Showing posts with label Urban Legends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Urban Legends. Show all posts

Thursday, March 22, 2018

The Mysterious Misinformation of Dyer Lane, Roseville, California -


One of the most popular spots in Placer County that is rumored to be haunted is Dyer Lane. Just on the outskirts of Roseville, this road tucked away in the middle of farm land isn’t much to look at, but seems to attract many in the paranormal field over the years. There has been all sorts of stories claimed to have originated from that area. From a barn where teenagers were said to have been butchered, to a secret meeting spot or hangman's tree for the KKK, a Satanic cult and witches coven or even various unexplained deaths. Some even claim to see a ghost cop driving up and down the road, only to disappear. 
I decided to reach out to the police department in Roseville, to see if they had any record of these events taking place. The person I corresponded with at the Roseville P.D. claimed they had no information at all, prompting me to contact the Sheriff's department instead. According to Dena Erwin at the Placer County Sheriff's office who I corresponded with back in 2014, there were no records of any officers dying on Dyer Lane, nor was she aware of any of those other events ever happening out there. 
After searching various archived newspapers and speaking to the Roseville Historical Society about this, it was interesting to note that 99% of the stories circulated are false. However, within recent years there have been several deaths tied to that particular area. The  most recent deaths have been related to drug or gang affiliated crimes.
The former curator of the Roseville Carnegie Museum, Phoebe Astill, had mentioned a murder of a family in that general area years ago. 
“I’m not sure what year it happened, but I remember the story,” she recalls. “It was a Russian family, the father killed the mother and one of the older children, but took the youngest child, a boy.” 
According to Astill, after the bodies of the wife and older child were discovered, the authorities later found the youngest son’s body in the field near one of the towers by Dyer Lane.
Records indicate that on August 20, 2001 Nikolay Soltys murdered six of his family members. One of the victims, his three year old son was brought to an empty field near Dyer Lane where he murdered him. The rest of the murders took place in North Highlands.


There is one other story regarding Dyer Lane that we do know for a fact occurred, the murder of William Mullen.
According to the Press Tribune archives, on March 23, 1985, there was a huge fight at Dyer Lane between the “Punkers” and the “Aggies” (Agricultural/Western) from Rio Linda High School. The newspaper reported that nearly 100 young people showed up to the melee. Out of all the people involved, two were stabbed, and William Mullen was one of them. Although his friends tried to save him, he died on his way to the hospital. He was later buried at the Sacramento Memorial Lawn Cemetery.
As I stated above, in recent years there have been a few gang affiliated deaths on or nearby Dyer Lane but there is no evidence to prove that any of the scarier urban legends that surround this road have any basis in fact. In reality, the urban legends are just that, legends, and local folklore. ----- 
(Copyright 2015 - J'aime Rubio www.jaimerubiowriter.com)

--Note: In recent years, as stated above in the original post, there have been other bodies found on the corner of and on Dyer lane, all of which were linked to drug or gang affiliated crimes. This blog was to cover the history of Dyer lane and any rumors, urban legends or stories about deaths associated with it in the past. --

Thursday, January 11, 2018

The Urban Legends of Niles Canyon, California

Photo originally published in
Township Register Newspaper between 1947-1950


For those who grew up in the bay area of Northern California, specifically around Hayward or Fremont, tales and urban legends surrounding the area known as Niles Canyon are widely circulated. Many often wonder where or how these urban legends started, and if they were actually based on real events?  Believe it or not, just like the road through Niles Canyon, the urban legends surrounding it has some pretty exciting twists and turns.

The Vanishing Hitchhiker

“Many years ago, on the twenty-sixth of February, a young girl was killed in the canyon. Every year, on that day, she appears on the roadside, begging to be taken to her home in San Francisco. Invariably, when her kind deliverers reach the Dumbarton Bridge toll gate, she is gone. Drivers who go on to her San Francisco address are told that the same thing happens each year. Credence ranges from those who openly scoff to those who fear to drive through the canyon on February twenty-sixth.”— History of Washington Township, 1950

The urban legend of the local vanishing hitchhiker  has been going around for nearly 75 years or longer, so the stories say. According to information published by American Folklorists Richard Beardsley and Rosalie Hankey in the 1940s, they had come across 79 different, yet similar accounts of this vanishing hitchhiker all across the United States.   In 1941, the Orson Welles show aired a debut broadcast of Lucille Fletcher’s The Hitch-Hiker. In that story, both the driver and the hitchhiker were ghosts. In the 1960s, The Twilight Zone used a similar adaptation of that story for one of their episodes.

