Any cemetery restoration project is bound to include some unsolved mysteries and this one was no exception. Over time, things change in a graveyard due to the ravages of time, nature, human intervention, or vandalism. Some stones may not be marked and sometimes people are buried without any headstone at all.

Some of the unsolved mysteries in the Butler Cemetery include:

The Mound

In one corner of the graveyard plot there is a raised 3’ x 8’ mound that surely looks like a burial site but there is no headstone to indicate such.
 

Footstones

In various locations of the graveyard there are several footstones. Most of these stones have initials on them that would indicate that they belong to burial sites else- were in the graveyard. The likely matches to headstones are many feet away. These stones may be footstones that were moved by someone in the past but we just don’t know for sure.

The Getchell Stone

The headstone for Mary Getchell is one of the stones that was located by probing the soil. There was a visible footstone in the area so we had a good clue that there might be more there. The stone base was located first but it had no headstone. Probing the soil in front of and behind the base produced nothing. By probing far to the right of the likely area we surprisingly did locate a well preserved headstone that was lying flat, buried three inches underground. How this large stone got removed from the recess in its base and ended up far to the right remains a mystery.

And then there is the Butler Cemetery Ghost!

This photo was taken during a picture taking session. All the photos came out normal except this one that definitely looks like a ghost was passing through as the photo was taken.