The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1855-01-31
PETRIFIED HUMM B0DIES-A
YERITARLR:WONpER.

1 =
fMr George Lane, who has charge Of
Woodland Cemetry," near this city,
was called upon the other day by Mr..
George p. 10y, VIII Lives about three
| miles southeast Of Germantown, in this
county, to remoyeths remains of nRfrst
wife, a; grand child. and, other bodies,
feom a family burying- ground upon hia
farm, and inter chem in hls tim the
:, Germantown Cemetry.h The bury.
ing. ground was made many years ago.
upon the side of little. hill, in i field,
some distance from the residence of Mr..
L., in accordance with the custom in the
Mama Valley, at that day, whenalmost
every property holder had burying-
place upon his farm.
The first grave that was opened was
that of Mr.. Loy's first wife, who was in-
tered about twenty years ago. On
reaching the coffin, it was found perfect
at least to appearance-and the men
proceeded to completely unearth it, and
raise it to the mouth Of the grave. This,
they soon nscertained to be difficult
task, and the small force engaged at it
was compelled to procure assistance
The earth this time was completely ta-
ken from around the coffin, and removed
faom under the coffin, as far as it could
be reached, but still it was found difficult
to even move it.
The assistance of six men was at
length obtained, and it required all the
strength they were in possession of to
raise the coffin from its bed, and place it
upon the ground at the side fthe grave |
It was supposed by those engaged in the
disinterment, that the coffin was filed
with water, on account of its extreme
heaviness, but after it was taken from
the grave it was measurably dry, and no
signs of water could be discovered The
lid was then with difficulty removed,
when it was ascertained that the body
was in an excellent state of preserva-
tion. Upon a close examination it was
found that the remains would not give
way under the pressure of piece of
board which one of the gentlemen placed
upon the corpse, and this strange cir
cumstance led to still futher investiga-
tion. The shroud, and indeed all the
covering which was upon the body at
the time of finetrment, twenty -four years
ago, had disappeared-not a vestage of
them remained. The body was perfect,
except tAe right leg, from the knee to
the ankle joint, where the flesh seemed
to have wasted away, and lay at the bot
tom of the coffin in a substance resem-
bling ashes mixed with sand. With this
exception of decay, the body and limbs
exhibited the same perfectness of exteri-
or they did hen life and animation were
in the body.
The body, indeed, had been petrif-
ed 1t was, by some strange quality of
the earth, and other causes of which we
can form no conjecture, turned into
stone of drab, or more properly speak
ing, flesh color, and the chisel of the ar
tist might initiate, but could not make
so close resemblance to the "human
divine" The smile which lighted up
her countenance at the moment when
death gently united the cord which
bound the soul to clay, still seemed to
inger upon the face of the stonel The
light of the eyes was gone, and they
were sunken, but from the sightless orbs,
the soul seemed to look out upon those
who were viewing, with astonishment,
that human form of stone.
The grave of the grand-child of Mr.
10y was next entered, and coffin exhu-
med. It was also found to heavy, and
when opened, the corpse presented much
the same appearance as that of Mrs.
10y. It was not as perfect, however,
although petrifed. The body and limbs
had about the same appearance they
did in life but the exterior had lost it's
life-like contour. The most remarka-
able thing connected with the remains of
the child was that the hair upon the
petrifed skull was, to be all appearance,
the same as in life Il Mr.. Lane clipped
a small ringlet from the crown and tied
it into q knot. The other bodies which
were exhumed-one or two in number
where only partially petri6ed, and
were mostly decayed,
A greatmany persons, attracted by so
remarkable phenomena, gathered around
these remains with wondering eyes
The like had been "read about" but
never seen by them before indeed we
very much doubt whether as great GU
riosities, In human pctrifaction, we're
ever before seen, although we have
strange accounts coming down to US
through mistiages. The bodies of stone
were re-enterred in the Cemetry, at
Germantown, where .hey will probably
remain until the "Great Day." when
they will be transformed into receptacles
for immortal souls.-Dayton Empire.