The earliest documentation I could find regarding the story in Niles Canyon, besides the mention in the History of Washington Township, was the articles in various newspapers of the time.  Bay area radio personality, Mel Vetner had also aired a program on KQW radio in 1947, mentioning the story in detail which spread the legend even further.

By February 24, 1950, the story popped up in the Township Register in Niles, although other newspapers mention the Register having ran the story every year since 1947.  The Healdsburg Tribune, dated May 5, 1950, also mentions this, and adds that on February 27, 1950, a local boy decided to head out to the canyon to play a prank on unsuspecting drivers which faired badly for him when the police showed up. After hearing of the story, 19-year-old Clarence Chivers decided to dress in his best white sheet and roam the trestle near the road in Niles Canyon pretending to be the ghost. After several cars passed by witnessing this faux entity,  many nervous and frightened people telephoned the police, who were then called to investigate the scene.

Upon arriving, the officers were met by several carloads of people stopped near the railroad trestle looking up.  One of the officers fired a warning shot, scaring Chivers enough to drop the sheet and come down off the trestle.  Although it was meant to be a harmless prank, this sparked more interest in the story than ever before, and within the next few years students from the Fremont area, especially those from Washington High School, would flock to the canyon every February 26th, trying to catch a glimpse of the alleged apparition.

I have been researching the tales of Niles Canyon for a few years now, after first hearing about it from Roland Boulware.  Roland grew up in Hayward, and being a local to the area, he was very much aware of the urban legends and folklore surrounding Niles Canyon.

“I grew up with these stories, “ Roland recalls. “I heard many stories about those of the older generation who claimed to have had their very own experiences out there back in the 1930s and 1940s.”

According to Roland, a family friend, Evangeline, told him many times that her brother claimed to have given a girl a ride in Niles Canyon back in the late 1930's.  When he noticed a young woman wandering on the road, he pulled his truck over to the side and asked her if she needed a ride. She politely accepted and hopped  into the cab of his truck. He claimed that during the middle of a friendly conversation while driving, she just vanished.   Evangeline stated that her brother talked about his experience for years, as he could not wrap his head around the fact that a young woman he believed was flesh and blood, could simply vanish into thin air.


The Woman in White 

Then there is an even older tale of the woman in white, said to have fallen off of her carriage and was run over by buggies or an early version of automobile on her way to or from a wedding. This version claims she wanders the road at night.  Both stories have all the ingredients of the standard urban legends that have been popular in western folklore for over a century. Some of the earliest stories involving such types of tales in the United States started after the Civil War, and continued on with each generation, adapting and adding things according to the time period. Of course, these sorts of stories often mirror earlier myths and legends famous in European countries for centuries, such as "Las Dames Blanches."

The question that persists is, “what if some of the origins of the stories came from real events?”

In the older version of the story, in which the woman is run over by cars, many times the last name Lowery is thrown into the mix.  This addition of the name seems to have been started by an old caretaker at the cemetery in Pleasanton. Many times he had told the story to visitors at the cemetery, as well as being quoted in a local paper that the woman’s name was Lucinda Lowery, and that she had died many years ago after being run over by cars.  The Pleasanton Memorial Gardens Cemetery index cites a "Lucinda Lowery" who purchased deed # 61, in Lot: 178, at the cemetery on September 24, 1895. It also showed that either the date of death or date of burial was September 24, 1895, the same day she purchased the plot. Something else stood out in the index, the wording, "killed by cars."
  
After further research I found that the asterisk near her name on the list meant that cemetery employees added her name to the "deceased" years later. This meant her first name was not in the original book, it only showed Lucinda as the purchaser of the plot, not necessarily the one buried there, meaning that the person buried there might not be Lucinda after all. Still, I wanted to know for sure.

For the record, besides the cemetery plot/deed index mentioning Lucinda Lowery's name and a cause of death notation under it, I had not found any records that show a lady with the last name Lowery (Lowerey, Lowrie, Lowry, etc.) having died in the area.  Let me add though that just because I haven't found it, doesn't mean it didn't happen, but the likelihood of two people with the same last name having a similar tragedy in the same local area sounds a bit far fetched.

