While George Degler was friendly with the local Indians, George Degler got along well with the Indians, during the French and Indian War, indians from upstate New York came to Tulpehocken Township to attack its residents.

Knowing this, Mr. Degler and his family took refuge at Fort Northkill after hearing indian war whoops at the Spatz farm next door, the Deglers fled to nearby Fort Northkill, leaving their homestead unoccupied. Upon returning home weeks later, they found the house ransacked and a family chest brought from Germany by Mr. Degler chopped open.

Berks County and Tulpehocken Township During the French and Indian War
The word Tulpehocken is of Indian origin meaning “Land of Turtles.”

At the time of the Bloody Springs massacre, Tulpehocken Township was at the edge of the pioneer frontier. On one side of the mountain lived settlers, and on the other side of the mountain, lived indians.

The French and Indian War is the only war on North American soil where people were killed in Berks County. Benjamin Franklin was responsible building forts to protect people in northern Tulpehocken Township, PA from Native American attacks. One of these forts built for that purpose was Fort Northkill and was built in 1754, but was poorly suited to house people in cold weather.

On October 1, 1757, the Lepote tribe attacked near Fort Northkill in Tulpehocken Township. An application was made to Conrad Weiser in Reading, PA for help. Captain Oswald sent two lieutenants and forty men to assist residents in that area. Conrad Weiser was forced to choose between the Iriquois and the Lenape tribes due to political pressures.

William Penn signed a peace agreement with the Lenape tribe, who were not organized like the Iriquois. Lenape were most respected as native peoples after the peace treaty with William Penn was signed. However, as conflict between the English and the French escalated, the Iriquios became the pivotal tribe for alliance. As a result, Conrad Weiser had to allow the Iriquios and the settlers to “run over the Lenape.”

German settlers forced the Lenape out of Berks County. The Lenape had been pushed up the Schuylkill River over time. Then the Lenape moved out of Berks County and westward towards Pittsburgh, but were resentful about it. Several generations after William Penn and the peace treaty, the Lenape adopted a lot of European ways and needed gunpowder and to have their families fed while they were gone. The French offered this support for the Lenape to return to attack settlers in Berks County in small raiding parties. The Lenape traveled on foot for these attacks. The Lenape lived in the Ohio Valley at the time of the Bloody Spring massacre and were angry about being moved there from Berks County.

One hundred and fifty Berks County residents were killed and about 150 were kidnapped by the Lenape tribe during the French and Indian War. Some Berks County residents in 1755 were Amish, and did not believe in violence, and so were killed when the Lenape attacked their homes and kidnapped women and children to replenish the number in their tribe Often the kidnapped people would be ransomed back, but not always. At the end of the French and Indian War, a number of captives decided to remain with the tribes that kidnapped them because they had integrated into the tribe.

The Reading courthouse has a display of Indian Massacres in Berks County in hallway between annex and main courthouse, marking the estate of people who died from wounds from indian attacks, so the French and Indian War affects the legal history of Berks County as well through probate cases.

Fort Dietrich Snyder was situated north of Strausstown and about two miles west of Fort Northkill. This fort was used as an observation post, from which burning homesteads could be seen for miles.

The Degler Chest
George F. Degler emigrated from Germany in 1738 and settled on what was then Berks County's northern frontier, near present-day Strausstown in Upper Tulpehocken Township in Pennsylvania. He brought with him a cedar chest, which would become a treasured family heirloom.

After killing the Spatz family, the Lenape indians went to the Degler home and ransacked it. It included breaking open a cedar chest Degler had brought from his native Germany with tomahawks. When Degler returned to his home, the Indians apologized for breaking the chest and repaired it. “As a token of the regained friendship the Indians repaired the chest top which they had split and carved on it two fish, as a sign that the Deglers gave the Indians food; a heart symbol of friendship, and crossed canoe paddles, emblem of peace. Degler carved his initials on the chest, brought with him from his native Germany, and the year of the brief uprising, 1752.” The Indians repaired the chest and, as a token of renewed friendship, carved tribal symbols into it. They included two fish, a sign Degler had given them food; a heart, symbolizing friendship; and crossed canoe paddles, emblems of peace. To commemorate the event, Degler carved "GFD: 1752" on the chest. "The Degler family intended to preserve this chest and had it from one generation to the other as a relic of the fearful conflicts with the Indians which their forefathers had in the early settlement of the country." Mrs. Minnie Degler Stertzel explained, a great grand-daughter of the pioneer Degler.

Mrs. Stertzel told of a family agreement regarding the Degler Chest that has been in force since that day in 1752. The chest would never be taken from the Degler homestead, but would remain there as a mute reminder of early pioneer struggles. “To remind them of the fearful conflicts with the indians they had endured.”

The chest has only been away from the homestead once. The occasion was a special Fourth of July celebration during World War II in 1942.

Mrs. Stertzeil keeps a detailed family record of the chest’s possession, tracing it from her great-grandfather to the prest day. The family ledger shows the following chain of ownership: George F. Degler, brought the chest from Germany, 1738. Ownership passed to a son, Frederick Jacob Degler, 1755. To John Frederick Degler, 1787 To George Frederick Degler 1827 to John W. Degler 1855 To Frederick Jacob Degler, 1888 To Phoebe Degler Henninger1914 To Dora Degler Henninger Wagner 1937 and now to Mrs. Stertzel. Mrs. Stertzel traces her lineage through Charles Degler, her father; to Jerry Degler, her grandfather and George Degler, her great-grand-father.

Haunting of Bloody Springs
The Spirit Society of Pennsylvania (SSP), a ghost investigative group, went to Bloody Springs in 2008 and one its members saw the dead Spatz family in her mind’s eye lying in the creek bed. A visit by SSP to the Degler homestead revealed no negative energy, however, despite a ghostly push down the stairs claimed by the woman of the residence.

“People who live in the area say they experience cold spots in their house and weird things happening along the road. Unexplained things happening.” The video narrator did not report any of these sensations himself.

Paranormal investigative team speaks to ghost on film. Asks the ghost to move something, but the ghost complains it is too much “effort.” The team reports paranormal movements outside the house. The ghost is familiar with early 21st Century American slang in insulting the investigators. The narrator of the video tells the ghost this is justified because the ghost is not “moving a green light” and calls ghost a “coward.” Team inquires as to the nature of its death. “Cut,” it says. Ghost curses narrator. Team goads ghost to reveal its name. Ghost says its sister’s name is “Emily” and that she is a slut. It calls the investigators “imbeciles” and “bed wetters.” Team apologizes for its bad manners, and is insulted again by the ghost. Team asks about the crops of that farm, and is told “birds” and “wheat” and offers to bring ghost a beer, Ghost asks for a “stout.”