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Transcription #2: Myers Cemetery Investigation Added by Patrick Lane [This investigation was recorded as part of the ghost-hunting project described in the article "Who Is the Third Who Walks Always Beside You?" in the Features section of this site. The people involved are as follows:
The text below is primarily derived from a minidisc recording made by Patrick, using a microphone clipped onto his shirt. Some bits of dialogue not picked up by the minidisc come from the tape recording made simultaneously. The tape recorder was carried by Nathan. All editorial notes and sound descriptions have been added by Patrick.]
PPL: Okay. It is 12:05, Sunday, November 18. We're at Myers Cemetery, M-E-Y-E-R-S [my error], a couple of miles outside Fall Creek Falls State Park, in Tennessee, near Sparta, TN. Oops. [Sound Clip] KFL: Hey, Pat… MSR: …these were just done with a… KFL: [recording skips for a second] --that they were done themselves, but all born and died on the same day? PPL: Oh. MSR: Oh look, a butterfly! KFL: Born and died. Born and died. Born and died. Born and died. Well that one lived a few days. NDR: That one lived several… KFL: This one died the same day. NDR: And that one lived. KFL: And that one… oh, thirty-six to ninety-one. MSR: There's some person buried [????]… KFL: This one lived two days. MSR: They must have gone back and just put these all in at the same time. KFL: These are pretty old, though. [Sound of camera flash charging] KFL: Is it…? MSR: Oh, that's carved in there. [Miscellaneous camera beeps] PPL: Bah! KFL: And it's…. MSR: They went over… I think that's the first one they tried, because [camera shutter clicks]… well, they stopped right here. But did you see that one right next to you? Patrick? [Camera beeps again. Clip-on mike picks up PPL's heavy breathing. Camera shutter clicks.] KFL: [???] …that one is so plain. She lived such a long life, why is hers so thin? PPL: This is Henry… KFL: They're all Myers'. MSR: Hmmm. PPL: [struggling to make out the inscription] Henry… KFL: …that one died in 2000…. There's some more… PPL: …Sel…ma? Se… it looks like an "A" at the end… Moore. December 29… born December 29, eighteen… maybe thirty-something? And died July 28, 1885, I think. It has a dove on it. KFL: This one is, uh, 1898 to 1917. [Strong wind noise.] KFL: He's buried under the tree. PPL: Nathan's… MSR: You might want to put that by the stone. PPL: …fixing a flower arrangement. KFL: "Founder of Myers Cemetery." MSR: Founder? KFL: Landon Myers. 1830 to 1896. MSR: I'm having trouble telling where they start and stop. PPL: A lot of pretty young people… here. NDR: Well that's the headstone and that's the footstone. MSR: Yeah, that's the headstone. PPL: Ooh. KFL: They're just rocks. MSR: Yeah, they're just markers. NDR: That's that footstone. [Again, PPL drowns out the voices of KFL and MSR, who are wow-ing about something.] PPL: Unless that goes with the sister. Maybe they just wrote it… in reverse. Looks like this one had a tree at it. I wonder how big the tree was…. KFL: Well, this is this one's headstone. MSR: This one's [???] with flowers stuck on it. NDR: What's this? MSR: I dunno, it doesn't have a date [???]… [NDR sneezes, twice.] KFL: It looks like there's two of them… MSR: Oh, you're right. PPL: Oh, these are new. MSR: Jen… Jennifer. Oh, that one's fairly new as well. KFL: …Mother… NDR: These… KFL: There's the mother there. MSR: Oh, goodness. NDR: None of these here are marked. KFL: Gosh. PPL: So who's here, I wonder? KFL: There's a little tiny marker thing right there. MSR: Do you think that this stone marks both the grave of these two? Megley? Yeah, I think it does, 'cause the one… well, this one says, just says nineteen-something. It's blank. KFL: Look at the- PPL: Ladybugs. KFL: --cross up in there. It's got people's