[quote]BLUFFTON, Texas (AP) — Johnny C. Parks died two days before his first birthday more than a century ago. His grave slipped from sight along with the rest of the tiny town of Bluffton when Lake Buchanan was filled 55 years later.
Now, the cracked marble tombstone engraved with the date Oct. 15, 1882, which is normally covered by 20 to 30 feet of water, has been eerily exposed as a yearlong drought shrinks one of Texas' largest lakes.
Across the state, receding lakes have revealed a prehistoric skull, ancient tools, fossils and a small cemetery that appears to contain the graves of freed slaves. Some of the discoveries have attracted interest from local historians, and looters also have scavenged for pieces of history. More than two dozen looters have been arrested at one site.
"In an odd way, this drought has provided an opportunity to view and document, where appropriate, some of these finds and understand what they consist of," said Pat Mercado-Allinger, the Texas Historical Commission's archeological division director. "Most people in Texas probably didn't realize what was under these lakes."
Texas finished its driest 12 months ever with an average of 8.5 inches of rain through September, nearly 13 inches below normal. Water levels in the region's lakes, most of which were manmade, have dropped by more than a dozen feet in many cases.
The vanishing water has revealed the long-submerged building foundations of Woodville, Okla., which was flooded in 1944 when the Red River was dammed to form Lake Texoma. A century-old church has emerged at Falcon Lake, which straddles the Texas-Mexico border on the Rio Grande.
Steven Standke and his wife, Carol, drove to the old Bluffton site on a sandy rutted path that GPS devices designate not as a road but the middle of the 22,335-acre lake, normally almost 31 miles long and five miles wide.
"If you don't see it now, you might never see it again," said Carol Standke, of Center Point, as she and her husband inspected the ruins a mile from where concrete seawalls ordinarily would keep the lake from waterfront homes.
Old Bluffton has been exposed occasionally during times of drought. The receding waters have revealed concrete foundations of a two-story hotel, scales of an old cotton gin, a rusting tank and concrete slabs from a Texaco station that also served as a general store. The tallest structure is what's left of the town well, an open-topped concrete cube about 4 feet high. Johnny Parks' tombstone is among a few burial sites.
Local historian Alfred Hallmark, whose great-great-great grandfather helped establish Bluffton, said his research showed 389 graves were moved starting in 1931 when dam construction began. That's the same year Bluffton's 40 or 50 residents started moving several miles west to the current Bluffton, which today amounts to a convenience store and post office at a lonely highway intersection serving 200 residents.
Residents had to leave their ranches and abandon precious pecan trees, some of which produced more than 1,000 pounds of nuts each year. "It was devastating," said Hallmark, 70, a retired teacher, of the move. "They had no choice."
Other depleted lakes across Texas are revealing much older artifacts. More than two dozen looters have been arrested at Lake Whitney, about 50 miles south of Fort Worth, for removing Native American tools and fossils that experts believe could be thousands of years old.
The Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees Lake Whitney, is patrolling a number of areas that contain artifacts, including some rock shelters once filled with water, said Abraham Phillips, natural resources specialist with the agency.
At Lake Georgetown near Austin, fishermen discovered what experts determined was the skull of an American Indian buried for hundreds or thousands of years. It's not clear what will become of the skull, said Kate Spradley, a Texas State University assistant anthropology professor who is keeping it temporarily in a lab. Strict federal laws governing American Indian burial sites bar excavations to search for other remains.
No such restrictions exist for the nearly two dozen unmarked graves discovered this summer in a dried-up section of a Navarro County reservoir. Some coffin lids are visible just under the dirt. Crews plan to excavate the site about 50 miles south of Dallas and move the remains to a cemetery, said Bruce McManus, chairman of the county's historical commission. He said the area of Richland-Chambers Lake is on property formerly owned by a slave owner.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime find ... and maybe the only silver lining in the ongoing drought," McManus said.[/quote]
[url]http://news.yahoo.com/depleted-texas-lakes-expose-ghost-towns-graves-182124788.html[/url]
This is rather creepy, although I would want to visit the place myself just because it seems pretty amazing at the same time
We found the space shuttle Columbia gas tank, too.
[url]http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_space_thewritestuff/2011/08/eight-years-later-columbia-fuel-tank-shows-up-in-texas-lake-bed.html[/url]
when I was little my grandpa would take me to canyon lake and tell me story's about the flooded towns. I found it creepy then and I still find it creepy now.
I was always afraid of impaling myself on a church steeple while swimming
So that's why they call death sleeping with the fishes.
