Good morning, my friend. Welcome to Jo Ann’s Virtual Café 2022. Come on in and help yourself to a breakfast beverage. Let’s talk. Joe has a story.
In Appalachia, there are small towns that don’t exist anymore. Sometimes people will seek out these abandoned towns. They wonder how or why these little towns became ghost towns.
Two teenagers, Tom and Janet, loved to wander around the hills and mountains close to them. They had heard of a story about an abandoned town named Otisville. The strange thing is that they had an old map of the area.
They found Otisville on the map and had hiked to where it was on the map. There were no buildings or anything resembling a town there. There was not even a single foundation anywhere. Tom told Janet, his girlfriend, that doesn’t make any sense. These two teenagers were pretty brave souls. They both loved history. Their goal after High School was to become local historians of this part of Appalachia. They knew an old man named Otis. He was at least 90 years old. Many said he was older. Nobody knew much about him.
He lived a few miles away from where the map said Otisville was up a hollow where nobody ever went. People only saw Otis once in a long while. He would pick up a month’s load of supplies on an old pack mule. Nobody had ever been to his old shack. Well, Tom and Janet decided that they were going to talk to Otis. They were wanting to solve the mystery, but first they talked to the local town historian about Otisville.
“I can’t tell you much. There was a town there. I even got pictures of it. Nobody can explain it, but it simply vanished without a trace. It was a nice little place.”
Almost all of them worked in a local mine mining copper. The rumor was, before it disappeared, they found a gold vein in the mine. People were starting to argue who found it first. Then one thing led to another, and people started fighting each other. A lawman, John O’Toole, was sent to stop the fighting to keep someone from getting hurt.
Shortly after that, the town just disappeared. Other lawmen went there looking for John O’Toole. They never found any trace of him either. Nobody knows what happened to him either. That’s all I know. You can take some pictures with you. I made many more prints of them. If you find Otis, show them to him. He might know something.
One other thing, Otisville was established in 1871 by mostly people from Ireland and Scotland on October 31st,” said the local County Historian. Early on Saturday morning, Tom and Janet told their parents that they were going to look for clues about Otisville up the mountain from their homes.
Their parents didn’t think nothing about it. They figured that it would take them about four hours to get to Otis’s place. Now Tom was good at tracking things in the forest. He would sometimes be called to find a local or visitor that got lost in the forest. He would always somehow find them. When they got a couple of miles up an old mountain road, Tom saw a faint sign on a man’s track and some mule tracks as well.
About three miles further, the track led off where the old road ended. They followed the tracks until they found an old rundown shack. An old man was sitting on the old porch eating some hickory and walnuts.
“Why in tarnation are you two doing here? Nobody has ever found my place,”
he said to them. He then looked at Tom.
“I should have known. It would be you, Tom.
I heard by the wind in the trees that you were the best tracker ever to set foot in these forests. By the way, you two. What do you want?” old man Otis asked.
“We are wondering about the old town Otisville and what happened to it. We figured you might know something,” said Janet.
“Yes, I know something, but I don’t want to tell you. You might get someone to lock me up for being crazy or something like that.” Otis replied.
Tom and Janet reassured Otis that they were local historians and just wanted to set things straight. They showed him the old pictures of Otisville they had brought.
“Ok, sit down and I will tell you what I know. I was just a teenager like you when all the stuff started happening in Otisville.
It was a good place until they found gold.
Then everyone turned on each other. They sent a Lawman named John O’Toole to stop the fighting. Now he did just that. He was Scotch-Irish like the folks in Otisville was. There was something different about him. Some said he was a wizard.
I talked to him once. He told me that everyone here had gold fever. Unless he somehow got them out of this place, the fighting would never stop. He told me he had a plan. On October 31, he would take this town away. He had a girlfriend in Otisville so taking all the gold and them didn’t bother him.
The only problem was that I didn’t want to go. I lived up here. I had a girlfriend. She didn’t want to go and wanted to stay with me. On Halloween of 1900, I went to get my girlfriend. Her parents and some town’s people caught me and tied me to a tree.
‘You can’t come because you are an outsider’ they said. Just before it happened, Lawman John Roberts told me that if I stayed here until October 31st, 1999, they would return for one night.
He gave me a potion to take. Well, that night a big earthquake happened. I closed my eyes because of the dust. When the dust cleared, the town and everyone in it just disappeared. I was heartbroken. I have been here ever since waiting for their return tonight. I only hope that my girlfriend is waiting for me. Now that’s my story. You are welcome to come and wait with me, tonight,” Otis said.
