Thank you so much--I knew you would know the story! Kim/Fred Ewers III ----- Original Message ----- From: Charles A. Wyly <wyly1@juno.com> To: <TXERATH-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, September 26, 1999 7:48 PM Subject: Re: [ERATH] McDowell's Hole > Hi, Fred, > > Hope your grandad and Marilyn enjoyed the Country Opry this week. > > I remember many rumors & stories of the McDowell or McDow hole. It was on > Green's Creek below Dublin. One Fitzzgerald writer who grew up on the > Fitzgerald Nursery & Old Dublin road wrote about it in the Stephenville > Empire- Tribune. So have others, . > > It seems a mother and baby disapeared from their home while the father > was gone. They were not found for many years. Stories said you could go > to the McDowell hole on a moonlit night and at a given time she would > wail and a ghostly shadow would float from the high bank to the low one > across the water hole, looking and crying for her child. When we were in > High school on a still morning you could hear the Steam train whistle at > Dublin at Grandad's Selden home - from Dublin, 25 miles away. We > sometimes heard it at Johnsville. > > The whistle does not explain how two men before 1900 went to see and > hear. They did. One died of fright - a heart attack with his eyes open > and mouth open in fright. His partner ran several miles when he saw > whatever. > > Several had examined the site and there were no trolley wires or cables > to be found like we used to hang across creeks for diving or the thrill > of the ride. In fairly recent years, someone was fishing in the Hole and > noticed a bone protuding from erosion of the high bank. There had been a > hand dug well above a spring to supply the cabin. /this was common, or > clean and enclose a spring, as surface water was sometimes poluted by > wild and /or domestic animals, even back then. He went for help. The > recent erosion and cave in of the bank had opened the side of the well. > There were a flat rock or two in the well. Under the rock was the > skeleton of a woman and a baby. They were buried somewhere in Erath > County and the sounds and aparitions have not been seen or heard since. > > I never went there at night. WE had our own excitement. I never saw this > done but was told exactly how it was done. Someone older than I would > make a dumbull which was illegal, or tie a tight wire or rawhide string > to the corner of a house to make wierd noises at night. A Dumbull was a > bucket or can with a hole in the lid or a rawhide cover was sometimes > used to chivaree newlyweds. . some sticks or fiddle bows pulled across > the tight wire or hole in the bucket made all sorts of noise. With > practice one could imitate a Panther. Someone got peeved or carried a > joke too far by scareing the Johnsville Postmaster, then making Panther > tracks on the Duffau Creek. He had pepole talking about the noise they > and he had heard, and saw the tracks and was making plans to move before > someone told him it was a joke.He thought it was after him. > > Take care, > Charles Wyly > > Oh, by the way a Black Panther was killed in Clifton in the last 20 years > and Alligator are in the Bosque at Baylor Camp, towards Valley Mills. I > know the argument that Black Panthers are not texas Natives. Neither were > Irishmen- they are here anyway. Since I was in High School one started > near the Hatchett Cemetery in early spring and stockmen and hunters and > Rooster farmers reported his movement slowly downstream 2 to 5 miles a > week and they lost him at Clifton each year. He screamed one night at a > neighbor's house and the gentle milk cows laid the 8 foot log fence flat. > They did not stop to question his ancestry. Everyone in the house woke up > instantly scared. > Game wardens have warned in the past they have seen very large cat paws > around Lake Grapevine. Some of those folk in Southlake area have private > 2 engine planes and are known to have had large cats in captivity and in > their homes. Some think they turn them out to run at night, like a dog, > and they come home before sunup. A Mother Pnther was sighted in Bear > Creek- Keller- North Richland Hills, north of Fort Worth > for the first 2 weeks of school. She and a cub were finally captured. > > Wonder why one of the older schools in Fort Worth was called the Panther > City High School?? > > Take care and sleep tight and don't let the Bedbugs Bite, > Charles Wyly > > > ==== TXERATH Mailing List ==== > --- Author Retains Copyright --- > -- Copyright 1999 Author -- All Rights Reserved > Post to List: TXERATH-L@rootsweb.com http://www.selfroots.com > Unsubscribe request To: TXERATH-L-request@rootsweb.com >