Hi, I’m Erin Bogert, your host, welcoming you back to Ghost Hunt. Today we visit a ghost near and dear to my heart, Pearl Bahmer, and I think you’ll see why once we get started.
In the summer and fall of 1922, New Brunswick teenager Pearl Bahmer was sexually assaulted by her father. To escape his abuse, Pearl sought the companionship of a young man named Raymond Schneider. But this didn’t make things better. Raymond proved manipulative, jealous, and violent. On the morning of September 16th, 1922, Raymond pressured Pearl to go to DeRussy’s lane, a so-called “Lover’s Lane” outside of town. The details of what happened next are disputed. But what is known is that they saw the maimed corpses of the Reverend Edward Hall and the choir singer Eleanor Mills. At Pearl’s insistence, they reported the bodies to the police. The political and criminal circus that became known as the Hall-Mills investigation had begun. And Pearl was at the center of it all. As more and more details came to light, Pearl began to receive death threats from Schneider’s ex-wife, his friends and his family. Her father was arrested, and the newspapers tore apart every piece of her tragic life. She then tried to drown herself in the Raritan River. The police got her out and incarcerated her in a reform school.
If you are experiencing suicidal ideation, going through difficulties, or just need someone to talk to, please call the New Jersey Hope line at 1-855-654-6735. Don’t face it alone.
This episode was brought to you by the New Brunswick Historical Society and Thinkery & Verse. Grant funding has been provided by the Middlesex County board of chosen freeholders through a grant award from the Middlesex Cultural and Arts Trust Fund. Our theme music this season comes from Blimp66 of Freesound.org. Today’s radio play used actual transcripts of the testimony that Pearl delivered to the detectives in the course of their investigation. These original 1922 depositions were provided by The New Brunswick Free Public Library. The episode was directed by Johnny Meyer, and edited by Karen Alvarado. It was performed by Erin Bogert. Audio engineering and audio editing for Season 3 also provided by Erin Bogert.