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Wytchery: A Gothic Cabinet of Curiosities and Mysteries

Wytchery: A Gothic Cabinet of Curiosities and Mysteries

A collection of gothic horror stories, urban legends, ghosts, haunted houses & other curiosities

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Hoppy Rebstock, the heartbeat in the tombstone and the joys of school picnics

“I foamed — I raved — I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually increased. It grew louder — louder — louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly , and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God! — no, no? They heard! — they suspected! — they KNEW! — they were making a mockery of my horror! — this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die! — and now — again — hark! louder! louder! louder! LOUDER! —

“Villains!” I shrieked, “dissemble no more! I admit the deed! — tear up the planks! — here, here! — it is the beating of his hideous heart!”

From the Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe

__________________________________

Burrell’s Woods lies on the outskirts of Carmi, Illinois, a small collection of wooded hills, creeks, picnic shelters and playground equipment. Today it’s been modernized, the road is better paved, there’s a campground and a small lake, complete with fountain. But growing up in the late sixties, it still had a bit of wild about it.

As you near the turnoff you pass Maple Ridge Cemetery. A rolling field of tombstones, with the oldest dating from the 19th century, it’s a field of the dead that immediately captures the imagination.

The most striking of the tombstones there is of one William Rebstock, also known as Hoppy. Hoppy was born July 11, 1878, and died November 12, 1952. As his headstone says, “here lies a man who lived and died for his country, relatives and friends.” Not much was known about Stumpy by those of us growing up back then. It was rumored that his nickname, Hoppy, came from a wooden leg. Others said he was born with one leg shorter than the other. It was also said that the life-size, realistic statue of Hoppy that sits atop the marble pedestal had to be sent back to the carver, as he had fixed Hoppy’s mangled leg, and his family insisted that it be deformed as it had been in life.

It was said that once a year or so, Hoppy came down from his pedestal and walked around the neighborhood. This was a story further reinforced one day when people driving by Maple Ridge noticed that Hoppy wasn’t up there. Further investigation found Hoppy at Burrell’s Woods. Of course the old-timers in our community, and the police as well, put his disappearance down to some local kids. But lifting a life-sized concrete statue from a pedestal four foot tall is a mean feat, even for the hardiest of corn-fed, midwestern youth. So those of us who were inclined to look for the supernatural whenever possible, had our doubts.

William Hoppy Rebstock, Maple Ridge Cemetery, Carmi, White County, Illinois

Each year Jefferson Elementary School, which I attended piled all the students and most of teachers into busses and hauled us out to Burrell’s Woods, for the Spring Picnic. In today’s law-suit prone world, we’d never have had the freedom we had then. We hit the trails, waded through the creeks, did battle with water moccasins, and generally ran wild for the afternoon. Eventually we found ourselves taking the dare of the older students, and headed up to the cemetery on top of the hill.

It wasn’t a large cemetery by any standards, no more than a dozen tombstones. Most of them were ancient, weather-beaten and illegible. But in the center stood one, much larger and somewhat newer. It was rumored that if you pressed your ear next to the stone and held it there, you would hear the heartbeat of the tenant below, who had been buried alive.

And each year a couple of brave kids would press their ear against it and shout “I hear it, I hear it,” though none of us ever believed them. It was only when one of our ranks would react with shock and horror, that the truth of it hit home, and we all fled back down the hill, oblivious to the taunts and laughter of the older boys who stayed back at the tombstone, waiting for the next group of kids who would inevitably come up to take their turn.

I never seemed to get my chance. Eventually the routine would get old and the older boys would come down the hill, and the younger ones would never go up there alone. And then it was time to pack the troop of muddy and exhausted kids back into the busses for the ride home.

Then one Sunday, my family attended a picnic at Burrell’s Woods. For some reason, I was the only kid there, and I tried my best to stay occupied. But the creek was up, and with my mother there I was forbidden to get in the water. My thoughts kept turning to the hill with the cemetery on top, and the beating heart of the man who was buried there.

Eventually I could stand it no longer. Hanging out with adults who were getting loaded on beer and playing pinochle wasn’t my idea of a good time, so I started up the hill.

