Volume 16 , Issue 18

Haunted Butcher Shop (Alva, OK)

This haunted butcher who story takes place in Alva, Oklahoma with Bill Sholtz, a butcher who had a shop near Snyder's dry goods store. One day Bill, having done all of the butchering for the community that he deemed necessary, decided he would try it on himself, and back of a big, tall ice box reaching to the ceiling in the middle of the room, he rigged up a rope, putting it about his neck, and swung himself off. His swinging body was discovered and he was cut down, but too late to save his life.

Alva, Oklahoma had one negro about the town whose name was Bill Franklin. He was the porter, janitor, scrubber and man-of-all-work for everybody. A few days later, the owner of the Sholtz meat shop building hired Bill to scrub it out. Claud McCrory, Clark Hudson, Roy Stafford, Frank Shelley, and a number of others, gained access to the rear entrance of the building, fixed up a dummy and hung it up by a rope in the same place where poor Sholtz had hung.

The next morning Bill came in with his bucket of water, scrubbing outfit and was busily engaged about his work until he came in back of the ice box and was confronted by the swaying figure. He gave two wild whoops, and started for the front door. The sidewalk was covered with sleet and ice and the street was full of mud and water as Bill struck the sleet and ice he didn't stop until he reached the mud and water into which he rolled, to the intense merriment of the sacrilegious onlookers. Somebody else scrubbed the shop that day.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

---