You may have heard of Johann Wilhelm Stolting, also known as “The Hermit of Irvington,” and his eccentricities, such as sleeping in his own coffin and burying his treasure behind the former Hastings Press Building. He was an oddball and a genius, to say the least. Aside from speaking French, Dutch, German, English and a reported three other languages, Stolting lived in our area and worked a variety of jobs. At some point or another, he was a teacher, a scientist, a mailman, and a button maker.
