Did Isaac Willard desecrate Prospect Hill Cemetery in Paw Paw MI?
Channel: Around Van Buren
Date: 2023-10-16

VIDEO TEXT AND EXTRA NOTES:
The curse on Prospect Hill Cemetery in Paw Paw Michigan began in 1874 and was lifted several years later when an early morning tornado -- some called it divine intervention -- came through town.  The strange story begins in 1859 when Isaac Willard donated land to build this public cemetery --  Prospect Hill -- the cemetery where he would be buried. Two-fisted Isaac Willard, a 250 lb giant, may have been a bully but he was the wealthiest man in town and in a 1875 he built a 125 ft observation tower in the cemetery and took his new telescope up to the top to watch everything. But did he desecrate Prospect Hill Cemetery by building his own observation tower in it??? That's what local people said and when a tornado passed through early one morning and crashed the tower to the ground people called it divine intervention and then the curse was lifted. Isaac Willard was buried there in 1879.
What do you think?

"Many village residents felt that this was divine intervention because it was sacrilege to erect a structure used for entertainment in a cemetery," said Paw Paw District Library in "The History and Mystery of Prospect Hill Cemetery". 

"He erected a wooden tower on its topmost pinnacle, one hundred and twenty-five feet in height, which was visible for many miles around. This tower was christened by some irreverent ones as "Willard's folly." It stood as a landmark for several years, and until its builder was laid to rest almost at its foot, when one morning, the elements having weakened its foundation, it fell to the ground witl a mighty crash." 

LINKS:
https://youtu.be/Ifv4aK9BjWk?si=a80h6Z_LQIS2anra
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/micounty/BAD1051.0001.001?rgn=main;view=fulltext

PRODUCED BY: Chuck Williams for aroundvanburen.com