So who was Ms. or Mrs. Lowery? Well, I kept trying to search for her in Alameda County records, to no avail.  Then I found a Mr. John Lowrie who had a large ranch near Niles in the mid 1850s.  He was a prominent man who had a lot of farm land in Niles, Centerville and Newark.  Interestingly, he and a business partner Samuel Marston, took their ship "Lady Anne" up to Alaska in 1882, where they struck gold while mining. Unfortunately on their way home their ship sank, taking not only their newfound treasure, but also their lives. According to historical write-ups, they were never heard from again.

John Lowrie Home, 1878 Atlas of Alameda County

When I saw the drawing of Mr. Lowrie's home, I was instantly pulled into the picture. I imagined perhaps this girl in the urban legends, "Ms. Lowery", could have lived there. Maybe she was his daughter? Maybe she was the girl standing on the porch in this picture? Unfortunately, that was not the case.  According to records, John didn't have a daughter named Lucinda. 

After searching the index of deaths in Alameda, I came across another person with the same last name who died in 1895. Could this be a coincidence? A man named Samuel Lowry was killed on September 4, 1895,  by the 91 train near Pleasanton when he was run over by the rail cars. His wife’s name was Lucinda. According to the September 7, 1895, issue of the San Francisco Call, it stated that he was working as a farm hand for John D. Smith. The next issue of the San Francisco Call answered some more questions.

"The Coroner's jury in the case of Samuel Lowery [Sic], the man killed by a train near Pleasanton, were unable to determine whether it was a case of suicide or not. Coroner Baldwin has received a dispatch from the wife of the deceased, who is at Ballard, Washington., stating that she has no money and asking that the remains be buried here."--- 9/8/1895- S.F. Call

What I think happened was either (a) someone in town paid for Samuel to be buried at Pleasanton Memorial Gardens and put Lucinda's name as the deed holder, or (b) she had to pay directly or even perhaps travel down to California and purchase the plot herself, thus the gap in time between Samuel's death and his burialIn reality, Lucinda didn't meet her demise in Niles Canyon, Pleasanton, Sunol or anywhere else in Alameda.

When Samuel died, Lucinda was pregnant with her first and only child. I believe that Samuel had come to California to work, perhaps in order to save for his pending family. Unfortunately, he was never able to see his son born or be reunited with his wife. Lucinda was now a 28-year-old, penniless widow with a baby on the way. I can only imagine the fear, grief and shock she must have felt to be put in that position at such a time in her life, and during that era. As the years went by, city directories show her living at a boarding house on 3rd Avenue in Ballard, Washington.

The 1910 Census shows her working as a cook, raising her son Alfred, who by that time is now a young man. By 1920, she is still a cook and Alfred is now working as a logger, helping to contribute to the household. On July 11, 1924, at the age of 57 years, Lucinda Lowry, left this world and passed on. She was buried in Section 6; Lot 38; Grave 7-A, at Bayview Cemetery in Bellingham, Washington.

So if Lucinda Lowry did not die in the canyon, then who? Over the decades, there have been numerous deaths in the Niles Canyon & Sunol area.  I have yet to find documentation of an event that quite matches either of the urban legends, but I found more deaths that are worth mentioning.

Creek in Niles Canyon (Copyright, Roland Boulware Photography)




More Deaths in Niles Canyon (or surrounding areas)

The Sacramento Daily Union dated On May 30, 1877, shows that James Sheehan, the son of P.R. Sheehan of Oakland, was killed after being run over by train cars in Niles Canyon.  Sheehan had been traveling on the late train to Stockton to attend a fireman’s picnic, when the accident occurred. He and his comrades were riding on the top of the train and while hopping from one car to the next, he slipped and fell in between the cars, immediately causing death.

On January 4, 1879, Patrick Fitzgerald, who had been missing since New Year’s Eve, was found dead in Niles Canyon. The Coroner’s inquest found that he had fallen off of a cliff 160 feet high.  Another story  thirteen years later was about Ephraim Tyson who was thrown from his wagon and run over. He died in the town of Niles back on June 9, 1892.

The San Francisco Call mentions another tragic death that occurred on July 3, 1898. Alfred Sartorius, 18, drowned while on a camping trip with friends. He was a resident of 1346 Howard Street in San Francisco. By the turn of the century there were even more stories. One mentions an unidentified Indian (Native-American) woman who was run over by the Sacramento local train, just two miles between Pleasanton and Sunol on May 10, 1900.

