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Etna Bittenbender Obituary

Updated Jun 26, 2025
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Etna Bittenbender Obituary
The Obituary for Etna Bittenbender
Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.
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Etna Bittenbender
Etna was born to Samuel Bittenbender (1833 - 1919) and Margaret Neyhart Bittenbender (1836 - 1914). She had siblings Eugene, Sylvester, Sarah, Tacy, Milton, Peter, Malinda, Alda, Samuel, Susanna "Anna" and Jennie. In the 1880 census (the last Federal census taken before Etna was murdered), her grandmother Sarah Neyhart (age 82), her parents (both born in PA), and 12 siblings (including Etna) were listed as living in the household. On Halloween 1880, Etna was walking to her job as a maid at a nearby home. She never arrived. When her sisters passed the home the next morning, her employer asked where she was as she had never arrived the previous afternoon. While returning home to tell their parents, her sisters found her body. Etna had been bludgeoned to death. There were suspects but no one was ever charged or convicted of her murder. To this day, 140 years later, people are still intrigued by the mystery (and some report seeing her ghost). Scroll down to read a couple of accounts about this horrific crime - one an interview with the men who just wrote a book about it (solving it?) and one a blog from someone who visited her grave.
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