What do you think?
Rate this book
the Voice in the Mountains: The Abduction and Survival of Peggy Ann Bradnick
For two years, a mysterious and increasingly violent criminal terrorized the countryside near Shade Gap, Pennsylvania. One warm spring afternoon in 1966, he committed his penultimate he kidnapped a girl. Taken from her family at gunpoint, Peggy Ann Bradnick was dragged into the impenetrable forests of the Appalachian Mountains.
Miraculously, the victim withstood not only the abduction, but the fame that followed it. Fifty years later, the survivor of that weeklong ordeal at the hands of a deranged kidnapper tells her own story, as it has never been told not only of the crime that changed her life, but the lifetime that has followed.
Miraculously, the victim withstood not only the abduction, but the fame that followed it. Fifty years later, the survivor of that weeklong ordeal at the hands of a deranged kidnapper tells her own story, as it has never been told not only of the crime that changed her life, but the lifetime that has followed.
252 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 7, 2017
11 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 3, 2025
"I could hear my father calling my name. For the first time I could ever remember, I disobeyed him and didn't answer. I had a knife at my neck and the muzzle of a gun at my mouth. 'Forget him,' the kidnapper commanded. 'You'll never hear that voice again. Forget all of them. You're mine now.'" -- on page 29
In May 1966, high school student Peggy Ann Bradnick was abducted in front of her younger siblings near their rural central Pennsylvania home. Perpetrated by a local eccentric loner nicknamed 'Bicycle Pete' or 'Mountain Man,' and who had been sliding from petty into increasingly violent and felonious crimes, Bradnick was held captive as they went on the run to elude pursuers throughout wooded, mountainous area for eight days. This spurred the largest manhunt / search & rescue operation in U.S. history at the time - over 1,000 law enforcement and military personnel plus civilian volunteers - before the desperately unhinged assailant was finally brought down in a hail of bullets courtesy of two state troopers and a local farm boy. Although the ordeal was already documented in an earlier very good true crime book Deadly Pursuit by journalist/author Robert Cox and also a 1991 TV-movie dramatization entitled A Cry in the Wild: The Taking of Peggy Ann, Ms. Bradick (now Mrs. .Jackson) - with assistance from literature instructor / first-time author Chris Armagost - recounted the story in her words (and a certainly on a more personal level) on its 50th anniversary with The Voice in the Mountains. Bradnick - who understandably see herself as a 'survivor' and not 'victim' - credits her Christian faith and the endurance of her salt-of-the-earth parents with providing her much of the needed strength during the incident and the aftermath. She also pays tribute to fallen FBI agent Terry Anderson - she refers to him as one of her heroes - who was shot and killed by the assailant during the pursuit, a relatively rare occurrence of a line of duty death in that agency's history.
In May 1966, high school student Peggy Ann Bradnick was abducted in front of her younger siblings near their rural central Pennsylvania home. Perpetrated by a local eccentric loner nicknamed 'Bicycle Pete' or 'Mountain Man,' and who had been sliding from petty into increasingly violent and felonious crimes, Bradnick was held captive as they went on the run to elude pursuers throughout wooded, mountainous area for eight days. This spurred the largest manhunt / search & rescue operation in U.S. history at the time - over 1,000 law enforcement and military personnel plus civilian volunteers - before the desperately unhinged assailant was finally brought down in a hail of bullets courtesy of two state troopers and a local farm boy. Although the ordeal was already documented in an earlier very good true crime book Deadly Pursuit by journalist/author Robert Cox and also a 1991 TV-movie dramatization entitled A Cry in the Wild: The Taking of Peggy Ann, Ms. Bradick (now Mrs. .Jackson) - with assistance from literature instructor / first-time author Chris Armagost - recounted the story in her words (and a certainly on a more personal level) on its 50th anniversary with The Voice in the Mountains. Bradnick - who understandably see herself as a 'survivor' and not 'victim' - credits her Christian faith and the endurance of her salt-of-the-earth parents with providing her much of the needed strength during the incident and the aftermath. She also pays tribute to fallen FBI agent Terry Anderson - she refers to him as one of her heroes - who was shot and killed by the assailant during the pursuit, a relatively rare occurrence of a line of duty death in that agency's history.
Want to read
July 14, 2023Exceptionally good book/author
December 12, 2019
This was a really interesting book written by a local author, Chris Armagost, along with Peggy Jackson, who the story is about. While I remember the event, I was pretty young then, so didn't know a lot of details. This book sets the record straight and tells what actually happened, and also what has happened in Peggy's life since then. It's well-written and easy to read.
October 13, 2017
Outstanding account of the terrifying May 1966 kidnapping incident
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews