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Show a Os - “WASATCH COUNTY COURIER October 12, 1999 Oy VION hms Nothing to Dig Up Here, Except a Little Folklore A quick rundown of Wasatch County’s more popular resting sites Jean Croasmun, Courier staff Beware ye who pass by As ye be now so once was | - located on a hill just off highway 189, has it’s share of folklore. David Hendricksen, whose wife, Mayleen, is the Sexton of the As I be now so must ye be Prepare for death and follow me. cemetery, tells about a time when one of the cemeteries more famous residents was 18th-Century New England Epitaph - interred. People like to be surrounded by others “Willis Ritter, the hanging judge in Salt like them, congregating in groups, preferring crowded restaurants to customer-free establishments, moving to communities where other’s hold similar interests. That, too, may be the premise behind graveyards-condos for the dead. Places that Lake for many years, is buried there. There’s a story about how the FBI and CIA hada guy walking in front of the patrol to clear the road so they could ‘bury him,” said Hendricksen. “They wanted to get him buried. There were a envelope those who have passed before; family homes for permanent vacations. Gathering places for the dearly departed. lot of people who hated him and they were afraid someone family.” Only four grave markers remain in Midway’s Mound City Cemetery; Swiss Oaks Condos were built around the old burial site. So why do places that symbolize memorialization, respect and remembrance dur- might go after his - Perhaps the most intriguing Wasatch County graveyard no longer exists. It lies, ing the day freak people out so much at night? Cemetery; Midway another cemetery, Cemetery, however at one time had the Mound City only four of the graves still remain there today. The largest of the cemeteries, the Heber City Cemetery, just south of the intersection of 500 North and 550 East, spans eight acres and reads like a history book, holding everyone from former prominent members of the community to shady including “Hangin’ Ritter. chatacters and unmarked _ graves. According to Hyrum Smith, who retired. a few years back from his position as Sexton of the Cemetery, the cemetery’s first resident was baby Mary Sariah Cook. rah “As far as I can tell, it was built in 1859,” : said Smith, “but it wasn’t the first one in the county.” Smith acknowledges that smaller graveyards already existed before the city started it’s own burial location. rently in use. According to Keith Mecham, an employee of the town of Wallsburg, the oldest grave in the cemetery dates back to 1869. Other residents of interest include a wife of William Walls, the polygamist for whom the town Cemetery, to accommodate the personal belongings that were buried with him, including his horse. According to Smith, Between the years of 1859 and 1869, 28 Mecham said Wallsburg’s cemetery’s surroundings weren’t always as nice as they who he is. He could’ve died on the railroad or anything,” said Smith. The man sits in an unmarked grave on the ceme- are today. “It used to be called boot hill,” said Mecham. “We, as citizens, planted tery’s south-east corner. grass and put Mecham said. in a sprinkling Wallsburg’s Cemetery is small by comparison, only about 2.5 acres of land are cur- Even Charleston’s Cemetery, built around can cast an or used to lie in Midway, at the old Mound City Cemetery, situated where Swiss Oaks Condominiums are now. is named. an unknown African-American man is buried in the cemetery. “We don’t know City Cemetery system,” 1873 and donated to the city in 1902, individuals were buried there, just across the road from what is now The Homestead. Now, only four grave markers, encased by a.fence in the courtyard across from the condominium office, still remain. But the present owners of the condominiums put all rumors regarding the wheréabouts of the remaining 24 eraves to rest-all but the last four were moved long ago to the Midway City mT While peaceful in the light of day, the Heber eerie presence at night. feeeoeeen aaa While, for the most part, the residents of the Heber City Cemetery, sit back quietly and don’t cause any trouble, a few of them come from interesting backgrounds. Chief Tabionas’ son has a grave that lies north-south, instead of east-west like the rest of the residents of the Heber City. nT Charleston Cemetery, Midway Cemetery, Heber City Cemetery, and Center Creek locals, roa Wasatch County has approximately five cemeteries: | Wallsburg | Cemetery, Judge” nT) Every cemetery has at least one resident of notable, albeit local, fame. A grave where flowers don’t grow, a tombstone that sweats or bleeds, odd figures lurking in the shadows. While the mostly treeless Wasatch County cemeteries aren’t as creepy as their counterparts in New England and the east coast, where oaks, elms and willows branch and swing and sway, even locally there are notable personalities just waiting to be dug up. | _. orful Cemetery. % TOT knowledge that the deceased can congregate, combined’ with the mystique Hollywood and literature have applied to the dead and what may lie beyond the grave is enough to make the most noble man cower behind a weeping willow. Charleston’s cemetery, while small, holds some of the more col- my ogy or mystique behind them; the sheer it’s your last chance. 1 All cemeteries have some sort of mythol- Give us the Treat, or we IT give pou the Trick. The deadline is Friday, October 15 Give us your creepiest, crawltest, ghouliest and best Halloween stories. See the Events Calendar on Cea aac ee eM i & 83 CO A A a A A A OE EE BS AE EEE EE LE EE EE ESE NEE BEE REE TESA AEM BEM ES DE UEHARA HRT HR HT |