A few weeks ago, while geocaching near Route 66 in Riverton, Kan., we found out about the strange story of May D. Knotts.
According to a geocaching site, May D. Knotts was said to have been hanged from an old oak tree in 1904 after it was discovered that she was a witch. Knotts, who was 13 or 14 years old, is buried in Quaker Valley Cemetery on the northwest edge of Riverton, less than a mile from Route 66.
It’s a fascinating story about Knotts. However, it’s not true.
I contacted the Cherokee County Genealogical-Historical Society in Columbus, Kan. A spokeswoman there, after finding a death notice in the Galena (Kan.) Republic newspaper from 1904, assured me that Knotts didn’t die from hanging, but from pneumonia. The article said the ailing Knotts had lingered for days before succumbing.
So the story that May D. Knotts was a witch turned out to be nothing more than an urban legend.
I’d suspected the hanged-witch story was a tall tale. It’s doubtful the locals would have been that superstitious about a young teen during the 20th century. Also, it was difficult to fathom a court ordering the death penalty to a girl for a dubious charge such as witchcraft, barring some sort of lynching.
I asked the spokeswoman about the origins of such an unlikely story. She surmised that the poem on the tombstone — which was common at that time — sparked the overactive imaginations of locals years later.
The poem reads:
Remember friends as you pass by
as you are now so once was I.
As I am now so you will be
prepare for death and follow me.
It’s certainly cryptic enough to inspire ghost stories around a campfire.
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FREEBIE: Lonely Planet’s Facebook page is giving away free itineraries, including Route 66, in advance of its upcoming “USA’s Best Trips: 99 Themed Itineraries Across America” book. The book won’t be out until September, but you can download a Route 66 itinerary here (warning: 2.9 MG Acrobat file).
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NEW EATERY: Roadies have been praising a new restaurant in Shamrock, Texas, called Big Vern’s Steakhouse. It’s only about a block east of the famous U-Drop Inn landmark.
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CRUISIN’: The New Mexico Route 66 Motor Tour is slated for July 23-25. It starts in Tucumcari, and finishes in Gallup. The registration form is here. At least 150 cars are expected.
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INSOURCING: CNN-Money reports that instead of outsourcing jobs to foreign countries, corporations are looking to smaller towns in America such as Joplin, Mo. Big businesses are attracted by smaller towns’ lower cost of living and their greater need for jobs. I’m surprised it’s taken them this long to figure that out.
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SECOND HELPING: The Vermillion Players of Pontiac, Ill., are planning an abridged and encore performance of the musical “Route 66,” which was produced last summer, at 8 p.m. Sunday at the pavilion in Chautauqua Park, reports the Pontiac Daily Leader.
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ROAD CONSTRUCTION: A long-awaited widening of Foothill Boulevard (aka Route 66) in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., begins this week, reports the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. It includes widening the road to six lanes and replacing an 81-year-old overpass. The project includes an art deco arch with a Route 66 logo east of Grove Avenue, with an identical one on the east side of town. Construction is expected to be finished in December 2011.
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NEARLY DONE: KSN-KODE-TV in Joplin reports that the Webb City Information Center along Route 66 in downtown Webb City, Mo., is nearly finished. The city is renovating an abandoned gas station. The center should be open by August.
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MYSTERY OBJECT: Finally, caretaker Blaine Davis at the Blue Whale of Catoosa, Okla., found this metal object planted in the ground near its Roadside Attraction sign. It doesn’t appear to be mass-produced, and roadies surmise that it’s some sort of geocaching marker. Does anyone have a better idea what it might be or its origins?
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