{"id":6169,"date":"2020-10-18T12:14:55","date_gmt":"2020-10-18T16:14:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=6169"},"modified":"2020-10-18T12:18:41","modified_gmt":"2020-10-18T16:18:41","slug":"episode-144-ghosts-come-from-the-coffins-when-the-snow-begins-to-melt-alan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=6169","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 144 \u201cGHOSTS COME FROM THE COFFINS WHEN THE SNOW BEGINS TO MELT, ALAN\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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EPISODE 144   \u201cGHOSTS COME FROM THE COFFINS WHEN THE SNOW BEGINS TO MELT, ALAN\u201d<\/div>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Oct. 2020<\/div>\n

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This story is about a ghost. Sort of.   To make the story real we  have to go back in time to the year<\/div>\n
1948.  Too a stormy Sunday afternoon.   To a story about ghosts.   And then the story jumps to the present\u2026<\/div>\n
to a sunny splendid October afternoon\u2026Oct. 17, 2020.   The story has  legs so to speak, and  will be<\/div>\n
continued in Episode 145.<\/div>\n

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(photo is similar to the bob sleigh in the story)<\/div>\n

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FIFTH LINE, WINTER 1948<\/div>\n

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\u201cYou boys  are cold..too cold.  Jump off the back of the slight and run behind, the horses cannot<\/div>\n
go fast because the snow drifts are too deep.  Running will warm you up.\u201d  said our Uncle, Frank  Freeman,<\/div>\n
on one of  those miserable February Sundays as we tried to meet the Gray Coach  Bus at the<\/div>\n
corner of the fifth line and Highway 7.  We were going home to Toronto. We  visited our grandparents<\/div>\n
often on the Fifth line with the help of Uncle Frank and his horses.<\/div>\n

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Uncle Frank was never really appreciated when he was alive.  We took it for granted that he<\/div>\n
and Aunt Lucinda would get up earlier on winter days and harness the team of horses then hook them up<\/div>\n
to the big bob sleigh just to get us back to the city.  This was not a  simple task.  Then Uncle <\/div>\n
Frank had to turn around  and beat his way  back up the line to the barn where the horse harness<\/div>\n
had to be removed and hung on  big hooks beside the horse stalls.  Then some fresh hay needed<\/div>\n
to be pushed down to the stable from the threshing floor above.  Uncle Frank loved his horses.<\/div>\n
\u201cA horse  is better than a tractor,\u201d he told  me often, \u201cHorses need to rest.  Tractors never rest.<\/div>\n
When the horse took a break, I got a break as well.\u201d  I remember so much about those farm<\/div>\n
visits.  Especially that winter day.<\/div>\n

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I remember that day clearly.  Eric  was 10 and I was 12 or thereabouts.  Uncle Frank  and mom<\/div>\n
were wrapped in big buffalo robes and coats.  Collars turned  up, scarves across their faces.<\/div>\n
This was not a nice day.  It was an adventure .  Eric  and I ran behind the sleigh.  Maybe a <\/div>\n
bit fearful we would not keep up and be forgotten.  Not likely.<\/div>\n

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But the trip was more than that because the only structure on the corner of the fifth line and<\/div>\n
Highway 7 was a small graveyard with limestone markers angled various directions.  The graveyard <\/div>\n
is  still there.  Just the graveyard on the North east corner.  Nothing on the others.  Which means<\/div>\n
it was a scary place for kids like us.   Uncle Frank made it moreso.<\/div>\n

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\u201cBoys, when the snow begins to melt ghosts emerge from that graveyard.  Maybe not real ghosts<\/div>\n
but something strange happens.  A white mist flats up around several of the headstones.\u201d<\/div>\n

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Uncle Frank did not tell us this to frighten us.  He was simply stating what he had seen.<\/div>\n
\u201cWhite mist around the old gravestones sometimes\u201d<\/div>\n

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That was around 1948\u2026a long time ago.<\/div>\n

