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| George Buster Singleton |
(For decades, local historian and paranormal investigator
George “Buster” Singleton published a weekly newspaper column called “Somewhere
in Time.” The column below, which was titled “The well that won’t stay filled”
was originally published in the July 8, 1971 edition of The Monroe Journal in
Monroeville, Ala.)
No one knows for sure just who dug the well. It has been
abandoned since the early 1800s, according to Mrs. B.H. Bailey of Franklin, who
owns the property on which the well is located.
Mrs. Bailey, who celebrated her 85th birthday
this year, said, “We used to throw rocks and such in this well when I was a
small child. We would try to hear them hit the bottom… Along about this time,
my father became concerned about the well. He was afraid that some of us would
fall in it, and being that it was not in use, he decided to fill it up.
The field in which the well is located was then covered with
timber. He held a “log rolling” to cut the timber and clear the land for
farming.
“Instead of burning the big logs, my father would have them
cut up into short pieces, about six feet in length, and drop the pieces into
the well. After dropping in what he thought was enough to fill the well, he was
amazed to find that none of the timbers could be seen or touched. After several
days of putting timbers into the well, and all the land near was cleared, a
certain air of mystery became connected with the well.
“Over the years, trash and junk of one kind or another has
been thrown in the well to get rid of it, but no trace has been found as to
where all this has gone. Several years ago, some long poles were laid across
the top to keep anyone from falling in. Some people say the well connects with
an underground river; some say that it’s quicksand in the bottom. I don’t know.”
After visiting Mrs. Bailey, Aaron White and I visited the
well. A small ironwood tree is growing at the edge, where one notices the old
handmade bricks that make up the curbing. We threw in rocks, as was done many
years ago, and waited to hear them hit the bottom seconds later. The sound we
heard was one of an object hitting something soft, like wet sand. There was no
splash of water; nor was there the sound of rocks hitting a solid surface.
What is behind the mystery of the well? Beneath the cover of
rotten logs and down the curbing of the old bricks that were fashioned by
unknown hands many years ago, the secret lies. Some day we may find the answer:
then again, we may never.
(The story above was accompanied by a photo with the
following caption: Vine-covered mystery well is located beneath this tree in a
field on Mrs. B.H. Bailey’s property at Franklin.)
(Singleton, the author
of the 1991 book “Of Foxfire and Phantom Soldiers,” passed away at the age of
79 on July 19, 2007. A longtime
resident of Monroeville, he was born during a late-night thunderstorm on Dec.
14, 1927 in Marengo County, graduated from Sweet Water High School in 1946,
served as a U.S. Marine in the Korean War, worked as a riverboat deckhand,
lived for a time among Apache Indians, moved to Monroe County on June 28, 1964
and served as the administrator of the Monroeville National Guard unit from
June 28, 1964 to Dec. 14, 1987. For years, Singleton’s columns, titled
“Monroe County history – Did you know?” and “Somewhere in Time” appeared in The
Monroe Journal, and he wrote a lengthy series of articles about Monroe County
that appeared in Alabama Life magazine. It’s believed that his first column
appeared in the March 25, 1971 edition of The Monroe Journal. He is buried in
Pineville Cemetery in Monroeville. The column above and all of Singleton’s
other columns are available to the public through the microfilm records at the
Monroe County Public Library in Monroeville. Singleton’s columns are presented
here each week for research and scholarship purposes and as part of an effort
to keep his work and memory alive.)
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