Bill Sketoe facts for kids
William Sketoe, Sr. (June 8, 1818 – December 3, 1864) was a Methodist minister from the south Alabama town of Newton, whose lynching there on December 3, 1864 gave birth to one of Alabama's best-known ghost stories. While locally-told stories of his life usually say that he was executed on trumped-up charges of desertion from the Confederate Army, other sources show that he was killed for allegedly aiding pro-Union renegades in the area. Whatever the reason for his murder, a shallow hole dug beneath Sketoe's feet during the hanging (to accommodate his large frame) ultimately led to stories about "the hole that won't stay filled." According to witnesses, this hole never disappeared—even after being filled numerous times—retaining its original dimensions for the next 125 years.
Sketoe's tale became a staple of Southern folklore, and was later immortalized by Alabama author Kathryn Tucker Windham in her 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey. His hanging site remained a local tourist attraction for decades, and continues to attract visitors even though the hole itself recently disappeared due to flooding in the area. Today the site of Sketoe's lynching lies beneath the Alabama Highway 134 bridge over the Choctawhatchee River, and a monument to Sketoe has been erected nearby.
Life
Early years
While much of Bill Sketoe's story is difficult to reconstruct with certainty, he is known to have resided in Newton, Alabama prior to the Civil War, and to have been lynched there on December 3, 1864. The main source for his tale is Kathryn Tucker Windham's 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey, which tells the legend of Sketoe's life and death as it has been related for generations in and around Newton. However, certain details of this story—such as Sketoe's alleged Confederate war service and the precise reason for his lynching—are subject to controversy based upon other available records. While the legend attributes his death to an ultimately romantic cause (Sketoe's desire to care for his desperately ill spouse), other accounts hint at far more sinister reasons behind his demise, involving Sketoe's alleged (but never proven) collaboration with Unionist local guerrillas.
According to the legend, Sketoe was born in Madrid, Spain on June 8, 1818, and came to Dale County, Alabama as a boy with his father. He seemed to be well liked in the community, and chose the ministry as his vocation. While serving as a circuit rider in the Wiregrass area, Sketoe met and married Sarah Clemmons, with whom he ultimately fathered eight children. Sketoe allegedly entered the Southern Army during the Civil War, though government archives contain no record of his service in any Confederate unit or local militia. Sketoe supposedly served until the fall of 1864, when he received word that his wife had fallen ill. He accordingly resolved to return home until his spouse had recovered—or so the story goes.
The hole
Sketoe's lynching created quite a stir in Newton, especially as locals began to notice that the hole dug to facilitate his execution never seemed to disappear. It retained its original dimensions as years passed: about thirty inches wide by eight inches deep; even when filled with trash, dirt or debris, locals always returned—sometimes within hours—to find it empty. Campers claimed to have pitched their tents right over the hole after filling it with dirt, only to awaken the next morning to find it seemingly swept clean. All of this turned Sketoe's story into a legend, later immortalized in Windham's book, bringing numerous visitors to Newton to see "Sketoe's hole".
At least one local resident insisted on a completely natural explanation for the phenomena: Mary Fleming, who lived in Dale County after the war and saw the hole many times, asserted that Sketoe's friends, including one named Wash Reynolds, secretly kept it clean—all while insisting that some supernatural force was to blame. Reynolds adamantly denied this, insisting that he knew no more about what was going on at the hole than anyone else.
In 1979, a new highway bridge was constructed over the site of Sketoe's hanging; his hole found itself beneath the new span. In 1990, after flooding necessitated importation of rip-rap to strengthen the river bank, the cavity was covered with tons of rock. Although the hole itself is no longer visible, the site remains popular with visitors and researchers of the paranormal. In 2006, Sketoe family members joined Newton officials in dedicating a monument to their ancestor near the site of his death, which briefly relates details from Windham's account.