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Today, October 17, 2020, there is no  snow,  no ice, no snowdrifts for the team to<\/div>\n
bust through, and Uncle Frank Freeman is  not around anymore.   But the graveyard is still<\/div>\n
there.  Abandoned really.  I always give it a  wide birth when going to the farm.  Probably because<\/div>\n
of Uncle Frank and the ghost story.  <\/div>\n

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I STOPPED THE TRUCK\u2026PULLED OVER.<\/div>\n

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Today, Oct. 17, 2020, the little graveyard bursts with colour.  Maple leaves in their splendour.<\/div>\n
Ghosts?  What a silly thought.<\/div>\n

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 Ridiculous, there are no ghosts\u2026and if  there<\/div>\n
were, they would not be whispy shadows in the graveyard  today.  The sun is shining,..the day is <\/div>\n
warm\u2026and the maple leaves are still splendid.  Might be a good idea to stop and walk into<\/div>\n
the graveyard\u2026something you have never done in the past 70 years.  Do  it.”<\/div>\n
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So I parked the truck beside the road  and strolled into the tiny cemetery to read the<\/div>\n
dedication stone erected  when all the limestone slabs  were gathered together.<\/div>\n

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WHAT A SHOCK!<\/div>\n

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I READ THE 1953 GRAVE MARKER WHICH SAID, “ERECTED BY THE BANNOCKBURN COMMUNITY\u201d<\/div>\n

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This will not seem shocking to any reader unless he  or she  is familiar with the Skeoch family and the <\/div>\n
battle  of  Bannockburn deep in the history of Scotland  when a Scottish army lead  by Robert Bruce defeated<\/div>\n
the English at Bannockburn.    Another name for the place of this defeat is \u201cthe Skeoch steading\u201d\u2026i.e. the Skeoch farm.<\/div>\n

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So what?  There is a legend that has been passed down through our family.  A legend.  A story that may or may  not be<\/div>\n
truse.  I am still unsure about some aspects of the legend but there is a core  of truth which keeps recurring associated<\/div>\n
with Bannockburn,  That legend will be the subject of the next Episode (145) for anyone interested.   Family history<\/div>\n
may not be interesting to anyone but the family involved.   Legends, however, do  have an appeal beyond particular families.<\/div>\n
So you may want to read the  legend and  help me find the core of truth.<\/div>\n

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Getting back to the little graveyard.  There are no Skeoch\u2019s buried here.  Most of the gravestones commemorate the Worden  family<\/div>\n
who purchased this tiny property for personal burials.  <\/div>\n

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What interested  me was the use of the term \u201cBannockburn\u201d which reminded me that our section of the Fifth line, Erin township was<\/div>\n
settled heavily by Scots\u2026McLean, McEchern, Kerr, Leitch, Macdonald and others no doubt.  There  was a strong anti-English<\/div>\n
prejudice according to my grandparents, Louisa and Edward freeman, who were Welsh\/English.   \u201cIt tooks some time for us to<\/div>\n
break down that anti-english feeling.  We did it with music.  I played the pump organ and Grandpa played the violin.  We were <\/div>\n
needed.\u201d  (my words, but true to grandma\u2019s comment)<\/div>\n

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In time, I got to know these Scots pioneer families.   But I did not know there ever was a Bannockburn community on the Fifth Line.<\/div>\n
That community is  long gone now.  What remained for a while, apparently, was the Bannockburn School which  was just north<\/div>\n
of the Bannockburn graveyard.  It is gone.  Gone Long ago for I have no memory of such  a school in my 80 years.<\/div>\n
All that remains  is this  tiny forgotten graveyard.   <\/div>\n

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The ghost?   Well, the ghost is real in a way.  The ghost is \u201cBannockburn\u201d.<\/div>\n

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SEE  EPISODE  145  \u2014 TRACING A LEGEND<\/div>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Oct. 17, 2020<\/div>\n

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EPISODE 144   \u201cGHOSTS COME FROM THE COFFINS WHEN THE SNOW BEGINS TO MELT, ALAN\u201d alan skeoch Oct. 2020 This story is about a ghost. Sort of.   To make the story real we  have to go back in time to the year 1948.  Too a stormy Sunday afternoon.   To a story about ghosts. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6169\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}