Dead Mary

This past weekend I went with some of my friend's to celebrate Rob's bachelor party. The Friday night festivities involved partying in the Cincinnati-Convington area. Due to low funds, I did not participate in this leg of the journey. However Jameson and I made the drive to Saturday's destination, Lucas's family farm in Osgood, Indiana, known as Laughery. 

The spot was great. There was a an uncut field that boarded the open spaces for camping. The guys already had a lively game of wiffleball started when we pulled up. There was also a creek near a spot where the cooking and campfire was. Though Dave, or the Dude as we called him told us not to smoke near the water due to methane content. 

 The interesting part of the evening came when Lucas's dad got some of us together to go visit an old grave on the property. It was late in the evening at this point, and it was full on dark. We walked carefully up the hiking trail and off to a side path. There we saw an old grave. The grass around it was well manicured, and it was obvious that the men took great care of the site. The Dude had warned us to not leave any beer bottle or cigarette butts on the site to be respectful. No problem, we thought. We wouldn't disrespect the site or Lucas's family. Then we were told the story of Dead Mary.

 Mary Anne Collington is a bit of a mystery  They know she lived there and was the consort--or wife--to a local man that lived in the area in the 1800s. Little is known about her, and local records are a bit scarce. What is known is she was a petite blonde nineteen year old with a fine ankle--old time talk for a nice butt.  She died at age 19 though they are not sure exactly how, though local theories point to childbirth.

Her gravesite is on the land now, and is a point of interest to those that come to camp there. Then the Dude told us that her ghost haunts the area, though others are skepetical on this point. His only warning was she will only haunt those that disrespect the land or her grave. 

 Do I think Dead Mary really haunts that land? I doubt it. Though it is interesting how local folk lore develops over time with such little evidence. I will say this, no one reported experiencing anything supernatural that night. So maybe Mary doesn't exist. Maybe we just didn't do anything to upset her. Hell, maybe she just laughed at a bunch of drunks trying to have a good time and get in touch with nature. 

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