The Mancos Historical Society is gathering Ghost stories. If you have had such an experience please contact me.
It all started when Rovilla's brother's daughter Jeannette Elliss was exploring the river bank east of the Main Street bridge. She chanced upon part of a trunk sticking out of the rocks and dirt. She tried to move it but it was too stuck in the rocks and dirt. She went and called John and he came with a pry bar that he used to clear the rocks and dirt away from the trunk. and finally used it to open the latches on the trunk.
When John had the trunk lid open Jeannette must have covered her mouth as she looked at the skeleton and said, "Oh no!
John closed the lid and said, "Let's keep this between the two of us."
Jeanette walked home and John called Fred and Anne. He then called my mother since she was writing family histories and submitting historical items to the Mancos Times. My mother picked me up on her way to town.
John, Fred and Anne were waiting at the bridge when we arrived. The five of us made our way to the trunk and John opened the lid of the trunk once more.
Turning to my mother, he asked, "Do you have any idea who this might have been?"
My mother shook her head and said, "I have no idea."
"Guess we should give it a proper burial, "Anne said. "I can contact Serena Everett and she will give us space in the pauper's location in the Cedar Grove Cemetery."
"No," said John. "That will just widen the number of people who know about this. Maybe Fred and I can figure out a place to bury that skeleton. How about we do it right after lunch tomorrow?"
"Sounds good to me."
John closed the lid and we started making our way back to the bridge. I was last in line and decided to turn around and take one more look at the skeleton. I opened the lid and felt a powerful presence. My heart beat faster and my ears started ringing.
"Who are you and what happened?" I asked.
I felt his answer. "My name is Al and I wish I had..."
I could feel the presence leaving but said, "Go where you belong Al and I will do my best to write your story."
Then I quickly shut the lid and pulled the trunk close to the water. I got behind the trunk and pushed it into a fairly large pool of water. I nodded my head as I thought about the storm in the mountains that would raise the level of the water in the river and no doubt float the trunk a couple of miles or so down the river.
A couple of years went by and one day Jeannette asked, "Why don't you write a story for the paper about a skeleton in a trunk?"
"If you have some facts I'll sure give it a try."
Jeannette had nothing to say and a couple of years later she married a Thoroughman and settled down in southern California. John, Fred and my mother passed away and since Anne isn't mentioned in my cemetery book she must have moved out of the valley.
I thought nothing more about the skeleton until after a recent meeting of the Historical Society when someone asked if I knew any ghost stories.
I went to my cemetery book and began searching for clues. In the early 1890s a new and much larger Lemmon Hotel was moved to a location right next to the river and fairly close to where the trunk was located. The name Al didn't fit but the name David Lemmon did. Then I saw that the Lemmon Hotel was owned by Al Root and he sold it to Dave Lemmon.in 1892. Al Died that same year but there was no funeral or burial of the body. Annie married Al but over the next few years she evidently carried on a relationship with Dave Lemmon because soon after Al died she married Dave.
Al may have died a natural death, but it still seems to me that something rather shady went on.
Darrel Ellis is a longtime historian of the Mancos Valley. Email him at dnrls@q.com.