http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/local/9673985.htm

Posted on Thu, Sep. 16, 2004

W-B man: 'Witches are trying to kill me'

Jake Jenkins home-schools his kids to protect them from witches he
says live nearby.

By JON FOX

jfox@leader.net

WILKES-BARRE - To hear Jake Jenkins tell it, he's battening down the
hatches in a battle against evil.

As he opens the door on his Waller Street home, the sound of scraping
metal and wood escapes through the cracks. He's pulling back the bars
and beams that keep his family secure.

And the witches out.

"Yeah, wood and steel," he said, standing in the open doorway.
"Nobody's getting in."

Jenkins, 51, and his wife spend much of their time hunkered down in
their two-story home along with their eight children ranging in ages
from 22 years to 1.

He said he home-schools his children.

"I'm no fool."

http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/local/9673985.htm

Posted on Thu, Sep. 16, 2004

W-B man: 'Witches are trying to kill me'

Jake Jenkins home-schools his kids to protect them from witches he
says live nearby.

By JON FOX

jfox@leader.net

WILKES-BARRE - To hear Jake Jenkins tell it, he's battening down the
hatches in a battle against evil.

As he opens the door on his Waller Street home, the sound of scraping
metal and wood escapes through the cracks. He's pulling back the bars
and beams that keep his family secure.

And the witches out.

"Yeah, wood and steel," he said, standing in the open doorway.
"Nobody's getting in."

Jenkins, 51, and his wife spend much of their time hunkered down in
their two-story home along with their eight children ranging in ages
from 22 years to 1.

He said he home-schools his children.

"I'm no fool."

Wilkes-Barre Area School District Superintendent Jeff Namey said
parents who home-school their children must submit an application to
the district, a curriculum, and a portfolio of students' work at the
end of the year.

Asked if Jenkins was registered with the district as a home-schooling
parent, Namey said he didn't know but would check.

Jenkins doesn't really want to talk about himself, or his family for
that matter.

"The witches are after us, so I don't really want to get into any
personal stuff," he said.

He told a Times Leader photographer "witches are trying to kill me."
Asked why, he said, "I really don't know."

His protection against dark forces extends beyond his front door.

A tree stump in the center of his small front yard is adorned with
wooden stakes: nine point skyward, and seven jut from its side along
its circumference.

"It's a map of the neighborhood," Jenkins said. "Each spike points to
where a witch lives.

"There's a whole bunch that live up there," he said, pointing north up
Waller Street.

The horizontal stakes, painted red, point out the witches, he said.
The purpose of the vertical ones? To gently dissuade witches from
using his stump for ceremonies.

"What they used to do is come by and sit on it," he said.

An orange plastic fence on either side of his home is yet another
anti-witch precaution. "They would always try to sneak over."

Jenkins won't name names, but says he's got the dirt on the
neighborhood.

"The one up there, she drinks human blood," he said. "The one ...
there, she's the real high-level witch, but she's real slick."

Standing on his porch dressed in warm-up pants, a T-shirt and a
sweat-stained army cap, Jenkins explains Luzerne County is the
location of the largest witches coven in the state.

"Police know about it," he added.

"No one has come to me and said we have a problem with witches on
Waller Street," said police Chief Gerry Dessoye.

He said records of police responses to the South Wilkes-Barre street
would be available today.

Police respect the freedom of individuals to practice Wiccan,
followers of which are often referred to as witches, he said.

As Jenkins spoke from his doorway, to his right hung a "Ghostbusters"
poster with a witch standing in for the ghost, attached to the worn
siding of the home. "A family project," he calls it.

"You have the witches that want to play at it, and then you have the
real serious bastards, deadly," he said.

He should know - he said his own brother, who used to live next door,
is one of them.

Bill Jenkins was convicted in 1998 on 10 federal charges for trading
machine guns for marijuana and sentenced to 47 years. According to the
U.S. Attorney's Office, the guns - semi-automatic weapons converted to
automatic - were being sent to members of a white supremacist group,
the Aryan Brotherhood, and the Dirty Dozen motorcycle gang.

It was Bill Jenkins who tipped Jake Jenkins off to the existence of
the witches. "Basically I started watching my brother. That was back
in the 1990s."

In the early morning hours of June 20 - the same month Jenkins put the
stakes around his tree trunk - his brother's old house went up in
flames under what fire officials say are suspicious circumstances.

Fire Chief Jacob Lisman said the individual in charge of the
investigation was away on vacation Wednesday and more information
might be available today.

Jenkins said he's happy the home burnt; it's another blow against the
witches.

Jenkins' neighbors, on the other hand, don't seem too concerned about
any supernatural activity or the front yard display.

Chris Foote, 23, lives across the street and a couple of homes away.
Foote said he never thinks about Jenkins' stump display. "I don't
really know what the deal is with that. They've always been weird, so
I really thought nothing of it."

Gene and Becky Dill live directly across Waller Street from Jenkins.
He warned them about the neighborhood activity, they said.