 “Her injuries were such that she died before she reached here, where she was brought for medical assistance. The fireman saw the woman on the track, but not in time to prevent the accident.”— Los Angeles Herald, May 11, 1900.

The stories do not stop there.  Next was a tragic story involving another sudden death of a woman in Niles Canyon.  On July 2, 1905,  a young lady by the name of Julia McQuaid lost her life while camping in Niles Canyon. The circumstances of her death were so sudden and so tragic, that it made a larger than usual headline in the newspapers.
                 
"DEATH CLOSES WOMAN’S SONG”
July 3. - Death suddenly sealed the lips of Miss Julia McQuaid last evening while she was blithely singing in a company of friends who were in camp at Niles Canyon. The distressing occurrence was the more shocking because of the attending circumstances. Miss McQuaid had been lolling in a hammock trolling a merry ditty to the enjoyment of the gay party of which she was a member. In the midst of her song, without an instant’s warning, the young woman’s voice broke with a gasp, her notes ceased and she fell from the hammock, dead into the arms of Mrs. L. G. Malloy, one of the camping company.

For a little while the stricken campers were in confusion from the shock. Efforts were made to revive their friend, but the labor was fruitless. Members of the party hastened to Niles for physicians, but they could be of no service. Nothing was left to be done except to notify the Coroner. Deputy Francis of Centerville took charge of the remains. Heart disease is supposed to have been the cause of death.  Miss McQuaid, who was 26 years old, was one of a number of young people from San Francisco who had established a summer camp at Niles Canyon, naming it “Camp Frisco.” The party has abandoned its outing on account of the sad occurrence.”— San Francisco Call, July 4, 1905


 
San Francisco Call, July 4, 1905


Julia McQuaid was the daughter of Julia and John McQuaid of Virginia City.  Julia was born on October 1, 1876, in Virginia City, Nevada.  Her last place of residence was at 60 Harriett Street in San Francisco.  According to funeral records, her funeral took place at St. Roses Church and interment at the Holy Cross Cemetery.  The cause of death noted on the record states “Valvular Heart Disease.”  She was 28 years, 8 months and 4 days old. 

I have often wondered if somehow the story of Julia McQuaid’s sudden and shocking death in Niles Canyon could have initially inspired the tragic story of the ‘lady in white’ over the years? Even despite the fact she did not die from being run over from cars as the legend puts it,  Julia’s death was still a terrible tragedy, and one I am certain was spoken about for a long time in the local area.

On May 23, 1906, Stockton resident, William Harris died from his injuries after falling off a trestle in Niles Canyon late that previous evening after inspecting his daily work with his lantern before planning to retire for the night. All the other members of the surveying party had gone to bed, so no one knew he had gone missing until they found him the next morning. He had fallen 30 feet and lay there until he was found and later died.  He was an employee of Western Pacific Railroad.

Just a year later, two men were killed when the five mile tunnel of the Western Pacific near Niles Canyon had a cave-in. Pete Colozzi, 50, and Nick Neanravioch, 40, suffocated from noxious gases underground when the tunnel caved in around them on October 26, 1907.  

By February of 1910, another shocking death occurred when a Western Union lineman, Michael Farrelly was electrocuted while strapped at the top of a pole in Niles Canyon.  After making physical contact with what was usually a harmless wire, but when the current hit it, it ran through him causing death. 

The newspaper described his last seconds, “for a few moments Farrelly’s body writhed and swayed in the air, then fell limply alongside the pole.”  His body was taken to the parlors of J.C. O’Connor & Co, at 770 Turk Street. A “requiem mass” was held at  Mission Delores Church, and then his body was taken to the Holy Cross Cemetery for interment.  Michael Andrew Farrelly was 36 years old, and a native of Athlone, County Westmeath, Ireland. Then there was the sudden death of Alfred Fletcher, who was only 14 years old at the time. During a family camping trip, Alfred tumbled off of a rock in the canyon and sustained internal injuries. He lingered for two hours before finally taking his last breath on the evening of August 17, 1922.

With all the deaths I found in Niles and the surrounding areas, I also found several non-fatal accidents that took place.  First to note, a lady by the name of Annie Londonderry who was injured on April 11, 1895, during a bicycling accident in Niles Canyon after being hit by a horse drawn carriage.  Although she was hurt, she did not die from her injuries.

