Back about 30 years ago for fun we would take rides in the car, gas was cheap and it was fun to find out of the way places. The best thing we ever found is this story.
A hot July Sunday, my sister came to visit us when we lived in PA. We went for a ride our idea of going for a ride was just to follow old back roads some paved some gravel and just see where we would end up and what we would see. This day we were on a narrow gravel road we never knew the name of that road and we are sorry we didn't write it down. We went for several miles with 9 foot tall corn on either side of the road so close it seemed as if we could touch the stalks. When all of a sudden we could see crossroads ahead of us. And on the one corner was a patch of land that was about 50 yards square, perfectly sowed with grass and mowed. It was surrounded by an iron pike fence. Sitting right in the middle of the square was a massive mausoleum. It was perfectly square and was about 2 1/2 stories tall.
It was made of a dark gray marble with white veins running through it. On each side were 13 marble steps. The square tomb sat off the ground on a slab of plain white marble. There was a very large ornate iron door about 15 foot high behind a fancy grilled iron gate.
On the white slab that was about 4 foot wide,that surrounded the actual tomb it looked like a sidewalk one could walk on it around the perimeter of the tomb. On each corner of that white marble slab sat a carved lion standing up about 3 foot tall and 3 feet long Each of the lions faced outward as if guarding the tomb. And they were carved out of some kind of gray stone. The lions did show some weather damage. There were no markings to identify who was inside. We thought it probably belonged to a family with members being laid to rest inside. There might have been plaques inside with name and dates on the spaces. The roof was made of copper that had turned green with age.
We walk around and around this thing but could not find any clue. We did not have a camera. My oldest daughter was spooked by the whole thing but the rest of us didn't feel anything but wonder and amazement. After about a half hour of just looking at the building we left closing and making sure the outside gate was locked.
Later on we both searched our county seat library and asked the librarian if she knew of such a place but she did not. We never found out who was buried there. There were no other cemetarys around. It will always be a mystery occasionally either myself or my sister will mention it or one of our kids will bring it up when we are sitting around a camp fire. We will never know the secret of that strange building.
We drove back several times trying to find it but we never found the puzzle of roads we took that day.
Tags: Joy Rides Tomb Memorial Back Roads Stange Unsolved Mystery
