A Kerrville "Witch" Solves a Mystery

A Kerrville "Witch" Solves a Mystery
Published in the Kerrville Daily Times on November 1, 2025

Max Crenwelge
Thank you to Brian Oehler for 
sharing this image

On a cold February morning in 1906, 24-year-old Max Crenwelge rose from his sick bed and wandered from his family’s home, never to be seen alive again.  After his body was found, a story began to circulate about how supernatural forces intervened in his case.

Max Crenwelge, born in 1881, was one of ten children belonging to Peter and Lenora Crenwelge, well-to-do cattle ranchers. The family’s ranch was located in the Cherry Spring community, 16 miles northwest of Fredericksburg.

In late January, young Crenwelge fell gravely ill and delirious. He had been sick for several weeks when he managed to get out of bed and wander into the cold of a Hill Country winter without his coat.

After the family searched in vain for Max, search parties were formed. A hundred and fifty men combed the hills around the Crenwelge Ranch and had no luck in finding him. A modest reward was offered to anyone who could bring Max home and newspapers across Texas covered his disappearance.

After two days of searching, a winter storm blew through the area, causing serious doubts that Max would be found alive. The reward money was increased to $5000 (equivalent to $180,000 today) to anyone who could find Max, dead or alive.

Peter & Lenora Crenwelge, Max's parents

Meanwhile in Kerrville, a woman was having recurring dreams about a young man, lying dead beneath a live oak tree. The dreams were haunting her, and she desperately wanted to help the man. Unfortunately, her dreams did not give her a name or the town where he lived.

It wasn’t until public interest in the case had spread to Kerrville and she heard a physical  description of Max Crenwelge that the “alleged seeress” knew how she could help.

The unnamed woman wrote a letter to the Crenwelge family, giving them detailed descriptions of where Max’s body could be found and directed that any reward money be “diverted to charitable purposes.”

Searchers found Max’s body in the exact location given in the letter – in a lonely valley, seven miles from his home, sitting under a live oak tree.

Whether the woman with the psychic vision identified herself in the letter or wrote anonymously is unknown.  It is interesting to note that while stories about Max Crenwelge’s disappearance and eventual discovery were covered in many Texas papers, there is no mention of how he was located.

 Headline from The Ottawa Daily Republic, 3/3/1906

The story of the “Witch of Kerrville” was covered in many states across the country and in Canada.  Ever since a clipping of one of those stories was left for me at the Art Center by another historian (whoever you are, I don’t have your name), I have been digging into old newspapers and all kinds of historical records in an attempt to find out who the psychic was – and there is no record of her or her talents to be found anywhere.

I hope you allhad a fantastically spooky Halloween!