Years later in 1927, the newspapers reported a couple who crashed their vehicle at the “four corners.” Mr. and Mrs. Peter Mallegol of Livermore, were on their way to vacation in Santa Cruz when their vehicle  overturned while rounding the turn near Sunol. Mr. Mallegol was trapped under the car, suffering from a broken collar bone when he felt burning liquid hitting his face. It was battery acid that was pouring from the car and into his eyes.  Thankfully the couple was saved by passing motorists who stopped to offer assistance. Both were taken to Judson Hospital. The newspapers stated that they were expected to make a full recovery. The physician treating Mr. Mallegol, Dr. W.E. Judson, claimed that he was not expected to be permanently blinded from the accident.

Of course there were plenty more accidents involving deaths and non-fatal injuries but I simply could not list all of them.  The last one I will mention though, happened on November 30, 1931, in Niles Canyon.  The headline read, “Man Escapes From Freak Automobile Accident,” and the story itself was something that you would expect from a highly suspenseful movie.  According to the Livermore Journal dated December 3, 1931, a  man named Charles Ellington narrowly escaped death after his car skidded over the wet pavement along the road in Niles Canyon. Ellington, a cook in a local Niles restaurant, was traveling through the canyon when he lost control of his vehicle and slid off the road and down the 25 foot embankment, rolling his vehicle not once, but three times.
 
Murphy’s Law was certainly going to have its way with Mr. Ellington that night because his vehicle landed on the worst possible spot,  the north end of the Western Pacific tunnel No.1,  right on top of the railroad tracks. By nothing short of a miracle, the newspaper reported that Ellington managed to exit the vehicle uninjured and leapt out of the car “just a minute or so before an on-coming freight crashed into the car.” The vehicle was pushed through the tunnel with the train completely demolishing it. The car was then thrown to the side upon the train’s exit out of the tunnel.  When it was all said and done, Ellington claimed that he knew it was a miracle that he survived at all that day.
                 
Going back to the legend, The Argus, a newspaper in Fremont, published an article back on February 26, 1976, mentioning several accounts and reiterating the old local folklore.  One such account that stood out in my mind was that of a man from Centerville named Fred Rogers.  His experience was not on the road, but near the creek in Niles Canyon. He claimed that on a “cold February morning” he “saw a girl in a white gown, combing her long, black  hair.” He mentioned that she was sitting on a rock near the creek and that when he decided to walk in her direction to get a closer look, she just disappeared. He was very adamant about his experience, and also stated that he could “pick her out of a crowd” if he ever saw her again.

The same article mentions Robert Townsley, Ph.D., who was said to be from the California Society for Physical Study, and who conducted a research about this story back in 1968. Dr. Townsley claimed the entire thing was just a “publicity stunt.”  He believed that the story centered in Niles Canyon was actually much older than most expected, and that it may have actually originated on a road from Oakland to San Jose, and not in Niles Canyon at all.  As he claimed, the story was either “adapted” or was simply made up to coincide with the present area. 

There have been reports of sightings of a ‘lady in white’ along Redwood Road in Castro Valley, which runs  North to the Oakland area. Could that be the road in which all the legends originated?

I do believe that these urban legends had some type of origin. Whoever started the Niles Canyon story must have been influenced by a legend he or she had heard, perhaps from there or even another town or area, with similar details. Most stories come from some fact based account, and over the years it develops into larger than life tales. Whether it be heard around a bonfire while camping or told as a bedtime story while you are tucked away in a warm bed on a dark stormy night, these stories intrigue and instill fear.

Unfortunately, the direct origins of the vanishing hitchhiker or the lady in white stories attached to Niles Canyon continue to remain just out of our grasp, for now.  With that being said,  I hope that by highlighting the real stories that took place there, and by shedding light on those people who tragically lost their lives in Niles Canyon and the surrounding areas, that those individuals will never be forgotten again.  --- Chapter 18, of "Stories of the Forgotten: Infamous, Famous & Unremembered," by J'aime Rubio (Copyright 2016)

To read more stories like this one, please check out my book "Stories of the Forgotten," available on Amazon. 

