Cape Cod Corpses are Dying to Leave Their Graves!

Here's a sample from an early chapter of The Ghosts of Cape Cod.  This chapter focuses on the spirits that are said to inhabit Upper Cape Cod.  The 150 page book is available on Kindle for the introductory price of 99 cents.  Here's the link to the Amazon page:  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BL1TP7U

Portion of  Chapter one: The Jumbled Graves

From the Sagamore Cemetery on Route 6A in Bourne, comes this eerie tale of corpses getting up from mis-labeled graves and trying to enter their proper coffin!

A number of the dead in the old burial grounds are said to wander around unhappily because of the ‘grave’ error made around 1909.

For hundreds of years people had thought of connecting the various rivers, lowlands, swamps, and marshes that almost, but not quite, made Cape Cod an island.

Just before the 20^th century was one decade old, the final plans for the Cape Cod Canal became a reality. Among a number of impediments to the massive project was the matter of the old Bournedale Cemetery.

It had been the final resting place of choice for the town’s finest citizens for 105 years. Inside the iron rails and granite posts of the burial ground, were the memorial stones of the entire Bourne family, who gave their name to the community.

The burial ground became a major obstacle to the building of the canal because it was literally in the middle of the construction path.

After much debate, it was decided that the entire graveyard would be dug up and the remains of the dead, would be transferred to the Sagamore Cemetery, a few miles away.

Local businessman Isac Keith, who owned a boxcar manufacturing company, was contracted to construct fresh coffins as a replacement for any that were too deteriorated to be used in the new location.

That Keith’s laborers did a fine job on the new coffins, there seems to be no argument; but there was a big problem.

The workers got confused when it came time to re-inter the corpses and jumbled up a number of the bodies and stones; so Smith might have had Jones’ marker and vice versa.

Isac Keith’s laborers may have been fortifying themselves with supplies from the local tavern, or perhaps they felt that it didn’t matter which century old corpse got whatever hundred year old marker.

Either way, apparently not much was said about the matter, and the job was quickly finished. It seemed as though the workers were right; the dead didn’t seem to mind having the wrong stones over their head - until something changed.

After seven long years, in 1916, the canal was fully operational. In a few more years, two sparkling new automobile bridges would be built from mainland Massachusetts to the Island of Cape Cod.

A third bridge was also erected. The 544 foot long Canal Railroad Bridge, a magnificent vertical lift draw-bridge, was completed in 1935. It had the highest lift of any bridge in the world. As rail traffic increased because of this new span, so did the business of Keith’s boxcar company.

Isac Keith, his customary fuming cigar plugged into the side of his mouth, was eagerly expanding his business.

Meanwhile, all was peaceful and serene at the cemetery and Bourne’s finest were lining up to buy plots in the Sagamore burial grounds. Isac Keith bought one – and apparently that was a big mistake for the cigar chomping businessman.

After Keith died and was put in a grave with the ‘correct’ marker above it, the dead around him began to rise up in protest

It seems that those who had been re-buried with the wrong head-stones blamed Keith for their problems. The keeper of the cemetery is certain that Keith and a number of other ghosts frequently materialize and saunter around the graveyard.

He has related his encounters in a number of newspaper articles. Around 2010, the graveyard and its keeper were featured on the popular program “Chronicle” produced by Boston’s Channel Five.

The keeper of the burial ground claims that he has smelled cigar smoke around Keith’s grave several times, when there has been no one else anywhere near the tombstone.

Other visitors to the secluded graveyard say that when they walk through the rows of ancient weather-beaten old markers, they have been gripped by icy blasts and have walked through gloomy, cold spots.

Some people talk about seeing a man in a top hat strolling near the markers. The man in vintage clothing with the stump of a cigar screwed into his mouth, disappears if the viewers try to get closer.

The caretaker was shaken up one morning when he found a heavy monument lifted from its base and placed nearby. There was no trace of it being pried off. He called the police who verified that there was no vandalism or any signs of tampering.

Some speculate that the dead whose identities were mixed up are angry at Keith. They chase him through row after row of ancient grave markers.

One of those doing the pursuing may be Captain Elisha Bourne (1733-1804). He was driven out of the town that bears his name shortly before the American Revolution, because he was a Tory (a person who supported the colonies remaining a part of England).

The Whigs (Revolutionists) allowed him to come back after the war was over. His was one of the displaced graves and his marker was one of those set upon the wrong grave.

Some locals say that Bourne chases Keith and harangues him about the mix-up.

The caretaker apparently feels that anyone who visits his cemetery has a good chance to be grasped by the cold spots, smell the cigar smoke, and perhaps even see Captain Bourne pester Isac Keith.

Judging from a number of reports, at least some visitors to this aged burial spot have indeed encountered the top hatted business man wandering around his grave, a thick fog of cigar smoke trailing after him like a dirty cloud.

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  The full 150 page book is available on Kindle for the introductory price of 99 cents.  Here's the link to the Amazon page:  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BL1TP7U