** Content warning. This post contains graphic and detailed topics about death that might be disturbing or triggering to some. Discretion is advised. **
At the age of 26 after being struck by lightning in 1897, the grieving widow of Lon Dorsa, Geneva, longed for her husband and wanted to see him even in death. Lon’s body was discovered by a railroad switch crew the following morning. After working that evening he walked home with his father when the two separated to go their respective ways. Lon was using an umbrella which many suspect was struck first, tearing his trousers to shreds and throwing his hat 10 feet away. His funeral procession was one of the biggest in Nevada, MO. Weeks after his death his body was exhumed, redressed and placed in a large limestone tomb. At the time this type of tomb was quiet unusual. It cost about $900 in 1897 – which would be close to $30,000 in todays dollar. Geneva worked as a seamstress and she must have been working countless hours to be able to afford something so expensive. The stone was shipped in by rail (on its own car, mind you..) where is was worked and chiseled on site by a local stonecutter. It took 32 consecutive days to carve the limestone. An older article states that the tomb measures ‘ten feet long, five feet wide, and five feet tall.’ The monument in person is quiet large but you can tell over the years the land has shifted and swallowed some of it. It is no longer five feet tall, or perhaps some of it was buried deep in the ground. Geneva didn’t stop there with her requests for the tomb. Lon’s coffin was sealed to be airtight with lead, many claiming at the time that this would ‘preserve his body for centuries’ as long as the seal was never broken. The top of the tomb as adorned with a lock and a key to a stone bible that when unlocked and pivoted would reveal a glass window framing Lon’s face. As you can imagine, this sparked many visitors from all over to visit Missouri to view Lon’s grave out of curiosity to see a tomb with these characteristics. (See, tombstone tourists aren’t a new thing!) For years Lon’s body lay undamaged and, for the most post, intact. Eventually Geneva had the lock and key removed, and the Bible was made a permanent part of the tomb by being cemented down. Geneva died in 1945 – it is unsure when the lock was removed from the Bible, but there are people still living today who remember being able to view his body and seeing it through the glass window.
In 1983 vandals pried off the stone bible from the grave, broke the glass that lay over Lon’s coffin and stole his skull. After this happened whatever was left of his body and features decayed instantly once moisture had gotten in. He was probably in some form of being mummified. His skeleton layed open to the elements for quiet some time. The bible was unrepairable, which is where the solid slab of stone was replaced. The police were able to track down Lon’s skull and re-buried it somewhere in the cemetery. Where, no one knows for sure. The oval placed on the front of the grave would have held a porcelain photo of Lon, but it has been gone for some time. Either by vandals or by accident, those can be hard to preserve due to their fragility.
familiar apparitions 