It’s a steep climb, and even if you’re in shape, as most nine year olds were at the time, you find yourself winded, your heart pounding in your ears. My palms were sweating as I approached the stone, and I knelt tentatively beside it. The sun had been bearing down, I was hot, sweaty and the first brush of the cool stone took me by surprise and I jumped back. Then I slowly pressed my ear flat against the marble.

Initially, all I could hear was my own breathing, and then faintly I heard it. It was the beating of a heart, quiet yes, but getting louder all the time, and beating faster, faster and my eyes widened with terror and I ran from the place, back down the hill and into the sanctuary of the adults gathered under the picnic shelter.

Eventually we younger kids became the older kids at the picnic, and we were let in on the secret. As the younger kids pressed their ear against the stone, one of the older kids would beat out the heartbeat with the heel of their hand on the opposite side. And for most of us, that was the end of the story.

But for me, the story didn’t end there. When I went there alone, there was no one else to beat out the cadence on the other side. And yes, I know, that the heartbeat I heard was probably my own. But I didn’t believe it then, and it was years before I dared go up there alone once again. Even today, when I find myself at Burrell’s Woods on a hot summer day, I’ll find myself in the cemetery, and feel the chills spread over me, as I press my ear against it the stone and wait.

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September 30, 2010 By gothiccurios 7 Comments

Filed Under: Behind Urban Legends, Death, Haunted Graveyards and Cemeteries, Southern Illinois Hauntings and Legends Tagged With: haunting stories, real urban legends, scary camp stories, travel photographer, urban legend stories, urban legends ghosts

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Comments

  1. Jeremy Rebstock

    March 7, 2011 at 7:30 pm

    I think i may be related to this person, my family settled in white county IL IN THE 1850S , my ncestors name was anden rebstock, im looking for more info on my amily if u have any please e-mail me

    Reply
    • Michelle ABbey-Prescott

      October 13, 2011 at 2:20 am

      I know the REBSTOCK name very well. My family is from Carmi ILL and would be happy to do some digging on the REBSTOCK family for you. Genealofy is a passion of mine and I have access to Ancestry.com as well. Feel free to email me.

      Michelle

      Reply
    • Kym

      November 17, 2013 at 2:07 am

      I too believe I am from this family. My grandmother was Leda Rebstock (Heller) grew up in Carmi and took me to visit when I was a child. She had a brother named Ward and a sister Edith. I would like to learn more about there history.

      Reply
  2. Michelle Abbey-Prescott

    October 13, 2011 at 2:44 am

    According to William Rebstock’s WW1 Draft registration, in his own handwritting, he stated he had an artifical right leg.

    His family was…
    Father- Johann (John) Rebstock born 1832 in Germany (John was marrie3d a total of 3 times, having children by all three wives)
    Mother- Maria (Mary) Pfechtig born 1842 in Germany

    siblings…
    Elizabeth born 1866
    Mary bron 1870
    Ettie born 1871
    Jacob born 1873
    Joseph born 1875
    Margarett born 1880

    On his WWII draft he was 64 years of age and stated he was self-employed, lists next of kin as his sister Margarett

    1910 Census- living in the home of his father along with his sister Margarett.

    1920 Census- Listed as a boarder in the home of Ira Funkhouser ( a relative of mine)

    1930 Census-nListed as Head of Household with his sister Margarett.. LISTS OCCUPATION as proprieter- POOL HALL

    During my search I found no wife or children for William leading me to believe he never married nor fathered children. His sister Margarett never married or had children either. His other siblings did however marry and have children in the White Co ILL area.

    I hope all of this helps.
    Michelle

    Reply
    • Tom

      March 19, 2012 at 3:49 am

      I am pretty sure that my great-great grandmother was Mary, William’s sister. Mary married John Matz, and their daughter ended up marrying a Kolb from Mt. Carmel, where I am from.

      Reply
  3. justin Pulley

    October 14, 2011 at 1:54 am

    hi, i was just corious if you could send me a list of all the urban legends you know of around the carmi white county Il area. i have to write a paper on it and i would greatly appriciate it.( info on all the lengs would be great as well)

    Reply
  4. Kathy McCord Hastings

    September 6, 2015 at 2:16 am

    Two things: I heard the “heartbeat” as a youth and an adult. Always wondered if echo of some sort of pumping system ; in my day of late 60s and early 70s, the story was the tombstone of Rebstock would turn completely around at midnight!

    Reply

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