Path in Niles Canyon - (Copyright, Roland Boulware Photography)

Sources:

U.S. Census Records, 1910, 1920; Seattle Directory, 1897, 1899; “History of Washington Township,” authored by the Country Club of Washington Township, Second Edition, 1950; “California Folklore Quarterly,” (Vol. I, No.4, Vol. II, No. 1, Vol. II, No. 4), Richard Beardsley and Rosalie, Hankley;  Pleasanton Memorial Gardens, Deeds and Burial Records, page 39; 1878 Atlas of Alameda County; Township Register (1947-1950); Healdsburg Tribune, May 5, 1950, August 18, 1922; “Haunted San Francisco: Ghost Stories From The City’s Past,”- Rand Richards; “Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and their Meanings,”- Jan Harold Brunvand; “Around Sunol,”- Victoria Christian, February 26, 2007; “Niles Canyon Ghost Revealed,”- David Mostardi, February 26, 2012; Find-a-grave; The Fremont Argus, February 26, 1976;  San Francisco Call, (6/1/1877, 9/7/1895, 9/8/1895, 4/12/1898, 7/4/1898, 7/4/1905, 7/5/1905, 5//24/1906, 10/26/1907, 5/15/1909, 2/6/1910, 2/7/1910); Sac Daily Union, January 6, 1879, August 7, 1879; Sacramento Union, May 27, 1906, October 27, 1907, February 6, 1910; Daily Alta California, June 1, 1877; Marin County Tocsin, June 18, 1892; Los Angeles Herald, May 11, 1900; Livermore Journal, June 15, 1927, December 3, 1931; Interview with Roland Boulware.






Thursday, August 7, 2014

The True Legend of Julia Legare- Fact vs Fiction

Way down south on Edisto Island, South Carolina you can find so much history just bursting from the seams every where you look. The aging antebellum mansions, the winds blowing the weeping willows and even the creaking doors at the old cemeteries have a story to tell you, if you are willing to listen.
From Pinterest

LOCKED IN, ALIVE 

One urban legend that surrounds this island is the tale of Julia Legare. The story that has been regurgitated for over a 100 years is that Julia, who is always described as a young girl or pre-teen, became ill with diphtheria while visiting family. Although it appeared as if she died, she actually fell into a coma. Believing that she had died, her body was interred into the family crypt. Locked and sealed inside the family mausoleum, this terrible mistake sealed her fate as well.

The story goes on to say that when her brother passed away 15 years later, they opened up the sealed crypt to find her bones pressed against the crypt door, her fingers damaged from scratching on the doors and floor of the vault. Many websites even claim that the scratches she made are still inside the crypt if you go look.

This has all the ingredients to a perfect scary story to tell while visiting the Presbyterian Church Cemetery there on Edisto Island, but the real story seems to be much different. In fact, Julia's story, or may I say her family's story, is much more interesting.

SEABROOK PLANTATION

The story begins here at Seabrook Plantation, just three miles from the Presbyterian Church Cemetery where Julia is buried. You see, the Seabrook Plantation is where Julia grew up. She was the daughter of Captain William Seabrook, one of the richest cotton men in all of South Carolina.

William Seabrook was born on Edisto Island on February 15, 1773. His parents were John Seabrook and Sarah Lawton. By the age of 17, William had taken charge of his mother's estates and managed the properties so well that they made a great deal of money off of them. It was said that he was one of the very first plantation owners to cultivate sea-island cotton (or black seed) successfully. He was also one of the first to use salt mud as fertilizer for his crops. Besides owning several plantations, William had a very prosperous ferry-boat business, running a steamboat line. It was called the Edisto Island Ferry, and it went between Charleston and Savannah and all the other island areas.

One of the last standing pieces of his legacy, the William Seabrook House, was built in 1810. Choosing only the best of the best, William picked the architect who designed the White House, James Hoban.


William had been married and had several children from his first marriage, however it was his marriage to Elizabeth Emma Edings that brought Julia into the world.  Julia had several brothers and sisters through this marriage as well.  The eldest was Robert Seabrook who was born in 1821, sadly he passed away 6 months after Julia, in October of 1852. Then there was Joseph, he was born in 1823 but died in an ill fated accident aboard the SS Pulaski which sunk on June 14, 1838 off the coast of North Carolina after an explosion in the boiler room. Julia also had three sisters, Carolina, who was born in 1825, and later married James Hopkinson. She died in 1878. Martha, who was born in 1828. and whom married Ferdinand de Lasteyrie. She outlived Julia as well. Then the last of her sisters, Julia's baby sister Emma, who was born in 1831 and died in 1834 at the age of 3.

