Bill Sketoe
Encyclopedia
William "Bill" 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 hanged on trumped-up charges of desertion from the Confederate Army
, other sources indicate 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 115 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.
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 traitorous 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.
commanded by Joseph Breare—and that led to his murder.
During the Civil War, Dale County had become a lawless place: the circuit court held no sessions during the last two years of the war, while nearby pine
forests harbored numerous deserters and Unionists, who frequently emerged to terrorize the locals. Enraged citizens formed Home Guard units to defend against their depredations; one such outfit was led by Captain Joseph Breare. Breare was a lawyer in Newton, and was described by his partner's son as "an Englishman" who had moved to Dale County in the 1850s. He was an Alabama delegate to the Democratic National Convention
of 1860, and served as a Lieutenant
in Company E, 15th Alabama Infantry
, which was recruited in Dale County. Captured at Gettysburg
, he was later exchanged and returned home to serve as commander of the local Home Guard unit. Breare and his outfit, locally referred to as "Buttermilk Rangers" because they were also in the service of the Confederate conscript department, had resolved to hunt down and punish all deserters; he had already hanged two men for alleged acts of treason.
Two different versions exist as to the cause of Sketoe's death. The legend (as related by Windham) says that although Sketoe offered papers
indicating that he had hired a substitute to serve in his place (according to the story), the Home Guard refused to believe him, and Breare decided to hang him as a deserter. However, historians have pointed out that the Confederacy
had repealed its substitution laws in early 1864, making the legend's assertion that Sketoe had hired a substitute questionable, at best. Furthermore, as noted above, no records exist of Bill Sketoe having ever served in any Confederate or state military unit to begin with.
An alternative view of the reasons behind Sketoe's lynching is provided by historian David Williams in his book Rich Man's War: Caste, Class, and Confederate Defeat in the Lower Chattahoochee Valley. Williams indicates that Sketoe was suspected of helping John Ward, the leader of a local band of deserters and pro-Union guerrillas. Ward had ambushed a Confederate ammunition transport in Dale County two months earlier, killing an officer; one of Breare's men had subsequently been shot during a skirmish with Ward near the current county seat
of Ozark
. Breare had tried to hang three local men for alleged collaboration in the attack on the ammunition train, but was prevented from doing so by another Confederate officer due to lack of evidence against them. Although Sketoe was never formally charged or tried for his own alleged acts of collusion with Ward, and although not one piece of hard evidence was ever publicly produced to corroborate Breare's allegations of treason, the Home Guard commander apparently decided to make Sketoe his third victim, anyway.
north of Newton. Breare and his men dragged the preacher into the nearby woods, beating him and forcing him to crawl through the sand while they prepared to kill him. Sketoe was next hauled to a waiting buggy
, and a rope was thrown over a Post Oak
limb and put around his neck. A friend of Sketoe's happened by the scene at this time; unable to dissuade the Home Guard from their intended course, he ran to Newton for help. Anxious to get on with the hanging, Breare asked Sketoe if he had any last words
; he asked if he might pray. However instead of praying for himself, as his killers expected, he began to pray for them, instead; this so infuriated the militiamen that Breare lashed at the horse
hitched to the buggy, leaving Sketoe dangling from the tree limb.
In their haste to carry out Sketoe's summary execution, Breare and his men failed to take their vicim's size into account. Sketoe was tall, and his weight bent the limb to the point that his feet touched the ground. One of Breare's men dug a hole beneath the minister's feet, which allowed Sketoe to strangle to death before his friends could return. Sketoe was buried in nearby Mt. Carmel cemetery
; his epitaph
reads: "gone, but not forgotten".
The city museum in Newton preserves a cloak said to have belonged to Sketoe's wife, Sarah.
According to local histories, every member of Sketoe's lynching party died unnatural deaths—including one who was struck by a limb from a Post Oak tree, the same kind from which Sketoe had been hanged.
, locals always returned—sometimes within hours—to find it empty. Camper
s 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".
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.
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
town of Newton
Newton, Alabama
Newton is a town in Dale County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census its population was 1,708. Once the county seat of Dale County, Newton lost this distinction to nearby Ozark in 1870, and is now a small farming community. The city currently forms a part of the Enterprise-Ozark...
, whose lynching
Lynching
Lynching is an extrajudicial execution carried out by a mob, often by hanging, but also by burning at the stake or shooting, in order to punish an alleged transgressor, or to intimidate, control, or otherwise manipulate a population of people. It is related to other means of social control that...
there on December 3, 1864 gave birth to one of Alabama's best known ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
stories. While locally told stories of his life usually say that he was hanged on trumped-up charges of desertion from the Confederate Army
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...
, other sources indicate that he was killed for allegedly aiding pro-Union renegades
Outlaw
In historical legal systems, an outlaw is declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, this takes the burden of active prosecution of a criminal from the authorities. Instead, the criminal is withdrawn all legal protection, so that anyone is legally empowered to persecute...
