A mask and hatchet allegedly used by man to attack his neighbor last month. Photos provided by Penn Township Police.

SAXONBURG — Testimony at a preliminary hearing Wednesday, in the case of an alleged assault last month involving a hatchet, at times sounded worthy of a scary movie.

An ambush by a mask-wearing attacker armed with a hatchet and stun gun is how one man described what happened at his home in Penn Township, just days before Halloween.

“I heard this rushing (noise) and then, bam, just a huge shocking blow,” said Russell Callenberg. “And then I was out, on the ground, upside down.”

When the 69-year-old Callenberg came to with the assailant on top of him, he managed to tear off the mask, revealing the man behind the disguise — his next-door neighbor on Morgan Road.

District Judge Sue Haggerty ordered Ronald A. Postreich, 70, held for trial on felony assault and other charges following the hearing Wednesday.

Callenberg said the alleged attack at about 3 p.m. Oct. 18 left him sore, bruised — and with a broken rib and collapsed lung.

Postreich, who is free on $75,000 bail, is charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, possessing an instrument of crime, possessing a prohibited offensive weapon and trespass.

A full story will appear in Thursday's Butler Eagle.