Moment in Oddity - Coffin Hideaway Inspires Profession
Recently I came across an old newspaper article about a man named Tom Williams who grew up in a little town in Vermont. He describes how he came to be an undertaker as his profession. As a child, Tom lived next door to an odd older gentleman by the name of Wilson. Wilson was a cabinet maker by trade and he had some unconventional thoughts about death and burial for the times. His skills in woodworking were something to be admired. The craftsmanship and care he put into his work were stunning. Wilson had said that when his time came, he was not about to go into the earth in a misfit coffin that was poorly made. So Tom's neighbor created a gorgeous coffin of mahogany, with solid silver plates and handles for his personal use. Wilson's coffin was stored in his barn. A location where Tom and his friends would often play hide-and-seek around. One day Tom thought that the coffin which was so nicely furnished, would be a fantastic hiding place. The interior was so plush and comfortable and certainly none of the other boys would think to look within it. Tom would hide in Wilson's coffin many times and actually fell asleep in it once for several hours. Tom loved that coffin and his experience with it as a child is what led him into the undertaker business. When Wilson passed away, Tom prepared his quirky neighbor's body and buried him in the coffin in which Tom used to sleep. There are many strange and unusual places where kids hide while playing hide-and-seek, but choosing to hide in a coffin and subsequently falling asleep, certainly is odd.
This Month in History - Train Crash in Bangladesh
In the month of June, on the 4th in 1972, an express train crashed in Jessore (JOSH-or-ee), Bangladesh. The Deputy Commissioner of Jessore reported that 10 coaches were destroyed by the impact and many others were thrown from the tracks. In the terrifying accident, at least 76 people were killed and more than 500 were injured. The train was loaded far beyond capacity which was not uncommon in Bangladesh. The express train was traveling from Khulna, a southern port town, when the train-station operator threw a switch to the wrong track as it was passing by the station. With no safeguards in place to avoid such an error, devastatingly, the passenger train slammed full speed into a freight train that was stopped at the station. Not only were passengers killed and injured, but also many people who were standing on the platform. Sheik Mujibur Rahman (RAYh-man), the Prime Minister at the time, ordered emergency relief measures and sent officials for an inquiry.
Lake Lanier (Suggested by a bunch of listeners)
Lake Lanier in Georgia is an extremely popular recreational area. This is a man-made lake that was created when the Buford Dam was built in 1956 and covers 50,000 acres. Many lakes across America have been fashioned in this way without causing hauntings. That's not true for Lake Lanier. What is it that makes this lake so haunted? Was it the destruction of the black community of Oscarville? Could it be the handful of cemeteries that were supposedly relocated before Lake Lanier was filled? On this episode, we are joined by the hosts of the Spirits Uncorked Podcast, Elizabeth Grimes and her sister Erica. This duo also started Lanier Ghost Tours and they are here to talk the history and hauntings of Lake Lanier!
One of the sunken towns under the waters of Lake Lanier is Oscarville. Oscarville got its start during the post-Civil War Reconstruction era. A large number of former slaves came to the area to start farms and it was very prosperous. There were over 1,000 residents and many owned or rented farms. Others were tradesmen. Atlanta had a race riot in 1906 and these tensions boiled over to Oscarville, which was north of Atlanta. In 1912, a series of racial conflicts erupted in the town. The first was the Ellen Grice Incident. Ellen was a 22-year-old woman who accused two black men of attempted rape. Five black men were arrested and it was thought that perhaps Ellen was in a relationship with one of the men and that it had been discovered and she was covering her tracks by lying about the attempted rape. Why five men were arrested when she said there were two is beyond us.
