In the American city of Landenberg, Pennsylvania, there is a small old cemetery near an abandoned church, where you can find one very interesting and mysterious grave. If you believe the rumors, it was she who inspired the famous author Edgar Allan Poe to write the story "Telling Heart". The grave is called Ticking, and this epithet should be taken literally, because if you put your ear to it, you can hear a soft tapping like a clock pendulum.
The Legend of the Ticking Grave
Local urban myth says that in 1760, two famous American surveyors - Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon - were planning the border between the northern and southern colonies here. Suddenly, a sobbing boy entered the tent of specialists, busy discussing their work, and the surveyors were forced to interrupt their conversation in order to deal with the lost child and find his parents. It took place in the forest, and the men had no idea how the boy ended up alone, and even so far from people.
Mason took the child in his arms and began to calm him down. He took out his gold pocket watch and handed it to the little stranger so that he could be distracted by the outlandish "toy" and stop crying. The kid for no reason opened his mouth and swallowed the chronometer at once. Subsequently, our heroes found out that a child named Fithian Mineyt imperceptibly left his father and mother in Landenberg and went to the forest on his own. Mason and Dixon returned the boy to their inconsolable parents, and the latter soon discovered that their son's stomach began to tick.
How the clock ended up in the grave
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Further, there are several endings to this urban legend. According to one version, the watch swallowed by the boy was incredibly highly valued by its owner, and Charles Mason, shocked by this turn of events, shouted in his hearts: "Why would they always tick in you!" So, they say, in the end it happened. In fact, Mason was a kind and very decent person and did not wish any harm to anyone, especially to unreasonable children. But the watch was extremely dear to him, so here he simply could not restrain himself, almost arbitrarily shouting a curse.
Another version says that the chronometer remained in Fitian's stomach until his death without any curse. By the way, this is theoretically possible: such a large object cannot be removed from the digestive tract on its own and continues to remain inside, giving a person discomfort and pain. It should be understood that medicine was still very primitive then, and it was not possible to remove the object of their stomach by surgery. By the way, according to this version of the myth, the matured Minate became a skilled watchmaker, in which he was helped by the measured ticking of his "internal clock" - in the literal sense of the word.
The legend also has a third variation. Some romantics claim that Mineith married a girl named Martha, and she once told her chosen one that the sounds coming from his stomach are the perfect personification of their high relationship. Martha informed Fithian that as long as their love is alive, this ticking will not stop. The couple grew old and died, and the couple was allegedly buried in this grave. It turns out that the chronometer, which lies in the coffin along with Fitian's skeleton, still works not at a mechanical plant, but at the pure power of love, because even after death the American did not stop loving his wife. This is perhaps the prettiest version.
Is the grave really ticking?
Despite the fact that the Ticking Grave cannot be called a popular American landmark, almost everyone in Landenberg, as well as in the surrounding towns and villages, knows about it. People come to the cemetery, put their heads on the tombstone and listen with bated breath. Many would swear that a quiet but distinct ticking is coming from the ground. Some tried to record it on a dictaphone using even the most sensitive microphone, but they failed.
Tourists, having learned about this anomaly, also go to the churchyard to hear the mysterious sound with their ears. So, if you ever find yourself in Landenberg, look for a dirt road there called the London Highway and walk along it to a small unnamed cemetery near an empty church. The grave of Fitian Mineith is not difficult to find there. If you are lucky, you will hear from it the quiet sound of an antique clock, still working after so many years, although even in theory this is simply impossible.
Doubters put forward their theories of what is happening. For example, about the fact that a stream flows under the ground here, the rhythmic murmur of which is echoed outside by sounds similar to the ticking of a chronometer. Materialists, of course, do not believe that mechanical watches can still work on their own. Someone has to wind the spring, right? At the same time, it is noted that from time to time the ticking becomes quieter or more audible. Skeptics are convinced that it is the underground watercourse that is to blame, which, depending on the season, murmurs with different loudness. But why can't it be fixed even on the most sensitive sound recording equipment?..