The Grave Man

I heard this story in high school. I never really thought much about it, well until "the incident." I think that was the scariest day of my life. There were six of us, and well we don't talk much anymore. None of them want to remember "the incident." I don't blame them I guess, I wouldn't want to either if I were in their shoes. Well anyway, before that I should tell you about how or why this all happened. Why I know something they don't; why I remember something different.

I think we've all heard some scary story, about our towns. A local legend, a spooky campfire story to scare the kids. Growing up I moved a lot, so I've heard my fair share of urban legends. Though this one is the only one I can say has something to it. In fact most old stories from this particular town had something more to it than just a little spook. The story I'm talking about though has to do with an old cemetery deep in the woods. I guess it isn't really surprising that a scary legend popped up about it. Most old cemeteries are supposedly haunted. However this ghost I guess you could call it, can be summoned to any cemetery anywhere in the world. The reason this graveyard is so important is because this one was his birthplace. Where he first got his start, where it happened.

They say he had a real name once, that he was a man; a human. As the story goes he was a gravedigger, even though he wasn't older than twenty. He had to take over for his father who, like many people in town, had died from the sickness. No one knows what the sickness was but nearly the whole town died because of it.

I can for sure say that, at least that part of the story is true. I went to town hall the same day I was told this story. I love history of any sort and I wanted to know more. The town records confirmed that there was a sickness and that nearly everyone died. I tried to find the name of the teenager that took over as the gravedigger but it's almost like they erased his name. His fathers name was Joshua Miller, his mothers was Cynthia Miller. They had three children, two boys and a girl. I could only find two names, Grace and Paul. Paul was the oldest, he died at twenty-two, then Cynthia, then Grace at nine and finally Joshua himself. I didn't find a name or record of Joshua's other son, just that he had been born. His name was scratched out and then later removed completely from any records.

The story says he fell in love with a man. The man's name was Walter Carter. He was a very rich man, and a very respected one too. He was only a year older than the young gravedigger. Walter and the unnamed teenager were lovers. They would sneak out almost every night to meet and hang out. They say that the young lovers talked about the future they would share together. About moving out of the small town they lived in. Things changed though, when Walter got sick. The story says that Walter was so sick he let slip the name of his lover, and their plans to escape. Walter died only a few days later. Walter's father was the mayor, and he didn't exactly take kindly to his son being in love with a man. They say Walters' grave was the last one the poor teenager dug before he disappeared.

The legend goes on to say that the mayor, Michael Carter, killed the poor boy and threw his body somewhere. No one knows where he hid the body, and no one really cared enough to go looking into it either. They say because his life was cut short and because he wasn't given a proper burial his soul turned into a seven foot tall demon. He roams around the cemetery his love is resting in. Though if you go to that very place you'll find two graves with Walter's name. One is a grave that still lays open and empty, the other a crypt.

When the demon saw what had happened, what Michael had done he was furious. On the crypt he laid his son to rest in, he had the word "Unholy," carved into the door. They say the demonic scream of the gravedigger was heard all through the town. Michael, hearing the rage filled scream, knew he was going to die. According to the story he went crazy with fear and ran to town hall. There he erased the name of the teenager he supposedly killed from history. The last thing he wrote was a poem.

I found that poem, written sloppily on the bottom of the birth certificate of the boy he killed. This is what he wrote:

'I know the Grave Man, he's comin' for me!
Count to ten maybe he'll leave
One, dig a whole bigger than me
Two, swing the shovel faster than him
Three, send a prayer to all the Gods
Four, cross your heart three times
Five, close your eyes he's getting close
Six, say your name for your tombstone
Seven, apologize for your mistake
Eight, bow your head
Nine, beg the spirits for forgiveness
Ten, speak his name thrice for him to go away
Grave Man, Grave Man, Grave Man
I know the Grave Man, he let me live!'

It is true that Michael lived for another five years, but he was crazy. His family locked him away in a hospital, he kept saying one day he would come for him. One day the Grave Man would get him. Five years later, on the same day his son Walter died, the staff found Michael. He had been murdered, a shovel stabbed threw his body. There were muddy footprints everywhere except in or out of the room. It was a mystery on how exactly someone had killed him. There were no windows, and the door was locked. Even more mysterious, the night guard heard nothing, no screaming or anything. The thing that made the least sense was the muddy footprints, it hadn't rained in three weeks. How could there be muddy footprints?