Leaderboard

A not unusual tale I'm afraid. Yes, the suffering was immense. She lived to old age, but clearly had what would be diagnosed as PTSD now. She married a Presbyterian minister of the church where she is buried, and he had a full-sized cradle built for her that she slept in all her life. She would have night terrors and the only way she could be calmed was by being rocked to sleep. You can read more if you'll search "Mary Moore, Captives of Abb's Valley". To bring it back on topic (my apologies) there is an excerpt in the book written about the whole episode by Mary Moore's son that mentions a cave that was found in the vicinity of the Moore homestead that contained "bones of extraordinary size". Another early resident related a tale where he was separated from his hunting companion, and that night the man said he had followed what he thought was a man's voice calling to him from across the Valley that would answer to his calls. When he got close to the source he heard a "terrific wild scream" and a large animal crashing away through the underbrush. The narrator attributed that to a panther, but....you know. There are all kinds of these narratives in the early frontier chronicles in the Easter U.S., many of which you just have to say, "Hmmm...."