Nittany Nightmare

As the Great Depression hit, Penn State College was cash-strapped and dilapidated. Cuts to athletic scholarships left the football program a shambles and the school a last resort for many students. In 1937, underfunded state police fighting a losing battle against striking miners and steel workers in Johnstown called in the National Guard. There were not enough police to cover the state, and it showed. Then someone started killing young women in the area. Between November 1938 and May 1940, Rachel Taylor—the first student murdered in Penn State history—Margaret Martin and Faye Gates were abducted and sexually assaulted, their bodies dumped within 50 miles of the college. Penn State weathered the Depression and soon grew into Pennsylvania State University. The Nittany Lions became a world-class team that would go half a century without a losing season. Two demoralized police agencies were merged, forming the precursor of the Pennsylvania State Police. While Gate's murderer was convicted, the killer(s) of Taylor and Martin were never caught.

"Sherwood delves into the deadly past of Penn State in a true crime book exploring the murder of three young women in the Central Pennsylvania area during a tumultuous time for the economy and a football program on the verge of collapse."--The Daily Collegian, (Penn State University), "There is a lot of information in this book that I didn't know, particularly about the alleged sexual serial killer in the early 1940s. Tying in his family's Penn State history with the growth of the university and its football reputation to tell the darker part of his story is a perfect concept. ... well-written, well-researched and well-documented ... I doubt if there are many Penn State alumni and central Pennsylvania residents alive today who know what [Sherwood] tells us in his book. They will be as surprised and as shocked as I was when they read it."--Louis F. Prato, former director of the Penn State All-Sports Museum, Penn State football historian, author of The Penn State Football Encyclopedia.

Derek J. Sherwood is the author of 2011's Who Killed Betsy? Uncovering Penn State University's Most Notorious Unsolved Crime, which put forth Haefner as the prime suspect. While writing it, he uncovered many expunged documents and as a result he has spent the past decade researching Haefner's 1976 molestation trial, which ended with a hung jury. The author lives in Emmitsburg, Maryland.