Mystery at Devil's Elbow
Chapter Seven – Second Week of October 1969

After Lewis left for work, Martha called the sheriff’s office. The sheriff wasn’t in, so she left a message with Maxine Waters, JD’s secretary. It was after lunch when the sheriff called her back.

“Martha, this is JD. I got a message you called.”

“Yeah, thanks for getting back. I don’t know how to say this, but Lisa had a vision, she saw three more skeletons buried by the bridge.”

It was a few seconds before JD spoke. “Normally I wouldn’t be concerned with kids having visions, but Lisa was right the last time. I’d be a fool not check this one out.”

“Thank you. I was embarrassed to call, but did so just in case she was right.”

“I don’t understand this vision thing Lisa has. Do you mind if I bring a forensic psychologist from Jeff City to talk to her?”

“I think that’d be okay, JD.”

“Okay let me give them a call and see if we can get something set up for tomorrow. I’ll call you back.”

JD and another younger man with long hair pulled into the driveway in a county sheriff’s car the next afternoon. Martha was sitting on the porch, watching the girls play in the front yard waiting for Lewis to come home. She had a pitcher of tea along with a couple of extra glasses for JD and the psychologist.

She had spoken to Lewis last night, and they had agreed to let Lisa talk to the psychologist, despite fearing that he would say their daughter was mentally ill.

“Good afternoon Martha,” said JD as he and the younger man walked up on the porch.

“Good afternoon.”

“Martha, this is Doctor Bill Taylor. He’s with the Missouri State Police. He’s the psychologist we spoke about. I’ll let him take it from here.”

The doctor held out his hand, and Martha shook it.

“I know this kind of thing can be stressful, but I’m not here to do any harm to Lisa,” Doctor Taylor said. “I’d like to talk to you first for a few minutes to let you know how this works.”

“I’d like that,” said Martha apprehensively.

“I’m a special kind of psychologist that deals with legal matters, but I do have another area of expertise. I’m also a child psychologist. The state police call me in to question children in criminal cases. This case sounds unusual, but they asked me to come down here to work with Sheriff Carson. First, I’d like to talk to Lisa to get a general idea where she gets these visions. I’d also like to talk to her about the specific vision from Sunday. If that’s successful, I’d like to walk with her over to the bridge and see if she can point out the locations where she thinks the skeletons are. Does this sound okay to you?”

“Yeah, that sounds fine, doctor. Thank you for explaining,” said Martha. “I have some extra glasses. Would you two like a glass of tea?”

“Yes, I’d like one.”

“Please,” said JD.

Martha poured them both tall glasses and went to get Lisa. She brought Lisa up on the porch and sat her on the porch swing.

“Lisa, this is the doctor I talked to you about. He’s going to ask you about your visions, especially the one you had Sunday. Me and Daddy want you to answer his questions and talk to him about the visions and the skeletons. Can you do that, honey?”

“Yeah, Momma.”

“Hello, Lisa, I’m Doctor Bill Taylor.”

“Hello, doctor.”

“Like your mom said, I’d like to ask you some questions. I’d like you to be real honest with me.”

“You really a doctor?”

“Sure am.”

“I never had a doctor come to my house before.”

“That’s because I work for the police and not a hospital. Can you tell me about your visions, Lisa?”

“Sure.”

“Do you see people in these visions?”

The doctor sat down in a chair next to Lisa who was seated on the porch swing. The doctor spoke softly to Lisa, who sat nervously on the edge of the cushion. At first, Lisa spoke softly, but as they talked, she relaxed and raised her voice.

“I saw some small people dressed in bright white gowns,” said Lisa.

“Were you afraid,” asked the doctor

“No, the Watchers said everything was gonna be all right.”

“May I say something, doctor?” asked Martha.

“Sure.”

“This summer when Lisa was playing outside with the garden hose. She touched the swamp cooler as she was turning off the water spigot. There was a short in the swamp cooler, and she was shocked with electricity. Her daddy knocked her free from the cooler and gave her CPR until the ambulance came. She didn’t have a heartbeat for some time. Her doctor said she had died for several minutes. Lisa told us she had a vision of people she called the Watchers during the incident,” said Martha.

“That’s good to know. I’m glad you told me. Was that the only time you saw the Watchers, Lisa?”

“No, I saw them again when I got hurt in the truck wreck.”

“After the electric shock, Lisa was in a car wreck with her daddy,” Martha interjected. “She hit her head on the dashboard and got that cut above her eye. She had stitches.”

