Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Catman's Grave, Delaware

Source

At the end of an old dirt road in Frankfort, Delaware, there sits an old cemetery, with burials dating back to the early 1800s. If you're lucky enough to find this elusive spot, you've found the site of Catman's Grave.

Urban legend states that the cemetery was once looked after by a caretaker with strange, cat-like features known as Catman. Catman lived in a nearby home and didn't take too kindly to the local teenagers who would come to the secluded spot, spending much of his time running them off. When he died, he was interred in an above-ground crypt in the cemetery....and apparently kept up with his caretaking duties, even in death!

According to one commentator on the StrangeUSA site, the tomb in which he was said to be interred was torn down in 1994 at the request of the family (due to threats of vandalism), and the four people who claimed it as their final resting spot were given regular in-ground burials. However, those who claim to have seen the crypt before it was taken down claim that the inside was marked by strange scratches....like the kind made by a cat's claws.

Although the crypt is no more, Catman still makes his presence known in the cemetery. There is apparently the remains of a brick wall towards the back of the cemetery. It is believed that those who knock on this wall three times will summon Catman, who, in retaliation, will cause the visitor's car to stall, fail to start, or a host of similar problems.

If you choose to visit this location, please do so respectfully...and gain permission if you wish to actively investigate. This cemetery, while known in ghost hunting circles as Catman's Grave, is actually the Colonel Armwell Long Cemetery. Armwell Long served with George Washington in the Revolutionary War. When he died in 1834, he joined his wife, a son, and several other relatives in their small, family plot. However, plans were soon made to turn the burial ground, as well as the surrounding lands owned by the Layton family, into a large, public cemetery in Armwell's memory, with him being cited as the new cemetery's first official burial. Today, the cemetery sits off of a private road, which is interestly just off Route 401,  known locally as Catman's Road. It is unclear whether or not the road was named that before or after the legends of Catman took root, lol.

Sources:
StrangeUSA
Haunted Places
Find-a-Grave

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