Crime victim Peggy Bradnick Jackson and author Kenneth L. Peiffer, Jr., will sign and discuss the book “Trail of Terror: The Story of Peggy Ann Bradnick and the Mountain Man” at the Grove Family Library, 101 Ragged Edge Rd. S., Chambersburg, on February 13 from 2 to 4 p.m. The event is open to the public.
Copies of “Trail of Terror” will be available for purchase at the book-signing. Published by Antietam Historical Association, Waynesboro, the 172-page book retails for $32.50 plus sales tax.
“Trail of Terror” recounts the criminal activities of the “Shade Gap Sniper,” William D. Hollenbaugh, from 1964 through 1966. His crime spree culminated in the abduction and week-long captivity of Peggy Ann Bradnick in May 1966. During the week, the search for Bradnick became the largest manhunt in Pennsylvania history up to that time, and included thousands of policemen, FBI agents, National Guardsmen, and volunteers. As the manhunt progressed, Hollenbaugh, an expert marksman, shot and killed FBI Special Agent Terry R. Anderson and a German Shepherd tracking dog and seriously wounded volunteer searcher Francis Sharpe, of Johnstown, and another tracking dog. The terror “the Mountain Man” inflicted on southern Huntingdon County ended when Hollenbaugh was killed in a shootout at the Luther Rubeck farm near Fort Littleton, Fulton County, one week after the abduction.
Ken Peiffer covered the Bradnick abduction as a photojournalist for the Chambersburg Public Opinion. His book includes more than 80 vintage photographs of the people and places related to the abduction and manhunt. The text is a straightforward factual account of the sniper’s reign of terror, and is indexed. It also contains the names of many of the FBI agents and police officers who participated in the manhunt.
Jackson supplied Peiffer with information about her captivity for his work. Her quotes appear in italics in the book. For more information, call 717-762-2006.