“That may be important too. You saw the Watchers twice at that point, is that right, Lisa?”

“Yes.”

“When did you see them again?’

“I saw them a few weeks ago, when I fell by the railroad tracks, and again Sunday when I fell again.”

“How did you fall?”

“I had thoughts in my head and fell to the ground, and the thoughts went away. The Watchers told me it was okay.”

“It happened that way twice?”

“Yeah.”

“Are those the only times you saw the Watchers?”

“Yeah.”

“Can you tell me about the first time you had thoughts in your head?”

“I saw a skull in some tree roots. When the thought was done, me and Mary looked for the tree and found it.”

“What’d you do then?”

“Me and Mary walked over to the tree to see if the skull was there.”

“And was it?”

“Yeah, it was.”

“Tell me about the thoughts on Sunday.”

“Next to the tree with the skull, there were three more skeletons buried in the ground, in a row, like soldiers.”

“Did they look complete or just bones here and there?”

“Yeah.”

“Could you take me and Sheriff Carson down to see the skeletons?”

“If Momma says okay.”

“It’s okay, honey. Me and Daddy want you to take the sheriff and the doctor down to where the skeletons are,” said Martha.

“Okay, Momma.”

Lisa skipped down the stairs, leading them across the yard and field down to the Devil’s Elbow Bridge. The sheriff and Doctor Taylor followed behind her. Lisa stopped at the tree where the skull had been. From there, she walked to her left about ten feet, then stopped and pointed to the ground on her right.

“The first skeleton’s right here,” said Lisa.

“That’s good,” said Doctor Taylor.

“I’ll mark it with a flag,” said JD. The flags were small yellow squares on a thin metal rod. The rod was quickly pushed into the ground.

“What about the next one?”

Lisa walked to her left another three feet and stretched her arm out to the right.

“That’s where the second one is.”

“Good, honey, I’ll mark it with a flag too.”

“Show us where the third one is.”

Lisa walked about three more feet to her left and stretched her arm out to the right.

“The third one’s right here.”

“That’s good, Lisa.”

JD put a flag on that one too.

Doctor Taylor was watching as Lisa pointed to the ground with the assurance that what she was saying was true. Surprised, he tilted his head to the right and asked, “Lisa, can you see the skeletons now?”

“Yeah, their right there in the ground. Can’t you see them?”

“No, I can’t.”

Lisa took a few steps forward and touched the ground.

“Her hand’s right here.”

“Her?” asked JD.

“Is it a woman?” asked Doctor Taylor.

“Yeah, she’s a grandma.”

JD raised his eyebrows. “What makes you think she’s a grandma?”

“I can see them when they were alive too, and she’s old, like my grandma.”

“Well, I think we’ve done enough, down here. Let me take you back to your mom,” said Doctor Taylor.

“That way you can go play with Mary?” asked JD.

“Yeah, that’d be fun,” Lisa said, giggling.

“I’ll take her up to her mom. Sheriff, you can stay here if you want. Be right back.”

While the two walked back to the house, JD called the sheriff’s office on a handheld radio he brought with him. The doctor walked Lisa back to her home and spoke a few minutes with Martha. He then returned to the sheriff.

Minutes later, a patrol car pulled up near Sheriff Carson. Two deputies got out of the car. They both pulled shovels from the back seat and walked over to the scene. The two deputies began to dig at the first flag. That’s where they found the first bone that appeared to be a shoulder bone. The two deputies moved to the second flag and began digging, and there they hit a bone that turned out to be a skull. The deputies advanced to the third flag and started digging and uncovered another skull.

The doctor stood speechless as the deputies dug. JD paced back and forth with his arms crossed. “Doctor, what do you think about all this?”

“I don’t know what to think, Sheriff. This is simply amazing.”

“That little girl’s been right four times.”

“That’s a scary thing for a little girl to be right about.”

“Do you believe in psychic power, doctor?”

Doctor Taylor looked up at the sky for a moment as he took in a deep breath and let it out. “No, Sheriff, I don’t. What we’re experiencing here has a reasonable explanation. I don’t think this girl can see and hear things the rest of us can’t.”

“Well, I think we’re done here. Deputy Shaffer stay here and guard this site. Bishop, you come with me. We’ll take Doctor Taylor back to his car.”

“Thank you, Sheriff, it’s time I left for Jeff City.”

“I’ll have somebody come to replace you in a couple hours, Shaffer. This is the coroner’s scene now.”