What Was Then - Dead Mans Holel

DEAD MAN'S HOLE
by Clayton Stapleton
Tuesday August 30, 2005 07:43:34 PM CDT

BLACK HOPE CEMETERY - A sub-division was built on top of it.
THE SAN ANTONIO HAUNTED TRAIN TRACKS - Children push cars off the haunted tracks?

State Marker @ Dead Man's Hole, Marble Falls, TX

DEAD MAN'S HOLE
Texas Historical Marker
Marker erected 1998
[click photo for a larger image]

MARBLE FALLS, Texas - In a pasture in southern Burnet County there's a deep hole. First discovered in 1821 by entomologist Ferdinand Lueders while he was in the area studying night-flying insects. The hole known as Dead Man's hole is seven feet in diameter at the surface and about 160 feet deep; at its base, the hole split into two "arms," one extending straight back for about fifteen feet, and the other sloping downward at a 45° angle for about thirty feet according to the Texas Speleological Society who platted the hole in 1968.

Is the hole haunted? The Austin Paranormal Research Society believes so after getting several class A EVPs while conducting consecutive investigations. Seventeen bodies, including those of pro-Union Judge John R. Scott and settler Adolph Hoppe, several reconstruction-era county government officials, and Ben McKeever, who allegedly had a conflict with local freedmen were recovered from the cave in the late 1860s, but the presence of gas prevented extensive exploration. The gas evidently dissipated over time. However offensive odors still emanates from the hole all through the hot summer months.

The leaders of APRS research Dead Man's Hole

Kat & Kelli of the Austin Paranormal Research Society investigates Dead Man's Hole

You can visit Dead Man's Hole, it's just 2 miles south of Marble Falls on US 281; .5 miles east on RM 2147; .5 miles south on CR 401. There you'll see the above Texas Historical Marker in front of the hole. It reads:

Entomologist Ferdinand Lueders made the earliest recorded discovery of this cave in 1821. Notorious in the Civil War era, the hole is believed to have been the dumping ground for up to 17 bodies, including those of pro-Union Judge John R. Scott and settler Adolph Hoppe, several reconstruction-era county government officials, and Ben McKeever, who had a conflict with local freedmen. An oak tree which once stood over the cave was said to have rope marks caused by hangings. Powerful gases prevented thorough exploration of the site until 1951. The hole was platted in 1968 by the Texas Speleological Society and was found to be 155 feet deep and 50 feet long. (1998).

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	SOURCES
	1.	Austin Chronicle - Article by Gerald E. McLeod - "Day Trip"
	2.	Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "DEAD MAN'S HOLE"
	3.	Texas Historical Marker @ Dead Man's Hole (see photo above)

	RELATED STORIES FROM THE INTERNET
		Adolph Hoppe - A website about one of the men found in Dead Man's Hole.