As for Julia, she was born Julia Georgiana Seabrook, on November 18, 1829 and passed away on April 15, 1852.  There are several books that state that Julia actually died in 1862, however the inscription inside the family crypt plainly states 1852.

LIFE AT SEABROOK

Library of Congress/Seabrook Plantation
If you haven't seen the William Seabrook Plantation, I suggest you do a quick search or even click on the link here to see some of the most beautiful shots of this lovely home and the land surrounding it. To think that Julia walked up and down those stairs, played outside in the yard or wandered down that beautiful alley of oak trees, gives her story a little more sentimental meaning for me. It is wonderful to see that the home has been preserved over all these years.

As most children do, eventually, Julia grew up. She did not die a young girl or even a teenager, who was buried alive, as the urban legends claim. No. In fact, Julia went on to marry John Berwick Legare (pronounced La-gree) as a young woman.

MARRIAGE TO LEGARE

I appears that Julia married John Berwick Legare around 1848 at approximately 18 years of age. In all of the books I have found that list William Seabrook's children and how they died, Julia's death is never mentioned. I could not find a newspaper clipping or any sort of record of how she died at all so the cause of her death, although many state was Diphtheria, is still undetermined. I also could not find any evidence that mentions the discovery that she had been buried alive.

The claim that she was interred by her family, just laying her body down and locking it inside is ludicrous. Besides, have you seen the inside of the crypt? It is not that big, there wouldn't be a lot of room to just lay someone down and leave them.

Normally, family crypts have spaces in the walls to have your coffin placed and then sealed up into the wall. Or sometimes family crypts go below the ground into chambers where the family are then interred and the another door is sealed at the base. The inside of the crypt is bare, meaning they must be buried in the walls or below the crypt itself. There are three people buried in that family crypt and none of their bodies are laying out in plain sight. They wouldn't have left her in there and then buried her in the wall or in the ground later, that wouldn't make any sense.

Another thing that doesn't add up is the part about her brother dying. When her brother Robert died six months later, not 15 years, he was not buried in that crypt. The crypt Julia was buried in was the Legare crypt, not the Seabrook crypt. No. Instead, he was given a beautiful monument in the cemetery. (Click here to see his memorial) . So that theory of opening the sealed doors to find her bones didn't happen with her brother's death because he wasn't buried in that crypt.

Upon my research into this story further, I did find something quite odd though. You see, the stones in the Legare family crypt are enscribed for John Berwick Legare, Julia and their son, Hugh Swinton Legare, who died at the age of 6, in December of 1854. What is strange is that old books about the history of Edisto Island state that the couple never had any kids, dying childless.  So who is this little boy who was buried in the crypt with John and Julia? And how did he die at such a young age?

I came across the 1850 Census, which lists John and Julia as having not one, but two sons. More than likely the author of the book that states the history of Edisto Island, forgot to the turn the page of the census record book, as Hugh and little Joseph were mentioned on the next page. In 1850, Hugh was noted as being 2 years old, while Joseph was only 6 months old.

1850 Census, page 15
More recorded facts I found also state that Julia and her husband were the owners of the Berwick Legare plantation. And that John had the plantation split into a double plantations, the eastern section was to be called "Berwick" and the western section was to be called "Legare."  It was stated that no one had any idea why this was done, but that by 1852 the U.S. Coast Survey mapped the western half as being the property of Mary Seabrook, who was said to be an unmarried half-sister of Julia's.

1850 Census, page 16
It seems quite odd that the property would be divided into two, and the same year that Julia died her sister took ownership of the other half. Maybe Julia was just being a kind sister, letting her older unmarried sister have some security since she didn't have a husband to take care of her.

Mary Ann Seabrook was one of the older daughters of William Seabrook's first marriage to Mary Mikell. She was 46 years old in 1852, the same time that Julia died. Perhaps John turned half of the property over to Mary as a final wish to his wife before she died? Maybe she was left to care for Julia's two young sons after their mother's tragic death?

Julia died in 1852, Hugh died in 1854 and finally John passed away in 1856. All three of them are buried or entombed together in the Legare family crypt. Sadly, I could find no record of what happened to their youngest baby, Joseph. Did he die, too? Or was he raised by a family member?

