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First, lets discuss the legend behind the name "Bonehill", which originated in Indian lore long before the town of Levasy, Missouri was ever established. The early Native Americans would stampede the buffalo and slaughter them on this hill, leaving the bones to bleach in the sun. The first settlers to arrive in the area found arrowheads, flint scraping tools, and bleached buffalo bones by the truckload. Literally.
The second legend revolves around a buried treasure and a spooklight that appears upon the hill. Before the Civil War a farming family came to the area, along with their slaves, and settled on the hill. Soon, they had their slaves build a stone fence which completely surrounded their acreage. When border warfare was at its bitterest in 1862, the farmer sold his acreage for gold and supposedly buried it somewhere along the stone wall.
The family then moved away promising their neighbors that they were going to return in seven years. They were never seen in the vicinity again, but in the seventh year, in 1869, a mysterious light was said to be seen hovering above Bone Hill near the stone wall. According to the legend, the light continues to appear every seven years. Some say it is the ghost of the farmer coming to claim his buried fortune.
There is nothing we can find as to who owned the land in 1862 when the treasure was supposedly buried. Nor can we find who owned the property during the next 16 years before H.H. Borgman purchased the land. Geologically, Bone Hill consists of slate and limestone and is just west of some earlier soft coal mine areas. It is theorized that the mysterious light might be the result of gases oozing from seams in the "slate ribbed hillside".
How to get there
The remains of the stone wall, built by slave labor, can still be seen one and one-half miles south of Levasy on the west side of H Highway. Levasy, Missouri is approximately 25 miles east of Kansas City, Missouri on U.S. Highway 24.
We stayed in Blue Springs, in KC east. It was only about a 25 minute drive up. On to the Investigation.
A few important things to note, in case you want to check it out for yourself.
Theres not much to see.
The wall does remain...well, a good portion of it anyway. However, it IS on private property. It almost shut down the entire episode. Folks up that way werent real receptive to us.
But you know how we roll...just like you do. So when we read about this cool spooklight, and that it only showed up every 7 years...and 2009 just happened to be a seventh year...well, we just loaded up and drove.
What it comes down to is this: You can park in the right-of-way at the locked gate of the Ebenezer Church Cemetery, and you can stand in the ditch/right-of-way along the county road. Being that is county property, it IS legal for you to be there. The wall is about 20 yards out into the pasture, and you can walk the length of it. So we were still able to investigate as we would have anyway...take pictures, shoot film. Just DO NOT cross the fence!
We had a great night with some great examples of non-paranormal debunking as well as a lot of good info on the legend itself, to go along with the 32 degree weather...lol.
It was an interesting episode, one worth a watch. I think so anyway. Its a good documentary on a regional legend.
Get 'The Legend of Bonehill' in OTF's E-Store! Justin OTF
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