Polish Catholic Cemetery with the Two-Handed Headstone Legend
New Castle, PA
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free public cemetery access.
Access
Limited Access
Well-maintained cemetery grounds with some uneven terrain
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1902 · Polish Immigrant History · Lawrence County Catholic Heritage
The Madonna of Czestochowa parish was founded in 1902 to serve New Castle's Polish immigrant community. The parish established a cemetery in Union Township to accommodate its congregation. By the early 20th century, the cemetery had accumulated a substantial population of Polish surnames — Barczyk, Cwynar, Gierlach, Jaworski, Kwolek, Mateja, Presnar, Sniezek — reflecting the immigrant workforce that had settled in Lawrence County's industrial communities.
The Reverend Francis Baczewski served as pastor from 1919 until his death in 1934; a memorial in the cemetery honors him. A memorial wall honors the Reverend John F. Fic, who died in February 1964 at age 47 while serving as Madonna's pastor.
Stanislaw Krowiak (1878-1927) was buried in the cemetery with a headstone bearing a photographic portrait — a common practice for Polish Catholic grave markers of the period. The photograph shows what appears to be one hand significantly lighter than the other, producing the visual impression of a white hand and a black hand on the same figure.
Sources
The Krowiak headstone is the focal point of Madonna Cemetery's haunted reputation. The photographic portrait on the stone — a photographic ceramic technique common in early 20th-century Polish Catholic grave markers — shows what appears to be distinct tonal contrast between the two hands in the image. The practical explanation is photographic aging: the ceramic photograph has darkened unevenly over a century of weather exposure.
The folk legend that developed around the stone is specific: on the night of October 30, at midnight, placing a white sheet over the headstone and knocking three times will cause the figure in the photograph to appear behind the person performing the ritual. The story is told as a local legend among New Castle residents and has been repeated in multiple paranormal accounts of the region.
The stone has remained intact. A Lawrence County resident who visited the cemetery reported finding it well maintained and undamaged, noting only the natural aging of the ceramic portrait as the likely source of the two-tone hand appearance.
Notable Entities
The cemetery contains the grave of Stanislaw Krowiak (1878-1927), whose headstone bears a photographic portrait showing what appears to be one white hand and one black hand. The inscription and the photo's tonal characteristics are the source of decades of local folklore. The cemetery is well maintained by the Catholic Parish Cemeteries Association.
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