names. MSR: I think that's the children. The [???] children. KFL: Hmm. You rarely see black flowers in a funeral… These are… those are silk flowers… [Camera shutter clicks. Much miscellaneous beeping as PPL tries to get the camera to focus.] KFL: Yeah, I'd say she's… MSR: That must be her husband. KFL: She's been [coughs]… Look at these guys! NDR: We're gonna have to go back and… KFL: Man! NDR: There's another one I got the… PPL: Oh! NDR: [in hushed tones] Oh my gosh… [Normally] No way. They just never carved that date in. MSR: No, that's, that's that grave. NDR: It's 1891? MSR: Yeah. [NDR expels an amazed sigh.] MSR: They're gonna have to go back and fix that. Two-thousand… NDR: She's supposed to be a hundred and eleven? MSR: I guess so. Man. PPL: Wow. [Pause.] That, or maybe they've moved the body from another cemetery. MSR: I don't think so. KFL: Or they just dug up the body for some reason… PPL: Well… KFL: No, 'cause they would've… [NDR mutters something.] KFL: Maybe they just never put the…. Maybe they needed the dirt… MSR: Oh, gosh, there's one under here. Under the tree. KFL: There's lots of… PPL: The name's all… KFL: There's ladybugs everywhere! MSR: Whittenburg. Ava Whittenburg. KFL: Sarah Whittenburg… PPL: Died 1877. KFL: 1888 to 1902. MSR: Oh, she was just one. KFL: She was very young too. She'd be fourteen years old? 1902… what kind of disease was running rampant then? PPL: 1902? That's too early for Spanish Flu… KFL: This one's only two years old. 1919 to 1921. MSR: Oh, that's not as new as I thought it was. KFL: I think they're new markers. They may have just gotten the money to do it. MSR: Yeah. If some of them were -- 'cause if some of them were like that, where they couldn't be read…. [NDR makes a strange moan.] MSR: Oh look, there's ladybugs all over it. KFL: They're everywhere. See the tombstone? They were landing on my white shirt a few minutes ago. PPL: You got some on your back. MSR: Yeah, you got a ladybug on your back! [Pause with some indistinct talk from the NDR and MSR] Oh look… PPL: This is actually quite a nice cemetery, in terms of its atmosphere. MSR: …C.W.? Huh, that's interesting. PPL: So, I wonder if this is, uh - KFL: These are…. PPL: -- actually like a private family cemetery that just has… lots of extended relatives, or if it's attached to a church that's somewhere else…. KFL: Yeah, it doesn't look like a private family, I don't know. It's- PPL: It's very large. KFL: -- awfully big. MSR: It kind of does, though, you know, the way everything's… sort of simultaneously decorated. NDR: Well, that's very likely flowers from the same funeral. You think? MSR: What do you mean? NDR: Spread them around? MSR: Oh, they put them all over the cemetery? PPL: Oh… that could be. NDR: That's some large family funeral. MSR: Yeah, but look, this whole family matches. I think that… maybe that, maybe the families just take really good care of the cemetery. KFL: Did you notice this on these tombstones? MSR: What? KFL: They're putting their wedding days. MSR: Hmm. PPL: Oh look! Is that a buzzard? MSR: Yep. KFL: This one says, "Wed May 24th, 1939." [Sound of camera focus beeping.] KFL: This one says, "I Thee Wed," 1971. They've got their marker up, but they're only born in '52. [More plaintive camera noise, as it refuses to focus on the buzzard.] PPL: Ah, crap. MSR: I guess if you have a family cemetery, though, you go ahead and put your spot… KFL: Unless you're gonna get divorced… [laughs] MSR: Oh, wow! This black one is really… that's great. KFL: These are pretty elaborate. I mean… [Pause.] All of these in here. There's another one. "Married November 6th …" I've never seen that before. Have you all been in a lot of cemeteries and seen it before? PPL: No. [Pause.] I missed the buzzard. I couldn't focus on him fast enough. KFL: That one has that wedding thing also. PPL: More Myers's. [Pause.] Kelly's