A remote lone grave.........................

[Kelley (Texas)]

Far back on the Melton Ranch there is a strange lone grave...kinda spooky just being in the area of that grave, you will get a shiver up your back.

This is a lone grave, with a simple headstone made out of some type of hard native rock, probably granite. All that is carved in the headstone is the name "Coffey," with the date 1872 directly under the name. This grave is located on the East side of a small hill, back in a grove of some native Pecan Trees with a few scattered Live Oak Trees among them. There is always an abundance of birds in those trees, singing their songs.

No one around the area knows anything about a man named "Coffey," no idea where he came from, when he was born...nothing is known. Old man Melton told me that the grave has been there ever since he was born and guess it has always been a mystery. I first saw the grave site maybe thirty-five years ago when I hired on part-time to ride fence and bring stray cows and calves in from the brush.

That area was spooky...spooky for a reason. Around Thanksgiving of every year, someone places flowers on that grave. No one has ever known who is doing this or why. What is a mystery is you can only reach the grave site on foot or horseback...miles from the nearest road and too rough for a four wheel drive pickup truck. Mr. Melton told me that the flowers were being put on the grave when he was a small boy and even then no one knew who was doing it...not even his parents knew who was placing the flowers there or why.

Several times over the years, folks laid a trap in hopes of catching the person who was placing the flowers on that grave, but never caught anyone. Folks would camp in the area, but would not see or hear anything unusual and suddenly the flowers would be there on top of the grave. I just avoided the area, too strange for me, and I tend to fear things about the unknown...why tempt fate.

Finding a lone grave on the ranches down here in South Texas is quite common. Most are unmarked without a head stone, but you can tell it is a grave just the same. We just leave them alone, don't mess with them. However, once in a while you will come across a grave like the "Coffey" grave that has something strange about it...those you avoid at all cost when possible.

I have always wondered about that grave with "Coffey" carved on the head stone...who was this person? Why the flowers? What is the story about the circumstances of this man's death? No one knows anything about this man or grave?...strange indeed. Please have a great day! Kelley (Texas)

 

[Dan-MO]

Leave lots of unanswered questions don't they. When I come across one out in the woods I always wonder about the person that rests there and the circumstances that surrounded their death.I remember as a small child my grandfather pointing out a small very old looking homemade marker made of wood that was nailed on a huge oak tree above a mound of earth deep in the woods. The marker said " Joe Reynolds and family killed by Indians and buried here 100 years ago" The sign itself had no date on it and appeared to have been hanging there for a very long time then and that was at least 40 years ago.

I have no fear of the dead, but like you I remember this as being a type of place that sends a chill down your spine...not the type of place I would want to spend much time at.

The flowers on the grave are sure a mystery. Has anyone ever had any idea who puts them there? Thanks for a very interesting post,I enjoyed reading it.

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

To add to the mystery, there is no family in the area with the last name of "Coffey." I personally think that there is someone that knows something about this grave, but they are being silent about it for some reason. I assume that it is a man buried in that grave, but it could be a woman with a maiden name of "Coffey." I doubt if I will ever know the answers pertaining to this grave. Please have a great day! Kelley (Texas)

 

[Royal]

I was an MP there. Spooky stuff.

It would seem that Coffey ment something to someone!!! Who in the heck would put flowers on it for over a hundred years? Spooky indeed.

Thanks for the story Fred.

I will think of this one for a long time

 

[Jbird]

The west seems to be marked with numerous lonely graves. Many I have seen were marked by rocks being mounded over the gravesite to prevent animal damage. Near Deming, NM, is an RV park ( google it at Hidden Valley Ranch RV Park). It was built on a working cattle ranch of about 7000 acres by rock hounders and has gradually grown to what it is today and passed thru numerous owners. Straight north of the park about a quarter mile in open barren desert is one such grave. If it ever had any kind of cross or monument with a name, it was long gone years ago. I lived in that park for over 2 years. A friend, Les Wink, showed me that grave or I would never have found it as it is just flat scrubby desert but it was near one of our ATV trails. Les kind of looked after that grave and some of the Parks women have been known to carry flowers to it. Les and others in the park were some of the original rock hounders that started the park.

I went on another ATV ride with Les and some of the old timers to visit one of their friends grave. Their friend had always liked the view from a certain spot over in the southern foothills of the Cooks mountain range that begins just north of the park and had asked to be buried there. He and Les had loaded their ATV,s with shovel, cement, and water and went there one day and built a small concrete box and lid, level with the desert floor. They put a small brass plaque on it with his name. When he passed away he was cremated. All lhis friends gathered together in the Parks recreation hall for a small ceremony and then formed a caravan of ATV,s winding its way over to the burial site where they placed his ashes.

Les's wife passed away while I lived there in the Park. Les had her cremated. It was summer time when she passed away. Many of their friends amongst the old time rock hounders were snow birds, they only spent the winter months at Hidden Valley Ranch, so the actual burial was delayed a few months.

The Park is located on the northeast side of a long high ridge. We called it rattlesnake ridge although I think the map calls it something else. Les's wife had asked to be buried at a certain spot on the ridge over looking the park. Les built another small concrete vault at that site. When winter arrived and all their old friends were there, we had another little ceremony there in the recreation hall. No preacher, just a close friend that had known them both for years. Very few tears, mostly just stories and tales about Mary Jane, most of them humorous, told by old friends. Then Les placed her ashes on the front rack of his ATV and led a slow caravan of ATV,s down thru the park and winding up onto rattlesnake ridge.

