The Durland Cemetery sits on the top of Crane Hill, beside State Highway 50, about half way between Seymour and Brownstown. I had been there many times looking around because it is a very old cemetery for this part of the country, with tombstones dated back into the 1820’s (Indiana didn’t become a state until 1816). I’d never been there at night, however. It was very cool and dark as we made our way among the old tombstones, occasionally stopping to read the inscriptions. Headlights from cars passing on the highway made interesting shadows through the overgrowth that separated the right-of-way from the graves. Dale and I had wondered off on our own and had reached the darkest part of the cemetery in the back corner when something caught our eye.
Lying there across a small tree stump was a noose. We shouted for the others to come and look, and as we were looking closer, we noticed that it was splattered with a dark red substance that resembled (especially in the dark) blood. After a few minutes debating over the possibilities of someone putting it there as a prank, in the very back corner of a cemetery that wasn’t known to be “haunted”, we were soon in the car and headed for home.
The next day Dale and I were having trouble getting anyone to believe us, so it was decided that we would take a couple of other people back out there that night. Naturally when we got there, and managed to find the tree stump, the noose was gone. This story became one of my regular ghost stories to tell each year. I’ve been to this cemetery from time to time, but have never again seen the bloody noose. Several years ago, just before Halloween, I was telling the tale again. After I’d finished, one of my listeners asked if I’d ever been back to look for it on Halloween. I was surprised that I hadn’t thought to try that and made plans to give it a try. That Halloween, after trick-or-treaters, and after telling some stories, Dale, Suzy, me, and two others, Amy and Tom, made the trek out there. We did not find the noose, but on the way home realized that it was after midnight and so was not actually Halloween anymore. So…the next Halloween we made the same trip earlier in the evening, but again found no noose. We did, however realize that the same stump that we had originally found it on was still there, good as new, and had not rotted away in all the years that we’d seen it.
A historical note to this story is that in the late 1860's, six members of the famous Reno Brothers gang of outlaws (world’s first train robbery) were hanged from a tree about four miles from the cemetery at a place now known as 'hangman's crossing'.
Another interesting development in this story has recently occured. A friend of mine has become interested in this story and has done a little research. He has been told that there is the possibility that this cemetery was moved during a highway widening project many years ago, and that only the tombstones were relocated. I will try to do some looking into this and will post any further findings. (Thanks Brian!)
