Bill Sketoe
William Sketoe, Sr. (June 8, 1818 – December 3, 1864) was a
Sketoe's tale became a staple of Southern folklore, and was later immortalized by Alabama author
Life
Early years
While much of Bill Sketoe's story is difficult to reconstruct with certainty, he is known to have resided in Newton, Alabama prior to the Civil War,
According to the legend, Sketoe was born in
Prelude to murder
Regardless of the truth or falsehood behind this or any version of Sketoe's tale, one fact is certain: Sketoe, for whatever reason, ultimately ran afoul of the Newton Home Guard commanded by Joseph Breare—and that led to his murder.
During the Civil War, Dale County had become a lawless place:
Two different versions exist as to the cause of Sketoe's death. The legend (as related by Windham) says that although Sketoe offered papers indicating that he had hired a substitute to serve in his place (according to the story), the Home Guard refused to believe him, and Breare decided to hang him as a deserter.[13] However, historians have pointed out that the Confederacy had repealed its substitution laws in early 1864,[14] making the legend's assertion that Sketoe had hired a substitute questionable, at best.[15] Furthermore, as noted above, no records exist of Bill Sketoe having ever served in any Confederate or state military unit to begin with.
An alternative view of the reasons behind Sketoe's lynching is provided by historian David Williams in his book Rich Man's War: Caste, Class, and Confederate Defeat in the Lower Chattahoochee Valley. Williams indicates that Sketoe was suspected of helping John Ward, the leader of a local band of deserters and pro-Union guerrillas.[16] Ward had ambushed a Confederate ammunition transport in Dale County two months earlier, killing an officer; one of Breare's men had subsequently been shot during a skirmish with Ward near the current county seat of Ozark.[17] Breare had tried to hang three local men for alleged collaboration in the attack on the ammunition train, but was prevented from doing so by another Confederate officer due to lack of evidence against them.[18] Although Sketoe was never formally charged or tried for his own alleged acts of collusion with Ward, and although not one piece of hard evidence was ever publicly produced to corroborate Breare's allegations of treason, the Home Guard commander apparently decided to make Sketoe his third victim, anyway.
Lynching
According to the legend, Sketoe was waylaid on the afternoon of December 3, 1864, as he crossed the wooden bridge over the
In their haste to carry out Sketoe's summary execution, Breare and his men failed to take their victim's size into account. Sketoe was tall, and his weight bent the limb to the point that his feet touched the ground. One of Breare's men dug a hole beneath the minister's feet, which allowed Sketoe to strangle to death before his friends could return. Sketoe was buried in nearby Mt. Carmel cemetery;[20] his epitaph reads: "gone, but not forgotten".
The city museum in Newton preserves a cloak said to have belonged to Sketoe's wife, Sarah.[21]
According to local histories, every member of Sketoe's lynching party died unnaturally, including Breare, who was struck by a limb from a post oak tree, the same kind from which Sketoe had been hanged.[22]
The hole
Sketoe's lynching created quite a stir in Newton, especially as locals began to notice that the hole dug to facilitate his hanging never seemed to disappear. It retained its original dimensions as years passed: about thirty inches wide by eight inches deep; even when filled with trash, dirt or debris, locals always returned—sometimes within hours—to find it empty.[23] Campers claimed to have pitched their tents right over the hole after filling it with dirt, only to awaken the next morning to find it seemingly swept clean.[24] All of this turned Sketoe's story into a legend, later immortalized in Windham's book, bringing numerous visitors to Newton to see "Sketoe's hole".[25]
At least one local resident insisted on a completely natural explanation for the phenomena: Mary Fleming, who lived in Dale County after the war and saw the hole many times, asserted that Sketoe's friends, including one named Wash Reynolds, secretly kept it clean—all while insisting that some supernatural force was to blame.[26] Reynolds adamantly denied this, insisting that he knew no more about what was going on at the hole than anyone else.[27]
In 1979, a new
See also
- Reportedly haunted locations in Alabama
References
- ^ 1860 Federal Census Results for Dale County
- ISBN 0-8203-2033-1. pg. 122.
- 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey. Other sources, however, indicate that he was born in South Carolina, and that his father was from Spain. See Bill Sketoe's Ghost. Retrieved on 2009-05-01.
