Pigman

Pigman my be the the most well known story in Western NY. This story begins with a tragic train crash known as the Angola Horror (1867) A train derailed in Angola NY killing 50 passengers. There is rumor that this crashed was caused by a local family by accident. This family was known as the ‘Derrecks’ its suspected that the crashed may have been caused due the the young boys of the family taking railroad ties to mend a fence. However, it is documented that the crash was caused by a faulty frog on the tracks. One of these young boys would grow up to become the father of William Derrecks (1913) who later to be known as Pigman. William would be born with disfigurations of the face. This made him stand out and further shunned the family from the Angola NY community. William would try to make the best of it by becoming a butcher in town and preforming in side shows. He would later marry his cousin Mildred. After her death in 1966 William became reclusive and would begin hoarding objects in and around his house on Holland road. His home fell under taunting from teenagers it was then he began putting the heads of dead pigs on pikes around his property. He would chase people off of the road and chase them with axes. it was 1972 when the first missing person case was reported. A man by the name of Harris Tomkins was doing door to door surveys when he disappeared in the area. When the police went to the Derrecks resident they found numerous people including one small child living in squalor. They were unable to find William. Later that year his house would have burned to the ground.