Bone Hill Legends !

There are two legends that pertain to Bone Hill. One legend tells us the story behind the name " Bone Hill ". It's name originated in Indian lore long years before Levasy was established. The Indians would stampede the buffalo and slaughter them on this hill, leaving the bones to bleach in the sun. The first settlers to arrive in this area found arrowheads, flint scrapping tools, and bleached buffalo bones in large quantities. We can at least assume that there were animals slaughter here in large numbers.

Another legend was of Gold and revolves around the stone fence which at one time crossed Bone Hill. It was built by slaves of a family who came to the area before the Civil War. The wall was built completely around the acres. No record has been found as of yet that tells us the name of this family or how many acres were fenced. But, one and one-half miles south of Levasy on the west side of H Hiway lie what remains of this " dry " wall built by slaves labor. When border warfare was at its bitterest in 1862, an area farmer sold a large part of his property for gold and supposedly buried it somewhere along the wall. The family moved away, but told neighbors they were going to return in seven years. They were never seen in the vicinity again, but in the seventh year, 1869, a mysterious light appeared on Bone Hill near the slave built wall. It is said that every seven years since then, the light appears. Some say it is the ghost of the farmer coming to claim his buried fortune.

Now lets say that I am old enough to maybe have been involved as a youngster in a few ghost chasings. Not saying I believe in the legend, we just thought that one of the farmers was just having a little fun. But it would appear and then just disappear and show up in another area. We wanted to find out who was behind all of this, but never caught up with them. Now Edwin F. Borgman of Levasy was born on that farm. In 1939 he stated, " The light appears for a fact, I've seen it. It puffs up like a glow, and goes away. But there is nothing whatever to the buried treasure story. I've never been able to find how that thing started." Borgmans father bought the farm in 1878. He also contended that if there had been gold buried there, he would have known about it.

There is nothing we can find as yet as to who owned the land between 1862 and 1878, the time when the treasure was supposedly buried and the 16 years before H.H. Borgman purchased the land. Geologically, Bone Hill consists of slate and limestone and is just west of some earlier soft coal mine areas. It is theorized that the mysterious light might be the result of gases oozing from seams in the "slate ribbed hillside".

The light, if it is still doing its "seven year glimmer" would last have appeared in 1995 with the next appearance scheduled for 2002. Now I was up there taking pictures one afternoon, while home for Moms funeral, and was there till dark. I didn't see anything, and friends I talked to said they haven't heard of anyone seeing it this year, so maybe the ghost found their gold and it is over with. Believe it or not!

If you would like to follow this story, my Mother Dorothy Wynn did an interview with the Independence Examiner newspaper years ago. see Article The Examiner, Bone Hill Cemetery!