- ^ 1860 Federal Census Results for Dale County, see under "Wm Skitoe". Retrieved on 2009-05-04. This source lists seven children, while a second source, Sketoe's Hole: a Reminder of the "Deserter War" Archived 2011-07-28 at the Wayback Machine, lists him as having eight children and gives Sarah's maiden name as "Clemmons".
- ^ Sketoe's Hole, Alabama Archived 2009-07-08 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2010-05-13.
- ^ See, for instance, Letter to Alabama Governor T.H. Watts Archived May 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, written by citizens of adjacent Henry County, concerning "the bands of deserters, tories and outlaws" working in Henry and Dale Counties. Retrieved on 2009-05-05.
- ISBN 0-8203-2033-1. pg. 122.
- ^ Sketoe's Hole: A Reminder of the "Deserter War". Retrieved on 2009-05-05. See also Early History of S.E. AL, which contains an extensive account of the conflict between local deserters and Breare's unit.
- ^ Two Boys in the Civil War and After. Retrieved on 2009-05-01.
- ^ The Political Graveyard: Index to Politicians: Brayboy to Breckenridge Retrieved on 2009-05-05.
- ^ Co. "E", 15th Alabama Infantry Archived February 25, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on 2009-05-01.
- ^ Breare, Joseph R. Archived 2011-09-27 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on 2009-05-02. See also Deserter Hanging in Dale County. Retrieved on 2009-05-05. See also The Hole That Will Not Stay Filled Archived 2009-07-08 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on 2009-05-05.
- 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey. This version of events is repeated on the monument erected to Sketoe's memory by the Newton Historical Society.
- ^ An Act to Organize Forces to Serve During the War, Congress of the Confederate States of America, approved 17 February 1864. Retrieved on 2010-05-14.
- ^ The Hole That Won't Stay Filled Archived 2009-07-08 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on 2010-05-13.
- ^ Williams, pg. 122. Contains a sketch of Sketoe's hanging. See also Early History of S.E. AL, for a description of Ward, his unit and some of their activities. Retrieved on 2009-05-05.
- ^ Early History of S.E. AL. Retrieved on 2009-05-05.
- ^ Early History of S.E. AL. Retrieved on 2009-05-05.
- ^ Information in this paragraph is derived from http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=435531&page=6, Entry #86, which in turn quotes from Windham's book; also from The Hanging of Bill Sketoe[permanent dead link]. Retrieved on 2009-05-01.
- ^ Confederate Veterans Buried in Dale County, Alabama. Retrieved on 2009-05-02. Archived October 20, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Historic Building Serves New Purpose as Town Hall Archived 2011-06-08 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on 2009-05-01. The identification of Sketoe's wife as "Sarah" is confirmed by Mt. Carmel Cemetery records, see Sketoe/Sketoe Family, Mt. Carmel Cemetery. Retrieved on 2009-05-02.
- ISBN 978-0-8173-0376-1, pg. 87. Windham's book contains a photograph of Sketoe's hole, taken prior to construction of the bridge that covered it in 1979. Breare, Joseph R. Archived 2011-09-27 at the Wayback Machineindicates that Captain Breare was killed in 1866 by a falling tree during a thunderstorm; whether this source and Windham are referring to the same event is uncertain.
- ^ Choctawhatchee River Bridge: Newton, Alabama. Retrieved on 2009-05-06. See also Windham, pg. 89.
- ^ Windham, pg. 89.
- ^ The Ghost of Sketoe's Hole. Retrieved on 2009-05-01.
- ^ Fleming, Mary: Dale County and Its People During the Civil War, Kindle books, pages 644-45. Interestingly, Fleming identifies Sketoe (whose name she did not remember) as a "deserter."
- ^ Williams, David: A People's History of the Civil War: Struggles For the Meaning of Freedom
- ^ One example of "Christian" paranormal investigation is contained at Newton's Hole Archived July 8, 2009, at the Wayback Machine; however, this site contains numerous historical errors, such as its allegations that Sketoe cursed his murderers before death, that he took several hours to die, and that his corpse had been reduced to a skeleton by the time it was found. Retrieved on 2009-05-01.
- ^ Sketoe Tale Memorialized Archived 2011-06-08 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on 2009-05-01.
Further reading
- David Williams, Rich Man's War: Caste, Class and Confederate Defeat in the Lower Chattahoochee Valley. University of Georgia Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8203-2033-1.
- Katheryn Tucker Windham, 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey. Strode Publishers, 1969. ISBN 978-0-8173-0376-1.