A Rattling Of Bones

In a holler in East Tennessee lies a buried treasure that no one has ever been able to dig up, although many have tried. The aggravating fact is that most treasure hunters know exactly where almost $1 million in gold bars is buried. The problem is that the treasure is guarded by a very noisy, very horrible ghost. One day, in 1863, a Confederate wagon train laden with gold was hijacked by Union raiders in Knox County. After a bloody fire fight every one of the Southern troops were killed -- all except one colonel who pleaded for mercy. The raiders were a hard-hearted bunch who decided to bury the gold in a large hole in a holler, and they wanted no witnesses. They wanted to return later to recover the gold for themselves. So they threw the unfortunate Rebel officer into the hole and dropped the heavy chest of gold right on top of him. Then they filled in the hole with dirt, burying the severely injured colonel alive. After the peace was signed the four surviving raiders met in Knoxville and made plans to retrieve their treasure. They got pretty rowdy that night, talked loud, and nearly everyone in the saloon heard them. But they thought it was just "drunk talk" and thought nothing more about it -- until later. The former raiders had brought a ragged old wagon and as they approached the spot where the gold was buried the horses were suddenly spooked. The animals reared, bellowed, and danced around, and would go no further. "What do you suppose is wrong with these old nags?" one of the men asked. "Don't know," another man answered, "but we'll leave them tied to a tree. We'll walk in and haul the gold out ourselves." Armed with picks and shovels, the men walked 300 feet into the holler. The mound of earth was still there but was now overgrown with briars and weeds. The four men began digging. A half hour later, one of the shovels hit something that sounded like the hollow chunk of wood. The men jumped into the hole and began scooping dirt with their bare hands. Suddenly one of the men yelped and jumped back. He had uncovered the bones of a human hand, as well as part of an arm. The rest of the diggers chided the man who had yelled in surprise. Just as the men were trying to figure out how the colonel had managed to get his arm around the box, the bones began to move. Then another bony hand appeared from beneath the dirt. Then the box itself started to move. The panicked men jumped out of the hole and stood on the edge looking down. The box began to tip to its side and a set of bony arms seemed to be pushing it away. Then a skull appeared from beneath the box. It's jaw was gaping and it was leering at them. The men dropped their tools and ran for their horses. When they got to the spot where they had tied the animals, the horses were gone -- and so was the wagon. Then they turned and saw the whole skeleton of the dead Confederate colonel standing beside them. It's uniform was caked with dirt and in tatters. The bony arm was pointing straight at them and it's gaping jaw bore the unmistakable expression of revenge. The raiders were never seen again in Knoxville or in Knox County. Some say the ghost of the Confederate colonel threw all of them into the hole with the treasure and buried THEM alive. At any rate the hole was filled back in, by someone, and the treasure is said to still be there. To this day whenever treasure hunters approach the treasure site, they can hear the rattling of bones and they know to get out of there fast -- or else.