Occasionally, we like to take a light-hearted look at the more obscure aspects of our community. We thought our readers might get a kick out of a new Web site called StrangeUSA.com. According to the site -- which bills itself as "the ultimate collection of the strange" -- the Dorchester area has two "officially haunted" sites: Gilbert's Cemetery and the Dorchester School boiler room. According to the site, no other Saline County locations are listed as "haunted".
Regarding the school's boiler room, the Web site says that many decades ago, a child "locked himself in the boiler room and died." According to the site, school janitors today sometimes hear yells coming from the boiler room during the night -- and "when they go down into the boiler room, they don't find anyone."
Regarding "Gilbert's haunted graveyard", the Web site states that the cemetery is haunted by the Gilbert family and other pioneers of the late 1800s. "Strange noises and the movement of the tombstone are just the tip of this site," the site reports. Of course, Gilbert himself is not buried at the cemetery. His ashes are at Friend's Library.
For readers who do not know, John Gilbert was the son of Jonas Gilbert, one of Saline County's first commissioners. John Gilbert "never belonged to any church ... and called himself an agnostic," according to the Dorchester Centennial history book. In the late 19th century, Dr. Frank Hamilton of Friend once asked Gilbert to renounce his agnosticism and embrace Christianity. That is when Gilbert allegedly "went into a seizure for about two minutes, his muscles jerked, his eyes became bloodshot, his face became congested and red, his mouth became dry, and he kept wiping his lips with his tongue. During the attack, he venomously cursed God." Gilbert later donated money to build a library in Friend, on the condition his anti-God books would be on the shelves.
You can explore StrangeUSA.com for yourself. We're certain that Times readers will have their own opinions regarding this odd stop on the World Wide Web.
Thanks for the interesting information on the Gilbert family. Any word on the truthfulness of the Dorchester School boiler room story?
ReplyDeleteHa! I'm laughing out loud. Funny stuff.
ReplyDeleteI have been to this cemetary. My mom took me out there when I was 12 on my b-day to scare the --- out of me. My birthday is on halloween. A lot of the headstones are knocked over, the place gets vandelized a lot. I do remember going there as a teenager and there was always a piece of barbed wire sticking out of the top of a tree. We always said it was looped into a noose. Nothing creepy ever happened while I was there, but the old man that lives near there WOULD come at you at blow off his rifle! John's grave is in the back and it has a chant on it. He was cremated and his ashes are in an urn right to your left in the Friend Public Library.
ReplyDeleteOnce again: The Times will not publish profanity.
ReplyDeleteThe comment above has been edited. We will not edit future cuss-filled comments.
That's our rule; please respect it. Thank you.
Jonas Gilbert's family is buried in the Northwest Corner. As is a great number of his daughter and son in laws family. William M. Simmons and his wife Phoebe (Jonas' daughter) are buried just east of the elder Gilbert's. William was a Confederate Soldier, 12th LA Co A (as his stone reads) who was a POW at Camp Douglas and very late in the war, (March 1865) joined as a Galvanized Confederate in a US Army Unit(6th US Volunteers) sent to Ft. Kearny to fight the Indians. This is where he met Phoebe, and they were married there. Almost all of those buried there were first settlers of the area, and are original homesteaders. I am aware of four Union Soldiers buried there, one of which is William F. Rardin, who is my great great grand uncle by marriage.
ReplyDeleteAlmost every year, I have gone to that little cemetery, and set up stones that were knocked down. A couple years, my dad assisted me, and we set up Simmons' stone, only to see it, and several others, knocked back over, by someone with ATV's. I can attest that the only "hauntings" there are by vandals.
Many of the stones that were there in my childhood are gone. Many of which attested to their faith in Christ. Only the Gilbert family espoused atheism, which is clearly on Jonas Gilbert's stone.
The cemetery sits on the original homestead of Jonas. His son in law's 80 acres, is just north and across Turkey Creek, and is currently owned by John Palky. As is William Rardin's. William's eighty sat east and west on the extreme northeast corner of the section, against current day HWY 15, across from my great grandpa's farm. William Simmons was the school super, and founder, for the country school which was one mile east of Rardin's farm, and the one which my grandmother graduated 8th grade from many years later.
Every year before Memorial Day, I set a Confederate Flag by William, and US Flags by the Bell Brothers(Luther 9th MN Co E& William 2WI Cav Trp E), James McDonald (4th Iowa CoA), and Rardin's (40th Ind Co I & 99th Ind CoF) graves. It is a sad shame that the two communities that are the most impacted by the settlers contribution, (Dorchester & Friend) cannot get together to improve the lot of these couragious people who first turned the sod of the area. Many of those buried there, are children of those settlers. Some who's parents moved on with broken hearts. There is one pot metal oblisk, which details the loss of an entire family, from the youngest, to the mother, in less than a month. I believe there are seven children and the mom buried there at that grave site.
When I was a child, I used to go there with my dad, and grandparents. So many of the headstones are gone now. It is sad to know, that there is so much disregard for the legacy which these people left us. If it were not for them, we could not have followed.
I guess since I spent a large part of my childhood just a mile and a half away from there, as the crow flies, this hallowed place seems very close to me. I have always had a reverence for cemeteries, as they are the common mans history book. I ponder on the dreams attained, and the broken ones, of families who have longed passed over the river. Over the last 20 years or so, I have come to know many of the people buried there, through research of the veterans, and going through census records. It would be nice if someone more local than me, would take up the torch. It would be a great "Eagle Scout" project for one, or more Scouts. I would be willing to assist in what ever capacity I could.
The only "paranormal incident" I can attest to, is one day about six years ago, I was setting up a stone of two children. Their names escape me, a boy and a girl. As I applied the adhesive and placed the short oblisk on the base, it kept twisting in a circle. After repeated attempts to keep it in place, I switched position, and placed it in the opposite position. It did not move any longer. It was then, I realized, I had been setting it backwards. Two small butterflies came flittering by about then, and circled my head several times, then flew into the distance. Now I am not arguing that it was a ghostly experience, but maybe it was a message! God works in mysterious ways! :)
JR Wolfe
York, Nebraska
Great comments, JR. We hope our post does not encourage disrespectful residents to visit this place of rest.
ReplyDeleteWe do, however, hope your words encourage a few motivated citizens to volunteer a couple of hours at Gilbert's to improve its appearance -- and remind survivors that folks still care.
Some years ago,my granddaughter from Crete asked about the Gilbert Cemetery, having heard stories from friends and classmates. Since she was interested in Nebraska history, I gathered some old silk flowers and we drove out there. As we read the grave markers, we placed a flower by each one, and imagined what that pioneer's life must have been like. Just a small effort, but hopefully helped counter some of the mis-information and vandalism at the time.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, it is technically the "Gilbert-Hulse Cemetery," and genealogist Rose Marie Hulse of Exeter has compiled much of the history of this site. I think the Hulse connections are mainly on the east half of the grounds.
Lulu
I would like to say that Gilberts is not haunted.I went out there pleanty of time to prove that it wasnt wanted. I feel sad that people do go out there and destroy it.
ReplyDelete