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 115 years.
Sketoe's tale became a staple of Southern folklore, and was later immortalized by Alabama author Kathryn Tucker Windham
Kathryn Tucker Windham
Kathryn Tucker Windham was an American storyteller, author, photographer, and journalist. She was born in Selma, Alabama and grew up in nearby Thomasville....
in her 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey
13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey
13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey is a book first published in 1969 by folklorist Kathryn Tucker Windham and Margaret Gillis Figh. The book contains thirteen ghost stories from the U.S. state of Alabama. The book was the first in a series of seven Jeffrey books, most featuring ghost stories from a...
. 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
Choctawhatchee River
The Choctawhatchee River is a river in the southern United States, flowing through southeast Alabama and the Panhandle of Florida before emptying into Choctawhatchee Bay in Okaloosa and Walton counties...
, and a monument to Sketoe has been erected nearby.
Early years
According to the legend, Sketoe was born in Madrid, Spain on June 8, 1818, and came to Dale County, Alabama
Dale County, Alabama
Dale County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. Its name is in honor of General Samuel Dale. As of the 2010 census the population was 50,251...
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
Circuit rider (Religious)
Circuit rider is a popular term referring to clergy in the earliest years of the United States who were assigned to travel around specific geographic territories to minister to settlers and organize congregations...
in the Wiregrass
Wiregrass Region
The Wiregrass Region or Wiregrass Country is an area of the Southern United States encompassing parts of southern Georgia, southeastern Alabama, and the Florida Panhandle...
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.
Prelude to murder
Regardless of the truth or falsehood behind this or any version of Sketoe's tale, one fact is certain: Sketoe, for whatever reason, ultimately ran afoul of the Newton Home GuardConfederate Home Guard
The Confederate Home Guard was a somewhat loosely organized militia that was under the direction and authority of the Confederate States of America, working in coordination with the Confederate Army, and was tasked with both the defense of the Confederate home front during the American Civil War,...
commanded by Joseph Breare—and that led to his murder.
During the Civil War, Dale County had become a lawless place: the circuit court held no sessions during the last two years of the war, while nearby pine
Longleaf Pine
Pinus palustris, commonly known as the Longleaf Pine, is a pine native to the southeastern United States, found along the coastal plain from eastern Texas to southeast Virginia extending into northern and central Florida....
forests harbored numerous deserters and Unionists, who frequently emerged to terrorize the locals. Enraged citizens formed Home Guard units to defend against their depredations; one such outfit was led by Captain Joseph Breare. Breare was a lawyer in Newton, and was described by his partner's son as "an Englishman" who had moved to Dale County in the 1850s. He was an Alabama delegate to the Democratic National Convention
Democratic National Convention
The Democratic National Convention is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 national convention...
of 1860, and served as a Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
in Company E, 15th Alabama Infantry
15th Regiment Alabama Infantry
The 15th Regiment of Alabama Infantry was a Confederate volunteer infantry unit from the state of Alabama during the American Civil War. Recruited from six counties in the southeastern part of the state, it fought mostly with Robert E...
, which was recruited in Dale County. Captured at Gettysburg
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg , was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War, it is often described as the war's turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac...
, he was later exchanged and returned home to serve as commander of the local Home Guard unit. Breare and his outfit, locally referred to as "Buttermilk Rangers" because they were also in the service of the Confederate conscript department, had resolved to hunt down and punish all deserters; he had already hanged two men for alleged acts of treason.
Two different versions exist as to the cause of Sketoe's death. The legend (as related by Windham) says that although Sketoe offered papers
Leave (U.S. military)
In the United States Military, leave is permission to be away from one's unit for a specific period of time.- Entitlement :Under normal circumstance, all personnel are granted 30 days of leave per year. This time is usually used for vacations and other extended time periods away from the service...
indicating that he had hired a substitute to serve in his place (according to the story), the Home Guard refused to believe him, and Breare decided to hang him as a deserter. However, historians have pointed out that the Confederacy
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
had repealed its substitution laws in early 1864, making the legend's assertion that Sketoe had hired a substitute questionable, at best. Furthermore, as noted above, no records exist of Bill Sketoe having ever served in any Confederate or state military unit to begin with.
An alternative view of the reasons behind Sketoe's lynching is provided by historian David Williams in his book Rich Man's War: Caste, Class, and Confederate Defeat in the Lower Chattahoochee Valley. Williams indicates that Sketoe was suspected of helping John Ward, the leader of a local band of deserters and pro-Union guerrillas. Ward had ambushed a Confederate ammunition transport in Dale County two months earlier, killing an officer; one of Breare's men had subsequently been shot during a skirmish with Ward near the current county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
of Ozark
Ozark, Alabama
Ozark is a city in and the county seat of Dale County, Alabama, United States. In 1990 the city population was 12,922. As of the 2000 census, the population of the city was 15,119....
