With Margaret (Mike's GPS voice) and the "Iowa Guide to Haunted Locations" directing us, we headed northeast out of Readlyn (that's what Mike said but it seemed, for some reason, like we were going south!) to Strawberry Point, Iowa.Y'all know, I like Cemeteries.....and Cemeteries have dead people .....and often, living people claim that they see "dead people walking" (Ghosts) in Cemeteries.......Whooooo.
We had read, in our Guide Book, about Mossy Glen where people had died strange deaths, jumped off cliffs, had their heads chopped off.....and they are supposed to still be there.....walking around. In fact, if you call out "Lucinda" three times - she will appear......but....if she drops a rose at your feet, you'll die.....the next day! (I had stuff to do, the next day, so I decided against trying to see Lucinda.) There was supposed to be a man, walking around, holding his head. So much to see, so little time!
I was game....I'm "sort of a believer" (Yes, I've seen ghostly figures). Mike, not so much, and I was actually thinking that taking him along (you know, a "non-believer") might not be such a good idea. Would ghosts appear to non-believers? Was I up for going by myself? I'm pretty brave....well, I guess not THAT brave!
The rock road Margaret had taken us down had come to a dead-end, in the middle of a farmyard. To our left was the entrance to a cornfield that covered a rolling hillside and to our right was the entrance to a barn. In front of us, a rope tied across what had once been a road, blocked our way with a sign, "don't block the road." And about that time Margaret informed us that she wasn't going any further .....we'd have to get out and walk!
The old road was covered over with vines and a canopy of tree limbs and it looked ....well, it looked "uninviting!" I had on sandals (was that by design?) and it had begun to sprinkle rain. And then, the two farmyard guard dogs began to bark. (I must confess, they were old, fat beagles .....but they had a ferocious bark!)
We decided to try and find another entrance. Keep in mind, we were on rock roads in the absolute middle of nowhere. The hills were extremely steep. We saw a road sign that indicated a truck on a steep downgrade, and I was very thankful that it was summer. I couldn't even begin to imagine having to go down these hills in an Iowa winter with snow and ice! Whew!
We were surrounded by absolutely beautiful rolling hills full of corn. On one side of the road, there would be steep banks with layers of stone that looked like slabs of granite and on the other side a field, with the tall corn bending in the wind, on the roller coaster-like hills. I had to force the image out of my mind of a tractor trying to stay upright on those steep, hilly rows!
Mike had entered Mossy Glen Hollow into the GPS and after many stops and turns, Margaret informed us that we were at our destination. To our right was an overgrown ditch and a swamp and no road, and no way in!
Here we were, again in the middle of nowhere. We stopped at a crossroads that reminded me of my crazy little four-way stop, back home. Mike was trying to put a destination, any destination, in his GPS, and he kept getting the message, "GPS signal lost."
Suddenly a message popped up on Mike's phone, "Uber is not available!"
When a FedEx truck went flying around us, we decided to follow him. The road was paved, to a bridge, and then the rock began again with a sign ....." this road is not maintained, enter at your own risk!" If it was good enough for FedEx, it was good enough for us!! We followed and suddenly, at the top of the long hill, the "enter at your own risk road" dead-ended at a Paved Road!!
And on our left, sitting atop the hill was a Cemetery!! (This trip might be worthwhile, after all!) The cemetery was shaded and guarded by several huge, old Cedar trees that had been there for many years.
We viewed so many of the old stones that had begun to be covered by moss with engraving that was no longer legible. My mind raced back to my "own" cemetery in Mississippi and Stanley Jones, the young man who gives so much time to cleaning the old stones. This cemetery and these stones could use a Stanley Jones!
A young woman who was mowing the vast cemetery stopped and visited with us and pointed out the grave of Daniel Shine. We had learned about Dan in the "Hillbilly Homicide" in our Haunted Locations book.
Dan was a 58-year-old farmer and confirmed bachelor who lived in an old house on his 80-acre farm, in the area. His 70-year-old bachelor brother, Timothy Shine, lived with him. Pearl Hines, a young (33 years old) "Hillbilly girl" lived with relatives, in the area. The story goes that Pearl worked, for a few months, as a housekeeper for "old Dan Shine." The relatives with whom she lived, a 26-year-old uncle, Jim Hines, and his 51-year-old common-law wife, Minnie, were poor. They lived in a log cabin with 18 of Minnie's children - with no electricity and no running water. A plot was hatched for Pearl to marry Dan Hines, murder him and get his farm, so she could help her uncle and his wife. Pearl married old Dan and 5 days later, he was dead!