mother's maiden name was Myers. I'm not sure where she's from. I know her father's family had been in that same county for generations. MSR: "War bride." English war bride. NDR: Is that what it says? KFL: This has got the guy's picture on it. MSR: Does it? PPL: Aw, I'll have to take a look at that. KFL: This one has a guitar… MSR: Oh yeah! It has a guitar. Bondy. PPL: Irene C. Campbell. KFL: [???] …hearts and things… [???] …well, there're two of them… [Camera focus beeps. Shutter clicks.] KFL: That one's old[?] and that one's [???] MSR: I don't think I've ever been to such a happy looking graveyard. NDR: That's from a song then. MSR: Even the tombstones are kinda happy. NDR: It's got a guitar on the other side. It's from some song, I suppose. Do you know the song? PPL: [Pause.] I don't know the song. KFL: "Bondy Campbell. Accomplished musician." PPL: What are the dates? KFL: '53 to '99. Huh. PPL: "Do Not Remove." I wonder what that marks? KFL: It's a vampire stake. [Pause.] There's a grave there. That looks like a grave right there. PPL: Yep. Could be it's waiting for the marker… that's coming back. KFL: Did you see this one with the guy's picture on it? And his hairstyle… that's about 1979. [Pause.] I like this cemetery. MSR: [???] Look at this one. KFL: "Memory Lane." Oh, look at the bookends. "Book of…" NDR: "Life." KFL: … "Life." Not bookends, it's books. "Book of Life." Only one of them's gone. [Sound of an insect buzzing.] PPL: Walking down Memory Lane. KFL: Huh. These people aren't gone yet, either. [Considerable wind noise. KFL says something indistinct.] PPL: That's rather old looking for 1980. [Pause.] MSR: Isn't that great? Hey, Patrick, come here. That's the weirdest thing I've ever seen. NDR: The weirdest… PPL: Wow. KFL: They are really into the- MSR: They're into the… this whole tombstone thing. KFL: There's someone watching TV and somebody cooking and somebody hunting and fishing. [Camera beeps.] NDR: Somebody around here is making a good business. MSR: Oh, well two of them are still alive. William, Verny, and Jesse. [Camera shutter clicks.] MSR: Uh, that's the parent's thing… NDR: Ah. MSR: …[???] was married over here. PPL: Too bad it doesn't show a favorite TV show. MSR: Yeah, exactly, like with little [???] on it. NDR: Yeah. William liked to fish, Verny liked to cook, and Jesse liked to watch TV. KFL: It's funny, the 1984 ones are all about the same… [???] NDR: Or still likes to, I suppose. PPL: Is he still alive? NDR: Uh, I think, yeah, they're both alive. Only William isn't. [KFL says something while to MSR while NDR is talking.] MSR: Yeah, I think maybe the World War Two ones, like this…. KFL: Yeah, they all - when they die, you know, in like 19- in the 80s, but they all look the same. So the army must… MSR: Yeah, I think they're all, like, they're all army [???]… KFL: They must provide that for them. Also- MSR: 'Cause that one looks just like the tombstone that, uh…. [Indistinct talk between MSR and KFL.] PPL: There's a hunter. [Pause.] Wait, Missy. Crouch back down, where you were. Up a little bit. KFL: It's an interesting shape, it's a heart…. PPL: There you go. KFL: On that tombstone. [Camera beeps and shutter clicks.] MSR: Uh! How strange. Did you read this one? PPL: Uh-uh. MSR: Everybody [???] point the [???]. But it says on the bottom: "Only sleeping." PPL: Ehhh. KFL: Let's see, this is…. "Only sleeping." MSR: Uh-huh. KFL: That's creepy, too. MSR: Uh-huh. KFL: So many babies. MSR: Yeah, this family didn't have much luck with kids. KFL: Hmm. Did you get pictures of the handmade ones? PPL: I did. KFL: Oh, this one… Look at the color in theirs. NDR: There's somebody else here. We may wanna… MSR: Oh yeah, there's somebody else here. PPL: Okay. [Sound Clip] [Noise of microphone being removed. Recording ends.] |
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