Was this grave in Appleton Cemetery disturbed by graverobbers 85 years ago?

The answer is, yes, it probably was, although to this day, no one knows why.

For at least three weeks in the autumn of 1930, the Appleton community in southeastern Lawrence County was stalked by nocturnal grave-diggers. At first, the visitors dug a single fresh grave in the community’s burial ground. However, no bones or coffin seemed to be disturbed.

A few nights later, they dug a similar grave in the same cemetery, but “deeper and wider.” Observers noted the footprints of two men and one truck leading away from the scene.

By this time, the community was abuzz with what it could all mean. Some said that there was money hidden in the cemetery. But no one expected what happened next.

On their third nocturnal visit to the graveyard, the men dug into the grave of a child, whom the ‘Tennessean’ described only as “a one-year-old…who was buried in 1856.”

Although it is possible that the grave in question could be of someone else, the burial place of Mary E. Kennemure is a likely candidate because it meets all of the criteria set out by the paper.

The graverobbers did not disturb the coffin of the child, although they did dig into the child’s grave. A local man named McGill heard his dog barking on the night it happened, but he did not go to the cemetery to investigate out of fear that he might be harmed.

It’s possible that McGill’s dog scared the would-be graverobbers off that night. Whatever the case, the suspicious activity ceased afterwards.