Venango County was once home to a world-record-breaking aviation experiment. In 1886, balloonist Mary Hawley took off from Franklin on a natural gas-powered flight, completing a swift, high-altitude journey that placed the Oil Region at the forefront of early flight history.

Venango County’s iron industry thrived decades before the oil boom. From Crary’s Furnace to river shipments bound for Pittsburgh, iron helped shape the county’s economy, workforce, and industrial identity.

While Pennsylvania is known for avoiding large-scale witch trials, belief in witchcraft persisted well into the state’s frontier era. This post explores how fear, folklore, and superstition shaped several witchcraft scares in Venango County, revealing how quickly hysteria could spread in isolated communities.