They just shrugged their shoulders. "We said OK," Becky Dill said.

Are there witches on Waller Street?

"I have no idea," Becky Dill said. "I don't even know what a witch
is."

"Yeah," Gene said with a grin. "I live with one," he added, nudging
his wife.

Jon Fox, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7219.

Staff Writers David Iseman and Mark Guydish contributed to this
report.

/end

http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/local/9673985.htm

http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/local/9673985.htm

Posted on Thu, Sep. 16, 2004

W-B man: 'Witches are trying to kill me'

Jake Jenkins home-schools his kids to protect them from witches he
says live nearby.

By JON FOX

jfox@leader.net

WILKES-BARRE - To hear Jake Jenkins tell it, he's battening down the
hatches in a battle against evil.

As he opens the door on his Waller Street home, the sound of scraping
metal and wood escapes through the cracks. He's pulling back the bars
and beams that keep his family secure.

And the witches out.

"Yeah, wood and steel," he said, standing in the open doorway.
"Nobody's getting in."

Jenkins, 51, and his wife spend much of their time hunkered down in
their two-story home along with their eight children ranging in ages
from 22 years to 1.

He said he home-schools his children.

"I'm no fool."

Wilkes-Barre Area School District Superintendent Jeff Namey said
parents who home-school their children must submit an application to
the district, a curriculum, and a portfolio of students' work at the
end of the year.

Asked if Jenkins was registered with the district as a home-schooling
parent, Namey said he didn't know but would check.

Jenkins doesn't really want to talk about himself, or his family for
that matter.

"The witches are after us, so I don't really want to get into any
personal stuff," he said.

He told a Times Leader photographer "witches are trying to kill me."
Asked why, he said, "I really don't know."

His protection against dark forces extends beyond his front door.

A tree stump in the center of his small front yard is adorned with
wooden stakes: nine point skyward, and seven jut from its side along
its circumference.

"It's a map of the neighborhood," Jenkins said. "Each spike points to
where a witch lives.

"There's a whole bunch that live up there," he said, pointing north up
Waller Street.

The horizontal stakes, painted red, point out the witches, he said.
The purpose of the vertical ones? To gently dissuade witches from
using his stump for ceremonies.

"What they used to do is come by and sit on it," he said.

An orange plastic fence on either side of his home is yet another
anti-witch precaution. "They would always try to sneak over."

Jenkins won't name names, but says he's got the dirt on the
neighborhood.

"The one up there, she drinks human blood," he said. "The one ...
there, she's the real high-level witch, but she's real slick."

Standing on his porch dressed in warm-up pants, a T-shirt and a
sweat-stained army cap, Jenkins explains Luzerne County is the
location of the largest witches coven in the state.

"Police know about it," he added.

"No one has come to me and said we have a problem with witches on
Waller Street," said police Chief Gerry Dessoye.

He said records of police responses to the South Wilkes-Barre street
would be available today.

Police respect the freedom of individuals to practice Wiccan,
followers of which are often referred to as witches, he said.

As Jenkins spoke from his doorway, to his right hung a "Ghostbusters"
poster with a witch standing in for the ghost, attached to the worn
siding of the home. "A family project," he calls it.

"You have the witches that want to play at it, and then you have the
real serious bastards, deadly," he said.

He should know - he said his own brother, who used to live next door,
is one of them.

Bill Jenkins was convicted in 1998 on 10 federal charges for trading
machine guns for marijuana and sentenced to 47 years. According to the
U.S. Attorney's Office, the guns - semi-automatic weapons converted to
automatic - were being sent to members of a white supremacist group,
the Aryan Brotherhood, and the Dirty Dozen motorcycle gang.

It was Bill Jenkins who tipped Jake Jenkins off to the existence of
the witches. "Basically I started watching my brother. That was back
in the 1990s."

In the early morning hours of June 20 - the same month Jenkins put the
stakes around his tree trunk - his brother's old house went up in
flames under what fire officials say are suspicious circumstances.

Fire Chief Jacob Lisman said the individual in charge of the
investigation was away on vacation Wednesday and more information
might be available today.

Jenkins said he's happy the home burnt; it's another blow against the
witches.

Jenkins' neighbors, on the other hand, don't seem too concerned about
any supernatural activity or the front yard display.

Chris Foote, 23, lives across the street and a couple of homes away.
Foote said he never thinks about Jenkins' stump display. "I don't
really know what the deal is with that. They've always been weird, so
I really thought nothing of it."

Gene and Becky Dill live directly across Waller Street from Jenkins.
He warned them about the neighborhood activity, they said.

They just shrugged their shoulders. "We said OK," Becky Dill said.

Are there witches on Waller Street?

"I have no idea," Becky Dill said. "I don't even know what a witch
is."

"Yeah," Gene said with a grin. "I live with one," he added, nudging
his wife.

Jon Fox, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7219.

Staff Writers David Iseman and Mark Guydish contributed to this
report.

/end

"Yeah, wood and steel," he said, standing in the open doorway. "Nobody's
getting in."