Some buddies and I went fishing at Deadmans Curve in Walisburg when I was just a teen. No we weren't fishing for cars, there is a river very close to it. The name of the river excapes me so we were fishing at Deadman's Curve.

We went in the afternoon and while we were fishing we had a few beers. Fishing and drinking go together in Walisburg actually drinking and anything go together in Walisburg. This is a small town and there isn't that much to do especially when you're a teen.

Although four of us went fishing this story is more about my friend Keith Hannigan. We caught quite a few beers, not much in the way of fish and hung out. It was getting dark and Keith was getting bored when we decided to take a walk in the graveyard near by.

Drunken teens, Deadman's Curve and now a graveyard doesn't sound like a good combination does it. Well it really wasn't. While we were wandering around the graveyard Keith yelled at us to come look at something. When we got to where he was he was looking at a head stone. Carved on it was the letters K.H. July 9, 1776. We all thought it was odd because it was just the initials and a death date. There was no epitaph at all. We speculated that the family could have been poor and couldn't afford to have more letters inscribed or perhaps this person was not well liked and the less written the better. It seemed sad that a person could live their life and that was all that was said about them, not even an indication about gender.

Keith didn't like the head stone at all because the initials were the same as his. The next thing we knew he grabbed on to the stone and started trying to move it. We were all telling him to leave it alone but he wouldn't listen to us. We tried to get him to stop but there was no stopping him. Keith was a pretty strong guy and none of us wanted to get on his bad side. I decided it would be best to leave then because I didn't want to have anything to do with desecrating a grave. I have always been kind of superstitious and thought something like that would give you bad carma.

The other guys that I was hanging out with told me later that Keith took the headstone and threw it in the river. I really felt bad that we couldn't stop him. Time passed and the only time I thought of this incident was when I was driving on Deadmans Curve. I think I continued to remember exactly what was written on the head stone was because there was so little to remember. K.H. July 9, 1776.

A few years later Keith and some buddies were down at Deadmans Curve fishing and drinking again. It was a very hot day and Keith decided to go for a swim. That was the day he drown in that river and the date was July 9, 1976 two hundred years exactly to the day of the unknown K.H.'s death.

I'm still superstitious and believe in bad carma. I don't live in Walisburg anymore but when I go back to visit and drive on Deadman's Curve it still haunts me.