Along the top of rattlesnake ridge are various small rock cairns that supposedly mark the last resting places of other people who wonted to be buried there but no names or markings identify them.

A few miles northeast of the park lies the melted adobe remains of old Fort Cummings. It was the only all adobe fort ever built in the west and what were once its walls are now just slightly raised mounds. It was manned by the buffalo soldiers and on a slight ridge above the fort site are some more lonley desert graves. Fort Cummings guarded Cooks springs, one of the few reliable sources of water on the southern route to California. Cooks Canyon runs west from the old fort site and historians record it as one of the bloodiest passes along the southern California trail. Over a period of about 30 years, it is estimated that 400 people lost their lives in those few short miles. Some more lonley unmarked graves are there in Cook's Canyon.

If you own an RV and travel west, Hidden Valley Ranch RV Park is an interesting place to stop over for a few days.

 

[Rob/Windsor Ont.]

have always brought me comfort. I don't know why but I tend not to be frightened when I can hear birds singing. Something spiritual about them and their songs. Sounds crazy to some but it's just something I've always felt. Can't explain it. Your story was most fascinating to read. They always are, without fail ! Like Royal was saying.... that one will be a part of my thoughts for a while. Great post !

Rob

 

[david(tx)]

about this person,you mentioning the unmarked ones that you pass now and then with this marked grave is kind of a testament to it.the others may have been buried in haste or by strangers,maybe they died a long way from home.this person,"coffey",had some mark his grave with his name and the date he died.

when i was a kid,i use to walk through the city cemetary and look at the grave stones and markers,wondering what the lives of those who had passed were like.

 

[Wayne in BC]

maybe folks should just accept it. Whoever is laying the flowers there should be left alone. I guess i am just not a believer in the paranormal but it is odd.....
Wayne

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

I have never seen a ghost as per se, I don't want to see a ghost if there is such a thing, and as such, I think I best just not mess with the whole thing. Why risk the possibility that if there is such a thing as a ghost...if you pi$$ it off it may do something to you. Please have a great day! Kelley (Texas)

 

[Jbird]

.....that the spookiest feeling I ever got around graves was there in the Cooks Canyon area. Dont know why but as I would go slowly put-putting along on my ATV thru that 4 mile long Canyon, I would get a strange feeling. The best way I know to discribe it was like I was being watched. That place must have been hell. When the first Butterfield stage coaches first started running thru there, the passengers were supposed to have complained about skeletons laying along the trail. When the army built Ft Cummings there, one of the first things they did was gather up all the remains and bury them. I didnt mention that the place spooked me so as not to damage my he-man reputation because no one else had mentioned it. Then one day we took a new guy with us, a Canadian snowbird. When we stopped by a mass grave pilled high with rocks and with an old rusted barb wire fence around it, the Canadian kept looking all around in different directions. He said, 'Boy, this place is weird, I feel like someone is watching us.' It was a relief for me to admit that I felt the same way and to hell with that he-man stuff

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

situations that would send a chill up your back, similar to how you felt in that valley. It will most likely happen when you are by yourself many miles from home and back in some remote area. I often have felt that it could be a survival instinct triggered by some unknown danger in the area. There were several times where I pulled the 30-30 out of the saddle scabbard because I sensed that something was not right and there was possible danger staring me in the face. I seldom post much about these things because some folks form the opinion that you are crazy or just telling a ghost story. As you are well aware, these things do happen, but it is hard for city folks to grasp. If you work in the brush country long enough, you will encounter many things that can not be explained, you just accept them and move on. I also suspect these type stories would be boring to many folks and some would not be interested in reading about them.

Jbird, how have you been? One of these days I may surprise you and show up for that cup of coffee. Take care of yourself and please have a great day! Kelley (Texas)

 

[Micheal_R]

Mind you, we do have a LOT of old graveyards. Now the stories that they could tell!!!

sunny skies

M

 

[Royal]

we have all had feelings like that from time to time. There is much we can not explain.

I certainly have

 

[Rob/Windsor Ont.]

One day I'll post a short story about something I saw when I was a teenager. My parents saw it also. Unexplainable !

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

Is there any way that you can post that story? This sounds like it would be a good story. Please have a great day! Kelley (Texas)

 

[JB(MS)]

The phantom flower person is very interesting. Good story, I really enjoyed it.

 

[VT Dave]

Those things are sometimes better left alone! Someone must have cared a lot for the person in that grave and maybe has passed the task of the flowers on down through the family.

Dave

 

[Rob/Windsor Ont.]

n/t

 

[Sunny]

Mr Coffey lost a wife, or something! Unlike you, I LOVE strange things that happened. I have always been interested in spirits, and why some of them choose to show themselves, while others do not!

This story reminds me of a book I read, by Paul Evans entitled "The Letter". You ought to read it sometime.

Thanks for sharing this story with us!

 

[butch...ar]

them flowers are very weird.......one can see someone putting flowers out when the grave was new but a 100 years is baffling

but one has to remember what our bible does say about hallow ground---it is also a place of worship for many folks----there are people who can talk to these spirits, now I do not know if the spirits talk back and sure would not question anyone on doing so!

maybe it was a promise to keep flowers there at a certain time of the year and is handed down through generations?...but, most younger generations will lose the interest in keeping up with a pact like that

this was a story that will make one stop and think many,many angles

Only when the heart and mind are unconflicted can the spirit reach its true potential