Growing up, the legend was that bodies were buried on the
grounds of the old hospital and I would never have believed it, if my brother
Paul had not bought the big old house at 110 Panola Street in Water Valley this
past year. The old house is beautiful and was originally the first hospital in
Water Valley before being renovated into a private home. Even renovated, the
old house had a few problems and they have led to a hair raising and intriguing
mystery.
The phone call came the morning Paul was trying to find the
cutoff valve for the gas into the fireplace at his house and he asked me to
come help him. It wasn’t long until we found ourselves in the narrow space that
led down into the cellar. With our flashlights we looked around the dusty walls
and Paul noticed a new crack in the old brick walls. He said “Damn, I just
bought this house and it’s falling apart “ and gave a push on the wall. The
bricks seemed to cave in on themselves and when the dust cleared, we were
looking into what seemed a narrow tunnel. Excitedly, we tried to see inside, but there was too much
dust and ancient spider webs. I found a broom and started opening up the space
and we soon realized it was not a secret tunnel but a crypt. 
The catacombs ran back about 60 feet deep ending in a “T”,
but each side had niches in the walls filled with human bones. Dust covered
skulls grinned at us and in many places shed snakeskins wound through the rib
cages though we saw no snakes. It felt like no one had stepped into the
catacombs for a hundred years. Shining our lights and being very careful not to
touch anything we played our lights over the piles of bones and moved deeper
into the crypt. At the “T” we went right and it ended in a brick wall. We
reversed ourselves back to the left and after a short distance found ourselves
in a small chamber looking at an old oak table on which sat a dust covered
green mason jar. Paul carefully picked it up and we could see the bubbles in
the glass as he wiped away the dust. Inside was a rolled up piece of parchment
and a large brass key. 
Paul worked the wiring to remove the glass top and
pulled out the paper first. Very carefully we held it and in faded ink was a
brief note stating that 47 men were buried in the vault. They had been the last
picket of men from the Union army that had retreated from Water Valley after
the battle along the railroad at Coffeeville. Left alone after the retreat, the
men had fallen upon the people of the town like beasts. It stated that the cruelty, looting and
assault upon the women of the town had called for retribution and the menfolk
had met in secret to plot revenge and not one of the despicable soldiers
escaped. The townspeople had killed them, not the Confederate Army and the
bodies had been hidden in case the Yankees returned.
A plea at the end stated that if the men who hid the bodies
were unable to return that the finder should take the key and return the
Courthouse deeds and records along with the contents of the safe deposit boxes
from the Citizens Bank after the War. Paul and I looked at each other and he
turned the jar sideways and let the brass key fall into his hand. It looked like an old railroad key for
opening locks with stamping that said VJ-238.
We took the note, key and mason jar, and then covered the
hole in Paul’s cellar. Right now we have to think about what to do
and if the things mentioned in the note can be found. Will let you know.
