One can only spend so much time at home.
So earlier this week, after working in the house, the garage, the yard, the shed, back to the house, back to the shed, etc., I decided to go for a little solitary drive just to have a look around.
Now, remember me and finding stuff? Well apparently it just never ends. I followed my nose along the Assiniboine River, spotted a pretty area to take a pleasant solitary stroll, and look what I found.
A headstone ... for a grave!
As Peter Warren once said to me, "Mustard, this would only happen to you."
Good! Keeps life interesting. I was just sauntering through the beautiful old trees, watching the river roll by, when I noticed something that looked like the corner of a concrete block poking out of last year’s old dead grass.
Now most people would probably pay it no mind, just walk on by, but not us stuff finders! We are constantly on the lookout for neat stuff.
So I brushed a bit of the grass off the top to see what it was, and I saw lettering! WHAT! Really couldn’t make out much, the turf had most of it well covered, so I cleaned it off as best I could, and found the headstone had been defaced at some point in its history.
OK. Logical explanation, it had been replaced with a new headstone, this one discarded by the riverbank, name somewhat removed just so no-one would think it marked an actual grave, blah blah. Who knows. It is fairly close to an old cemetery.
However, while bored silly in the middle of a global pandemic, the last thing you want is a logical explanation. You need a mystery, something to think about!
So let’s ponder a few possibilities shall we? It IS a little off to the side of what appears to be an actual grave with a pile of rocks where the headstone would be, and there’s the rotting remainder of other grave related material nearby, but none of the three together.
So IS there an actual grave there, the headstone defaced by vandals perhaps. If not, what reason could there be for trying to remove the name and dates? Could this be evidence of an act of REVENGE????
Really doubt it, but if I just accept there’s probably no mystery involved here whatsoever, it means I just have to go back home where another nasty chore awaits me, shovelling up the doggie doo deposited so generously over the winter.
Now, as I write this, I’ve also sent the pics around to a few friends, and they’ve come up with a name. Sarah O’Malley.
Looks right to me. Fascinating. This was such a last minute column find (I was going to write about modern multi level verandah’s, oh well there’s always next week), that I haven’t had time to do any research. So as soon as I’ve filed this tantalizing tale, I’m contacting our fabulous historical society here in beautiful downtown Headingley, to see what knowledge they may have in their archives regarding Sarah O’Malley.
An inquisitive friend of mine with tremendous investigative skills tells me O’Malley was definitely a well known name in the 1800’s hereabouts. So we certainly have some good leads to follow, which I’ll leave with you, so we can all do some sleuthing. Happy hunting.
The Peter Warren "Mustard, this would only happen to you" line came about in the mid 1980’s when I was working at CJOB, and one cold winter day, my new van got stolen from right beside the building. Half an hour later, sitting in a police car behind CJOB —describing my van — it drove by right in front of us, and I got to ride along in the high speed chase. Fifteen minutes I later had the van back!
Now that, friends, was a hoot. Be healthy.
Comments or feedback welcome!
lmustard1948@gmail.com
