Remains of Missing Child Found After Nearly 150 Years

Investigating the Past Solves a Heinous Civil-War-Era Crime

The needle only made it through the outer layer of bark before breaking off. Within minutes, the temperature returned to its previous 76 degrees. After failing to extract a wood sample in this manner, Victoria pulled out an apparatus which was designed to extract a thin wedge from a tree. When she attempted to use it, the air stirred again, carrying with it a scarcely-detectable, breathy cry. They both turned toward each other at the same time, searching for a confirmation of this faint, ghost-like echo, but neither had an answer. The instrument was unsuccessful at retrieving a sample of wood from the tree.

Victoria applied a hatchet to the side of the tree, and once again the gust, the temperature drop, and the breathy sound occurred. The hatchet failed.

Victoria spent the next day researching archived newspapers at the library which volunteers had tediously transferred onto microfiche. Being one of the older towns in the U.S., volunteers in the past had been able to find newspaper archives dating back to pre-Civil War. Victoria hoped to find any information possible regarding the tree or the area around it.

In addition to wedding and funeral announcements, weather and mundane local news, the only memorable piece of information she found seemed to be unrelated to the tree. It was an article about two local feuding families. Apparently, the feud began in 1864 when a 6-year-old child, Bobby Taylor, perished in an accident while under the care of the Brown family, which was then blamed for Bobby's death. According to the article, no murder had taken place--only a very sad accident. Strangely, the Browns' 5-year-old daughter, Jessica Brown, went missing soon after.

Following an exhaustive search for information, Victoria spoke with some of the old-timers in town about the story of the accidental death and subsequent missing child. The stories she heard from various individuals were all similar in describing Jessica Brown's disappearance as an act of retaliation against the Brown family for the death of Bobby Taylor. Slightly different versions had evolved over such a great span of time, but each version still contained the same theme: an accidental death, and a missing child. No evidence of a crime was ever found, and therefore, no one was ever charged in Jessica Brown's disappearance. Jessica was never seen again, nor her body ever found.

Unable to find an answer for the mystery of the oak tree, Victoria Smith concluded her research and returned to her hometown empty-handed.

Fourteen months later, in August of 2009, the old oak tree was uprooted by a direct hit from a tornado that tore through the field and surrounding woods. Fortunately, no homes were in its path, sparing Fairview's residents from harm.