Today - Dec. 3 - marks 156 years since the events that led to the mysterious 'Sketoe's Hole'

'Sketoe's Hole' in Dale County, Alabama.

I was looking through my notes on Monday and noted that today – Dec. 3 – marks 156 years since the events that gave rise to Alabama’s legendary, “Sketoe’s Hole.”

As best that I can remember, I was in the fourth grade the first time I ever heard of “Sketoe’s Hole.” Made famous by Kathryn Tucker Windham’s book, “13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffery,” this creepy landmark is located on the banks of the Choctawhatchee River, just outside of the Town of Newton in Dale County. My son, James, and I went there back in December 2014, and we enjoyed seeing this unusual landmark for ourselves.

If you attempt to see “Sketoe’s Hole” for yourself, it’s easy to find. It’s located in a small park, called the Newton Recreational Park, just off State Highway 123 on the north side of the Choctawhatchee River. If you’re traveling south on State Highway 123 and cross over the Judge Lewis Frank Sessions Bridge and enter the Town of Newton, you’ve gone too far and need to turn around.

For those of you unfamiliar with Sketoe’s Hole, it’s also known as the “Hole That Will Not Stay Filled.” According to Windham’s book, a minister named Bill Sketoe was hung there during the Civil War, and he was so tall that the hangmen had to dig the earth out from under his feet so that his feet wouldn’t touch the ground. Supposedly, for supernatural reasons, after all these years the hole remains unfilled despite efforts to fill it up.

Six years ago, when James and I visited the Newton Recreational Park, there was an informational sign near an area that had been set aside as “Sketoe’s Hole.” The sign reads as follows – “The Hanging of Bill Sketoe: Near this site on Dec. 3, 1864 Bill Sketoe, a Methodist minister was hanged by Newton Home Guards who thought that he was a traitor to the Confederacy. In truth, Mr. Sketoe had served three years in the Confederate army and had come home on leave to see his sick wife.

“The home guard hanged him from an oak tree near the old bridge. To keep his feet from touching the ground a hole was dug under them. This mysterious hole remained clean for many years after that sad day. The site is now part of the flood prevention area.

“The original bronze marker was badly damaged and washed down river by the flood of 1990. It may be seen in the Newton museum. The Newton Historical Society.”

The actual site of Sketoe’s hanging is just a short walk from this marker. From what I gather, it’s under tons of rip-rap rock on the north side of the river. There’s a trail from the park down to the river and you pass this rip-rap coming and going. If you decide to go on your own, be careful and watch for snakes.

Aside from all the ghost stories about this place, I’d always wanted to visit this site because of the Peacock family roots in the Newton area. In the 1850s, my fifth-great-grandfather, Joseph Tarpley Peacock, owned 160 acres of land west of Highway 123, a few miles below Newton and near the Little Choctawhatchee River. Whether or not this is the same land where “Sketoe’s Hole” is located, I don’t know, but it’s close. Joseph Tarpley Peacock was also a Methodist minister, and I do think it’s highly likely that he knew Bill Sketoe.