The Valley of Dry Bones
The Gaillard Auditorium Site
Charleston, South Carolina
February 2013
Them archeologists is over here. Digging. Right where they found the jaw bone and some teeth. Got thirty-seven graves. So far.
They know what they doing, let me tell you that. I mean, they don’t think it was plague or nothing, on account of the graves all being dug at different depths.
See them rectangular black places in the dirt? Them’s where the bodies are. Ain’t found no nails or nothing, so they think they was wrapped in cloth or something before they was buried. Apparently, rotting bodies make the dirt darker.
They do five at the time. Scrape off a little soil. Take out whatever bones they can. Catalog them and wrap them in that foil stuff and put them in them wood boxes. One box per body. They say they can tell all kinds of things when they test them, but we’ll see.
No. No pictures of the bones. Though, I gotta say, that one there, the one with its skull all turned sideways……well, I’ve had dreams about him, you know. He don’t look like he died happy.
Funny thing is, they all have this odd piece of bone on them. Not human. In the same place, right at the center of the rib cage. Like somebody put it there or something.
Except for this one right here. He had the same weird piece of bone, smack-dab in the same place. But all them churchified crosses strung around the body………..who do you suppose he was?
**************************
And, that’s my theory…….that the bones at the Gaillard are the work of Charleston’s first serial killer, courtesy of some voodoo root.
A Charleston series. The first post in the series is here, the second post is here, the third post is here, the fourth post is here, the fifth post is here, the sixth post is here, the seventh post is here, the eighth post is here, the ninth post is here, the tenth post is here, the eleventh post is here, the twelfth post is here and the thirteenth post is here. Thank you for reading.
Quite chilling, actually Andra! A voodoo serial killer… spooky!
Totally my imagination, Tom. I’m sure serial killers are an old profession……..
Probably an early urban designer unhappy with arch-i-techy criticism.
Haha.
It we as an early native resident unhappy about all those sail-powered cruise ships coming in from Europe bringing lowly, noisy, filthy, settlers and tourists. Can’t have those types cluttering up our shores. They wanted the voodoo tour and a souviner? Well they got one!
Another excellent response. I wonder why we don’t have a voodoo tour. It certainly is a part of our earlier culture.
I suppose it will be some lengthy time before all of the digging, testing, dating, etc. is completed and the real story revealed. It will be fun to see whether the fiction parallels any of the fact. Really enjoyed this series! Oh, by the way, I wish I’d known about that office voodoo kit way back when it could have been a very useful tool in my desk drawer!
I used to buy one of those voodoo kits for girlfriends who got dumped by icky men. If nothing else, it gave them quite a laugh when they opened the package………
That is AWESOME. I love that da root had an actual context in the history and archaeology you’re recounting. Keep us posted as MTM is in a position to have a clue about what they find (maybe) and this one has me DYING of curiosity.
I will post periodic updates as I have any new information. Given that they keep finding more bodies, it will be a while before they get them all out and start testing them. We’ve had a lot of rain this week, which hampers the process.
Also, the root is my imagination. They did not find any root in the graves………though that does not mean it wasn’t there originally.
Wonderful close. I feel so sad for all that hop, wrapped up in a land deed; all that luck, turned to dust. All that promise gone the way of all things.
Ho hum.
The lust for a land was a big part of what framed America, Kate. I’m sure people killed for it.
Indeed they did. Starting with the Spanish and according to something I read last week, perhaps even the Irish.
Not hop…hope! Apologies
What a thought! A serial killer! It’s eerie to think what past lives are all around us and we have no conscious thought. It’s a little humbling to think we are all just moving through. I have a lot of curiosity about this place of yours, Andra. Thanks for feeding that curiosity!
Debra, I never intended to make this a story about a serial killer, but the characters decide……..which means I have a lot of sick people living in my head.
Interesting idea. In that case, is the bone to protect them or curse them in the after life?
In this case, to curse them in the afterlife.
I love the idea of a voodoo serial killer and then tying it in with actual events is awesome. One reason I always loved Anne Rice’s books was how the stories were interwoven with history amend real places and events.
The serial killer angle does make it a bit more interesting than a mere forgotten graveyard.
Seems like the Vicar bit the dust too . . . unless he abandoned the church and buried its crosses with another of his victims after he grabbed the deed.
Good ending!
The Vicar was outsmarted by voodoo.
Thought of voodoo’s power after watching Beasts of the Southern Wild last night- dug your haunting insight (pun intended
)
It’s no coincidence that a voodoo doll was the mascot for my last book. I still have her in my office.
Certainly not Richard III as he’s in a car park in Leicester:)
Haha.
Wonder what the carriage tour drivers are telling their charges about the excavated graves? You need to send your tales and perhaps you’ll find up entertaining carriage (or as my cousin’s grandmother said, ‘wagon riding–cause those aren’t carriages’) tourists.
I wonder. I haven’t eavesdropped in that area for a while. It requires walking along the sidewalk at just the right moment.
An interesting series and conjecture, Andra; a serial killer. Not beyond “the pale” as they say. Won’t it be interesting to hear what the archeologists and scientists and, dare I say, criminologists find?
Have you or MTM read “The Devil and the White City” by Erik Larson? You must! It reads like fiction but is true and is about the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. It is jam packed with information about how it was designed and built. Around it swirls the story of a mass murderer who lured young women, many who come from the seclusion and safety of farms and small towns, to get jobs at the fair and how he methodically murders them. It is a fascinating read. The book’s popularity generated a whole new tourist venue for Chicago; everyone want to see the area of the fair.
Penny, I read that book on our honeymoon and absolutely loved it. I’ve read others by that author since, but this one was really inspired.
Fascinating!
And, somewhat warped……..
All the best kinds of shivers. I hate falling behind here, but then the catching up is such a tasty business.