Tom and Janet couldn’t help it. They had to stay even if it got them in trouble. When it got dark, Otis and them went down to where the town once was. The moon was full. At midnight exactly wind started blowing leaves around and dust filled their eyes. When the dust cleared, Otisville was sitting in front of them.
“I’m Lawman John O’Toole, I am looking for a man named Otis. He was to meet us here tonight. Anyone who would wait 100 years to see his love deserves to come with us.”
said the young man in front of them.
“I am Otis. I have been waiting for almost a hundred years. I am old but is my girlfriend Sally there? he asked. “You two can’t come, but Otis can. I had to take people away from here to save them. I will give you a map of distant Scotland, you can find us there next All Hallows Eve and I will tell you all about it and answer all your questions,”
Roberts said. Otis walked into the main street of Otisville. A beautiful young lady ran to Otis. As soon as she kissed him, Otis turned into a young handsome man. Otis waved good-bye to Tom and Janet.
The wind blew up the leaves and dust. The town was gone. When Tom and Janet got married a year later just before All Hallows Eve, everyone couldn’t believe they wanted to honeymoon in Scotland at a place called Ellivsito.
That’s Otisville backwards.
—
You know it’s strange how memories come out of nowhere. One popped in my mind this morning while I was having my coffee on the porch. Do you remember going to Vacation Bible School?
I didn’t realize that Vacation Bible School began in 1894 in Hopedale, Illinois. The first one had 40 students and lasted 4 weeks. They held it in a school and by a park where they actually had recess.
Now, most of the Bible Schools I attended were in Powell Valley, Tennessee while I was staying with my Grandparents. I had to walk through a field or on a road that had no shoulder to get there.
So, my Grandmother made me walk through the fields. The only thing that separated the church’s property and my Grandparents’ farm was a barbed wire fence.
Well one day, I was going to Bible School and my dress got caught in the barbed wire fence. Now, I was in a pickle. I was just a kid and couldn’t figure out what to do. I didn’t want to tear my dress, so I was stuck behind the Church Parking lot in back of the Church.
I started praying that if I yelled someone would hear me. The only trouble was that Bible School was starting and they always started with everyone singing. No matter how loud I hollered no one could hear me above the children singing.
There I was. Unless someone saw me and helped me, I would have to remain there. My mind was in a whirlwind of thoughts. It could be hours before anyone would see me. What if I slipped and fell and tore my dress to pieces?
Now, there was a road that curved around the Church. With any luck, a car just might come by, and the driver might see me caught in the barbed wire like some wild animal. I only hoped that they would see me. I thought what if they didn’t. I would really be in trouble.
Well, I was going to Bible School – that should count for something. I started praying to the Good Lord that I needed help. “Please let me get loose, so I can go to Church to Bible School,” I prayed. As if by a miracle, I saw in the distance a car going around the Church. I prayed harder. I was disappointed when the car didn’t stop.
Having a temper, I thought I must have done something wrong, and I was being punished. I was getting tired. I must have been stuck there for over two hours and I was worried that I couldn’t help but tear my dress that my Grandma had made me. Lo and behold, I saw a little lady come out of the back of the Church. I prayed she would see me. As the little lady got nearer, I realized it was my Grandma.
I yelled for her to help me. She came right straight to get me. I was never so glad to see her. “What in the world are you doing in that barbed wire fence?” I cried, “I got my dress caught in the wire and didn’t want to tear my beautiful dress that you made me, Grandma.”
My Grandma replied, “Now, hush child. I will get you out. When I got to Church to help with lunch, they asked me where you were. I was worried to death about you, Jo Ann. So I came to find you.” Grandma got me out of the barbed wire. She was proud that I didn’t tear my dress.
“Grandma, I was happy you found me, but I am sad that this is the first time I didn’t win Bible Drill because I was stuck in the wire.” Grandma asked, “Were your prayers answered about getting out of the barbed wire?” I answered, “I guess that some of that Bible School rubbed off on me because today I learned prayers do get answered!” My Grandma laughed, “Maybe that was your lesson to learn today.”
Having said that, let’s share a breakfast beverage and a Native American proverb:
“A wise Elder once said, “There are things that only the Great Creator understands.”
Thanks for coming. Enjoy your gift of today. Have a great day! We look forward to seeing you tomorrow!
*Note from the editor, Jo Ann has just released a book of her collected tales and insights, which you can purchase here!
