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Alum Creek Shore - Coffins/Cemetery


spankis

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So I'm sure a few people have heard about it already, but if not I'll explain a little bit. I guess when they flooded the reservoir in the 70s, there was an old cemetery near the Africa Road/Cheshire road area of the current reservoir. They moved a bunch of the graves that they found to be at risk of being flooded over, but apparently missed a few. So lately, between the water level being really low right now, and some general erosion since the 70s, this graveyard is showing itself again. Some news releases claimed the only things found were just old tombstones or large stone backfill or something, but apparently there were some real remains found/washed up. You can find some of the more recent info here:

 

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/04/13/afive.html?sid=101

 

 

As far as myself, I hadn't really heard much about it until I went to my Aunt & Uncle's house for Easter this weekend. They live right across Africa road from the place on the shore where this was all found. My uncle was telling me about it, and said he had seen what looked like big rocks or cement not far from shore when walking his dog down there, but it had never been low enough to really see it. He also said that there had been army corps of engineers, police, and park rangers there lately, and that they had some caution tape up near a trail that led down near the area, as well as up by the road. After dinner though, we walked through the woods down the shore a ways, and walked back up to where everything was exposed. It was almost dark, and I managed to not get arrested or attacked by zombies, but I did get some pictures of creepy shit either way....

 

 

I'm not sure what all I'm looking at here, as a few of these are obviously square shaped and too small for a body, but others are obviously cement vaults/coffins, with fancy detailing and designs.

 

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x33/spankis/Alum%20Creek%20Coffins/DSC_0174.jpg

 

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x33/spankis/Alum%20Creek%20Coffins/DSC_0176.jpg

 

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x33/spankis/Alum%20Creek%20Coffins/DSC_0177.jpg

 

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x33/spankis/Alum%20Creek%20Coffins/DSC_0180.jpg

 

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x33/spankis/Alum%20Creek%20Coffins/DSC_0181.jpg

 

 

 

We kept looking around, and eventually I found a bunch of horseshoes? Not sure what that's about...

 

 

 

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x33/spankis/Alum%20Creek%20Coffins/DSC_0190.jpg

 

 

Then, near some other horseshoes was what looked to be a handle ( somewhat like you'd find on a casket?) , and next to it was a damn BONE!

 

 

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x33/spankis/Alum%20Creek%20Coffins/DSC_0188.jpg

 

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x33/spankis/Alum%20Creek%20Coffins/DSC_0189.jpg

 

 

Now I'm not familiar enough with human anatomy to declare that to be a human bone or anything, but it is in a graveyard....and FYI, there were 6 horseshoes around/near the bone, so it wasn't just a horse buried there - I thought the same thing.

 

Anyway I figured I'd share. That was a highlight of my Easter weekend I guess, pretty interesting and probably illegal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also for your viewing pleasure, my cousin baked a badass cake :). It's an octopus, Sweet!

 

 

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x33/spankis/DSC_0229.jpg

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ive been there before when the water level is down, these werent exposed when i went... LOL @ the zombies part. oh scott, does your neighbor drive a red 97 dodge neon? that used to be mine =P

 

I don't know of red neon near me? You mean up near Africa road or what?

 

There is actually an old city at the bottom of the lake that they just flooded over, left all the building and shit down there built and just flooded over it. I would of grabbed a few horseshoes and brought yourself some good luck.

 

I believe the old city part, I actually got some pictures of a foundation from long ago, a propane/fuel oil tank partially buried, and some piping and bricks....there's also a road visible that just kind of goes downgrade into the water.... I got some pictures but didn't upload them.

 

I did grab a horseshoe too ;).

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I had a rib bone stuck in my sea strainer last year. Not a big deal. Just flush all the decomposing body parts out of your engine when you're done boating and you're good to go. Good pics BTW.

 

It's also worth mentioning that this stretch of Africa road from Cheshire to the Dam trail entrance seems to be like body-dump central. There have been more than a few bodies found in the past few years dumped/bagged up and left in the swampy inlet areas on the reservoir side of the road. That and some guy hung himself from a tree along a trail right there not long ago.

 

Basically what I'm saying is that your rib bone could in fact be semi-fresh, rather than from some ancient coffin :).

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upload the rest of your pics man. interesting stuff

 

These are really about the only other ones I've got. It was almost dark and the ladies with us weren't horribly interested in stumbling through dark woods around a graveyard for a half mile or so to get home :).

 

 

 

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x33/spankis/Alum%20Creek%20Coffins/DSC_0182.jpg

 

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x33/spankis/Alum%20Creek%20Coffins/DSC_0178.jpg

 

 

This first one down is taken from the next peninsula over, around the cove a bit and looking back to the grave area, with the Cheshire bridge in the background. This is where the "foundation", piping, bricks, partially buried tank, and obvious road disappearing into the water were visible. The last two pictures show some of that stuff. The girl is my cousin.

 

 

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x33/spankis/Alum%20Creek%20Coffins/DSC_0185.jpg

 

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x33/spankis/Alum%20Creek%20Coffins/DSC_0186.jpg

 

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x33/spankis/Alum%20Creek%20Coffins/DSC_0187.jpg

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I'm thinking that bone is from a young horse (cannon bone?). The shoe next to it gives a reasonable size comparison, and the long bones in a human that would match that shape (humerus in the upper arm and tibia in the lower leg) I'm pretty sure would both need to be longer for that degree of thickness.

 

And that cake simply rocks :)

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I'm thinking that bone is from a young horse (cannon bone?). The shoe next to it gives a reasonable size comparison, and the long bones in a human that would match that shape (humerus in the upper arm and tibia in the lower leg) I'm pretty sure would both need to be longer for that degree of thickness.

 

And that cake simply rocks :)

 

I'll buy that, like I said I have no idea and don't want to make any claims. Needless to say it had been there for quite some time, and wasn't like something you might give to your dog.

 

And yes, that cake=win, and was delicious.

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Didnt see any coffins. The only thing I saw was old head stones and markers like what you have in your pictures.

 

Thats a horse bone. And the horse was probably buried with more then the shoes it had on. Maybe the kids threw something in, like when you bury a dog with a toy.

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