Several days later, an eighteen-year-old white woman named Mae Crow was found raped and unresponsive in the woods outside Oscarville. She was in a coma for two weeks before finally passing from the head trauma she had suffered. A confession was coerced out of 16-year-old black male named Ernest Knox. Four other black residents were arrested as accomplices. One of them was Rob Edwards who was shot by a white vigilante group of 2,000 who broke into the jail. They dragged his body to the town square and hung him from a noose. Ernest Knox and another man named Oscar Daniels were found guilty and sentenced to hang. This was illegal at the time, so the judge ordered that the hangings take place behind a blind. The blind was burned down the night before, but the hangings went forward with 8,000 people watching. It was believed that none of these people were responsible for what happened to Mae Crow.
Then came the night riders who were white vigilantes that attacked black communities in Forsyth County. Oscarville was fire bombed several times and many of its residents died during these night rides. By the end of 1912, many of the black residents of these communities in Forsyth County had left. 98% of Oscarville's black community had left. A very sad statistic is that the expulsions of blacks in North Georgia were the most successful in the nation. Eventually the land that made up Oscarville was sold over time to the government and in 1950 the remains of the town were flooded.
The Buford Dam was built in 1956 to dam the waters of the Chattahoochee River to form Lake Lanier, which was named for Confederate veteran and poet Sidney Lanier. Twenty cemeteries had to be relocated and 250 families were displaced as 50,000 acres of farmland was destroyed. The lake itself covers 38,000 acres. Construction was stunted several times as funds ran dry and the mayor of Atlanta had to keep returning to Washington, D.C. to pressure for more funds to ensure a water supply for residents of Atlanta. Through the years, the lake has saved the Chattahoochee from drying up during droughts. There have been ongoing fights over water rights, but the creation of lake Lanier seems to have more positives than negatives. Unless one looks at the deaths. There have been at least 500 of them. It's easy for people to get caught in the sunken buildings and other debris. These deaths, along with the destruction of twenty cemeteries has led to hauntings.
There is the Curse of Brown's Bridge: The "Curse of Browns Bridge" refers to a series of tragic accidents and paranormal incidents reported near Browns Bridge on Lake Lanier, according to Atlanta Ghost Tours. The story centers around two young women, Delia Parker Young and Susie Roberts, who disappeared after a car crash on the bridge in 1958. Subsequent deaths and unexplained occurrences have fueled the belief that the area is haunted, with stories of apparitions, sudden car trouble, and eerie presences.
The Lady of the Lake: It is believed that Delia Young appears as a full-bodied apparition in a blue dress near the lake.
Spirits of unrecovered bodies from drownings and unmoved bodies from the cemeteries.
Lydia Rose 003 wrote on Reddit in 2018, " One night while I was swimming in the lake, my aunt uncle and dad up on the camp site, I started to swim to the inner part of the lake, the park where all the rotting buildings are and cars underwater. I was playing by myself when I felt a pull. Something was tugging my leg, it wasn’t a seaweed like plant that grew there, it felt like a hand. Two to be exact, I started to scream and struggle to stay on top, I was too far out for anyone to hear me. I was only 7 but my swimming was pretty strong for a seven year old. I started trying to kick the thing that was underneath me trying no no avail. I gave up. I let it take me under water. I started to drown, when I felt something pull my arms and pull me up I was back to shore somehow and I started to cough and looked up at the man. He looked like a kindly African American person. He wore a hat with no shirt on and swimming trunks. The only problem, my family and I where the only ones camping since it was a Sunday night and I didn’t have school the next day. I thanked the man me coughed up the water. He said it was no problem and started to walk to the camp site. I followed him and asked my dad and uncle who where making hot dogs on the grill, 'that man saved my life' i told them and they looked at me like I had two heads. 'Lydia, what man?' My dad asked confused and I stopped. 'The man that just saved my life and walked up to the camp site he was.' I looked and he was gone. I told them what happened and they looked spooked. My skin was still cold from the water and oxygen or lack thereof."
To join Lanier Ghost Tours: https://lanierghosttours.com/
Check out the Spirits Uncorked: Under the Water Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/5c4IIEYI2WWmHWZPSv6pvr?si=2876580191634691
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