BACK TO THE STORY

So why do people keep perpetuating the story that Julia was buried or sealed inside the family crypt, alive? There hasn't been any sort of documented evidence put out there that I have found that proves this. I find it interesting how the stories always say she was a child or a young girl, when in fact she was a married woman when she died, more than likely from natural causes. Had it been some scandalous death or even such a fiasco as finding out she had been buried alive, you would think there would be some sort of record of that.

As far as the scratches on the door, floor and walls...the crypt is made of stone so this is unlikely. If there are scratches they were probably caused by sharp objects scraping against it over the years. Fingernails do not cut granite, marble or stone. The softest stones are at the lower end of the Mohs scale when it comes to stone work. Fingernail scratches can be done on stones that are soft, but not marble, granite, sandstone, limestone or slate that are on the higher end of the Mohs scale. I doubt they used the soft stone for something like a family crypt that is meant to endure throughout time to hold the deceased. No, I find it unlikely that any scratches you find being from a human beings nails.

What about the door? Why does it keep coming off? Who knows...maybe vandals who are curious about the story would like to break in to sneak a peek inside? People have been curious of cemeteries for many years, this isn't some new fad. It could be something so simple as the construction of the crypt itself cannot hold the heavy steel framed door due to weight issues and thus threshold cracks under the pressure? I think maybe that is an answer left for someone who knows more about the construction of stone mausoleums to answer that for us.


Epitaph for Mrs. Julia G. Legare

How do we know that this door story is even true either? I've already debunked the fact Julia wasn't a child when she died and that the scratches couldn't have been made by her either. Perhaps this added rumor about the doors is just that, a rumor. Just a made up story to add to the mystery of the whole tale.

When someone finds the smoking gun evidence that states as a fact that Julia Seabrook Legare was actually buried alive in that crypt, then I will believe it. Otherwise, I feel this is just another one of those over embellished urban legends that become too good not to tell. With age the story becomes more and more real to people, and the legend and lore become larger than life.  Sadly, most of the time these stories have little to no truth to them.

Take the story of Corinne Elliot Lawton, for example. For over 100 years people have been flocking to Bonaventure Cemetery to hear the tale of her tragic death. Yet, the urban legend around her story is just a fabricated tale as well.  What about Anna Corbin and how she was found in a locked cupboard in the kitchen of the Preston School of Industry, bludgeoned to death? Yes, she was murdered, but she was not found where everyone thinks she was found, yet people continue to perpetuate the myths because to them it's more exciting. And finally, what about the story of Bathsheba Sherman? Lorraine Warren and Andrea Perron have spun one yarn of a tale about her life and death, which never happened the way they claim. You see, it's easy to believe the stories you are told, or even the ones you read, watch on tv or in the movies....but that doesn't mean it's true.  You must do your research and find the evidence first, don't just go blindly believing things without being shown proof.

Just like the three other women I have mentioned, Julia Legare's story is one that is shrouded in mystery, but not facts. I haven't seen any factual evidence that say she was actually buried alive, and there is no proof that the doors mysteriously come off or that she left scratches in the floor with her bare fingernails. These are just over embellished stories added to Julia's factual death. Maybe there is a record out there that will put this myth to bed once and for all, how she really died and where this "buried alive" story came from.

If there is evidence that she was buried alive, I would love to see it. If someone out there has it, post the documents online for the world to view it. I am all for that, but until then I will have to remain skeptical about that part of the story.  What does pique my interest is finding out just what happened to baby Joseph? To me, that is a mystery worth solving.

To read more about Julia Legare's life and death, as well as other mysterious and bizarre tales of the past, purchase your copy of:

 "Stories of the Forgotten: Infamous, Famous & Unremembered." 

(Copyright 8/7/2014- J'aime Rubio)
Also published in the book, "Stories of the Forgotten: Infamous, Famous & Unremembered" by J'aime Rubio, 2016. 

Early Generations of the Seabrook Family,
(Compiled by Mabel L. Webber).
Descendants of William Lawton.
Edisto Island: 1663-1860- Charles Spencer.
South Carolina- Historical Magazine, 1916.
Seabrook Family Genealogy.
Findagrave
U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
The People's press, and Addison County Democrat., July 03, 1838.



https://www.amazon.com/Stories-Forgotten-Infamous-Famous-Unremembered/dp/1523981172