Masons - build-find interesting things - Montgomery InGenWeb Project

When the Masons bought the old Park house corner as a site for their new temple they sold the old tavern building to Alf Lookabill for a barn. Mr. Lookabill began tearing down the structure Tuesday and on Wednesday a gruesome find was made. Almost under the door sill in the northeast corner of the southwest room a human skeleton was unearthed. The skull, thigh bones, and a number of other portions of the skeleton were picked up and placed in a basket. Some of the bones of the body were missing, but as the skeleton had been uncovered Tuesday evening, although not observed by the workmen, it is possible that some of the bones were picked up and carried away by others. Indeed, as Walter Whittington went home Tuesday evening he saw a negro going over the ground picking up bones and bits of iron and depositing them in a sack. This man may have carried away some of the human bones. Charley Lookabill first discovered the skull and upon investigating found the other large bones of the body. The teeth indicate that the body was that of a person of middle life. The sizes of the bones, which are quite large, indicate that they were those of a man. There was little or no earth over the skeleton when it was first observed, although it may at one time have been buried in a shallow grave.

Naturally this discovery has started no end of talk and speculation and many explanations are offered for the presence of human bones in this unusual place. Many are inclined to think that the skeleton is that of some man who was murdered in the days when the Park house was a tavern. They picture the knocking in the head of the money burdened stranger by the dark visaged landlord and the concealing of his body under the floor of the room. It’s a might pretty romance, but there is nothing of a substantial nature to back the theory up. It is an explanation that does not explain. About thirty years ago John LaFollette, a stock dealer from about Ladoga, came to Crawfordville with a wad of money and was never again heard of. Some are inclined to look on these bones as those of the lamented John, but up to the hour of going to press no one has recognized him.

E. A. Wilhite, who owned the building until five years ago, said of the find: “I am sure I have no explanation to offer. The building was built about sixty five years ago by William and Abe Watson and I remember that everyone at the time said they were foolish to build a store so far from town. You see it was built for a store and not a tavern. The store room was in the southeast corner of the building and the two Watson families lived on either side. The late James H. Watson was born there. After the Watsons sold out and moved other people held it as a store, among others Grandfather Bunch, the father of Mrs. James Lee. It wasn’t used as a tavern until about war times, when Bill Faust bought it and made a stopping place of it. After he left, the tavern was kept by some fellow who had a little trouble and ran off to Canada, but no one ever accused him of murder. Then an old man named Park came from Illinois and gave it the name of the Park house. This was after I got possession, for I bought the place of Sam Austin during the war. During the time I owned it many different people lived there, some good and some bad, but no one ever lived there I would suspect of murdering anyone. Still such a thing might have been done.”

Loren Brown, familiarly and popularly known as “Mater,” has an interesting bit of gossip concerning the place. Says Mater: “We lived there several years ago but you bet we couldn’t stay. We rented the place and when we moved in Uncle Jesse Cumberland told us something about someone having been buried under the house. We hadn’t lived there long until we found out that the place was haunted. At night the spook would go joshing around under the house making all sorts of groans and ornery sounds, but we never saw him. If I had seen him I’d have crossed my finger and thrown the Bible at him. That will scare off any spook. But I never saw him and I just couldn’t throw things at a groan or a shaky shiver under the floor. So we moved.”

The bones are not in a good state of preservation and there is no telling how long the gentleman to whom they belonged has been “away from home.” Of course, being so close to the surface of the earth they suffered the wear and tear of the seasons and it is possible they may have appertained to a man who has not been dead ten years. Just at present the affair “is shrouded in mystery—mystery, deep, dark, and diabolical and when someone steps forward to lift the veil he will be conferring a favor on the community.