. Breare had tried to hang three local men for alleged collaboration in the attack on the ammunition train, but was prevented from doing so by another Confederate officer due to lack of evidence against them. Although Sketoe was never formally charged or tried for his own alleged acts of collusion with Ward, and although not one piece of hard evidence was ever publicly produced to corroborate Breare's allegations of treason, the Home Guard commander apparently decided to make Sketoe his third victim, anyway.
Lynching
According to the legend, Sketoe was waylaid on the afternoon of December 3, 1864, as he crossed the wooden bridge over the Choctawhatchee RiverChoctawhatchee River
The Choctawhatchee River is a river in the southern United States, flowing through southeast Alabama and the Panhandle of Florida before emptying into Choctawhatchee Bay in Okaloosa and Walton counties...
north of Newton. Breare and his men dragged the preacher into the nearby woods, beating him and forcing him to crawl through the sand while they prepared to kill him. Sketoe was next hauled to a waiting buggy
Horse and buggy
A horse and buggy or horse and carriage refers to a light, simple, two-person carriage of the late 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, drawn usually by one or sometimes by two horses...
, and a rope was thrown over a Post Oak
Post oak
Quercus stellata is an oak in the white oak group. It is a small tree, typically 10–15 m tall and 30–60 cm trunk diameter, though occasional specimens reach 30 m tall and 140 cm diameter. It is native to the eastern United States, from Connecticut in the northeast, west to southern Iowa, southwest...
limb and put around his neck. A friend of Sketoe's happened by the scene at this time; unable to dissuade the Home Guard from their intended course, he ran to Newton for help. Anxious to get on with the hanging, Breare asked Sketoe if he had any last words
Last words
Last words are a person's final words spoken before death.Last Words may also refer to:* Last Words , an Australian punk band* Last Words , a memoir by George Carlin* Last Words , a 1968 short film directed by Werner Herzog...
; he asked if he might pray. However instead of praying for himself, as his killers expected, he began to pray for them, instead; this so infuriated the militiamen that Breare lashed at the horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
hitched to the buggy, leaving Sketoe dangling from the tree limb.
In their haste to carry out Sketoe's summary execution, Breare and his men failed to take their vicim's size into account. Sketoe was tall, and his weight bent the limb to the point that his feet touched the ground. One of Breare's men dug a hole beneath the minister's feet, which allowed Sketoe to strangle to death before his friends could return. Sketoe was buried in nearby Mt. Carmel cemetery
Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
; his epitaph
Epitaph
An epitaph is a short text honoring a deceased person, strictly speaking that is inscribed on their tombstone or plaque, but also used figuratively. Some are specified by the dead person beforehand, others chosen by those responsible for the burial...
reads: "gone, but not forgotten".
The city museum in Newton preserves a cloak said to have belonged to Sketoe's wife, Sarah.
According to local histories, every member of Sketoe's lynching party died unnatural deaths—including one who was struck by a limb from a Post Oak tree, the same kind from which Sketoe had been hanged.
The hole
Sketoe's lynching created quite a stir in Newton, especially as locals began to notice that the hole dug to facilitate his hanging 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 debrisDebris
Debris is rubble, wreckage, ruins, litter and discarded garbage/refuse/trash, scattered remains of something destroyed, or, in geology, large rock fragments left by a melting glacier etc. The singular form of debris is debris...
, locals always returned—sometimes within hours—to find it empty. Camper
Camper
Camper can be one of several things:* a person who engages in camping.** in online games, a player who stays in one area of the game world, see camping ....
s 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".
In 1979, a new highway
Highway
A highway is any public road. In American English, the term is common and almost always designates major roads. In British English, the term designates any road open to the public. Any interconnected set of highways can be variously referred to as a "highway system", a "highway network", or a...
bridge
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...
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
Riprap
Riprap — also known as rip rap, rubble, shot rock or rock armour or "Rip-rap" — is rock or other material used to armor shorelines, streambeds, bridge abutments, pilings and other shoreline structures against scour, water or ice erosion.It is made from a variety of rock types, commonly granite or...
to strengthen the river bank, the cavity was covered with tons of rock
Rock (geology)
In geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. In general rocks are of three types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic...
. Although the hole itself is no longer visible, the site remains popular with visitors and researchers of the paranormal
Paranormal
Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...
. In 2006, Sketoe family members joined Newton officials in dedicating a monument
Monument
A monument is a type of structure either explicitly created to commemorate a person or important event or which has become important to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, or simply as an example of historic architecture...
to their ancestor near the site of his death, which briefly relates details from Windham's account.
Further reading
- David Williams, Rich Man's War: Caste, Class and Confederate Defeat in the Lower Chattahoochee Valley. University of Georgia Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8203-2033-1.
- Katheryn Tucker Windham, 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey. Strode Publishers, 1969. ISBN 978-0-8173-0376-1.