curious_newbie
Newbie
- Aug 10, 2023
- 3
- 11
Greetings, everyone! I am very new to the forum and the topic, so please forgive my ignorance and/or breaches of etiquette. No disrespect is intended!
Anyway. My husbandās family has some property in the Ozarks, very close to the MO/AR border. When clearing brush about 50 years back they uncovered a small cemetery. Many graves had no markers, or only unmarked stone cairns. Several of the actual shaped-and-carved headstones have symbols carved into their backs.
(Iām a lifelong cemetery nerd so I can say that they are not markings or symbols associated with any European burial traditions or superstitions.)
The old-timers told the family at the time that they were āoutlaw codeā and led to hidden loot. That area is steeped in stories of outlaws and bandits, thereās a cave tour a couple miles up the road that claims it was the hideout for Jesse James and his gang, but Iāve seen tourist traps claiming to be lots of things, so I take that with a grain of salt.
Weāll be spending some time down there this fall, and I was hoping to do some research beforehand. (And yes, I promise photos.)
Could anyone point me in the right direction to begin learning about these sorts of coded markings in that region?
I have little hope of finding treasure, but I have a bet with an in-law: he says itās pointing to lost bandit gold; I say itās pointing to the now-collapsed still a ways up the holler.
Anyway. My husbandās family has some property in the Ozarks, very close to the MO/AR border. When clearing brush about 50 years back they uncovered a small cemetery. Many graves had no markers, or only unmarked stone cairns. Several of the actual shaped-and-carved headstones have symbols carved into their backs.
(Iām a lifelong cemetery nerd so I can say that they are not markings or symbols associated with any European burial traditions or superstitions.)
The old-timers told the family at the time that they were āoutlaw codeā and led to hidden loot. That area is steeped in stories of outlaws and bandits, thereās a cave tour a couple miles up the road that claims it was the hideout for Jesse James and his gang, but Iāve seen tourist traps claiming to be lots of things, so I take that with a grain of salt.
Weāll be spending some time down there this fall, and I was hoping to do some research beforehand. (And yes, I promise photos.)
Could anyone point me in the right direction to begin learning about these sorts of coded markings in that region?
I have little hope of finding treasure, but I have a bet with an in-law: he says itās pointing to lost bandit gold; I say itās pointing to the now-collapsed still a ways up the holler.