I can't believe that the location of lakes and stuff changed that rapidly. It's only been a couple hundred years since we moved in here, unless Native Americans have historically created tombstones like that.
[QUOTE=SilentOpp;33362215]So that's why they call death sleeping with the fishes.[/QUOTE]
No it's because they throw you into the water
[editline]20th November 2011[/editline]
To be more accurate they throw your body into the water
[QUOTE=OvB;33361921]We found the space shuttle Columbia gas tank, too.
[url]http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_space_thewritestuff/2011/08/eight-years-later-columbia-fuel-tank-shows-up-in-texas-lake-bed.html[/url][/QUOTE]
That is both horribly sad and fucking awesome at the same time.
[QUOTE=SilentOpp;33362215]So that's why they call death sleeping with the fishes.
I can't believe that the location of lakes and stuff changed that rapidly. It's only been a couple hundred years since we moved in here, unless Native Americans have historically created tombstones like that.[/QUOTE]
The lake is probably man made like many lakes in Texas.
[QUOTE=WeekendWarrior;33361751][IMG]http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/c8fagmLDiFQzVhxw9HYOsg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD0zOTQ7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/fe4ede7415c0081aff0e6a7067009457.jpg[/IMG]
That's pretty haunting.[/QUOTE]
What the fuck
that tombstone isn't real
[img]http://uppix.net/2/d/c/e556d20c0e8ddc4a19e43793c9413.jpg[/img]
this is fake and gay
[QUOTE=God's Pimp Hand;33363181]What the fuck
that tombstone isn't real
[img]http://uppix.net/2/d/c/e556d20c0e8ddc4a19e43793c9413.jpg[/img]
this is fake and gay[/QUOTE]
Ahah, oh wow.
Although the lakes here are really going down.
[QUOTE=God's Pimp Hand;33363181]What the fuck
that tombstone isn't real
[IMG]http://uppix.net/2/d/c/e556d20c0e8ddc4a19e43793c9413.jpg[/IMG]
this is fake and gay[/QUOTE]
Oh god I laughed at that so hard.
So this tomb stone shit was fake?
Can't stop laughing
[QUOTE=God's Pimp Hand;33363181]What the fuck
that tombstone isn't real
[img]http://uppix.net/2/d/c/e556d20c0e8ddc4a19e43793c9413.jpg[/img]
this is fake and gay[/QUOTE]
Wow...
Hahaha, what is going on here?
[QUOTE=OvB;33361921]We found the space shuttle Columbia gas tank, too.
[url]http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_space_thewritestuff/2011/08/eight-years-later-columbia-fuel-tank-shows-up-in-texas-lake-bed.html[/url][/QUOTE]
I don't really know what to say about this.
[QUOTE=God's Pimp Hand;33363181]What the fuck
that tombstone isn't real
[img]http://uppix.net/2/d/c/e556d20c0e8ddc4a19e43793c9413.jpg[/img]
this is fake and gay[/QUOTE]
What in the fuck?
Did the journalist have to get that to make a story? Shit.
The "hahaha, OH WOW" picture would really suit this thread right now.
Makes me wonder if any of the other stuff is true.
At least no one drinks from that water. A majority of Boston's tap water comes from the Quabbin Reservoir, an artifical reservoir created by flooding over four towns in western Massachusetts. I don't think any of the homes were ever demolished either.
[QUOTE=God's Pimp Hand;33363181]What the fuck
that tombstone isn't real
[img]http://uppix.net/2/d/c/e556d20c0e8ddc4a19e43793c9413.jpg[/img]
this is fake and gay[/QUOTE]
How come I can't find this item on amazon search?
[QUOTE=MountainWatcher;33364394]How come I can't find this item on amazon search?[/QUOTE]
probably because it's not Halloween.
[QUOTE=MountainWatcher;33364394]How come I can't find this item on amazon search?[/QUOTE]
Because it doesn't exist. I created that picture. It's fake.
The tombstone depicted in the original picture, however, is entirely real.
[QUOTE=God's Pimp Hand;33365073]Because it doesn't exist. I created that picture. It's fake.[/QUOTE]
you still made me laugh heartily
That just made it even funnier
[QUOTE=God's Pimp Hand;33365073]Because it doesn't exist. I created that picture. It's fake.[/QUOTE]
[url]http://athlon.pp.fi/gif/mind-1.gif[/url]
[QUOTE=usaokay;33366086]Ahahahaha god damnit[/QUOTE]
I am so fucking confused right now. Who faked what and why?
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