Fresh off the drama of the last month, Katie and I resolved to resume life as normally as we could, and the best way we could, was to roll up our sleeves and get back to work on the land. We headed up late Friday, got settled in, and enjoyed the remainder of the evening with a beverage and a fire.
Saturday, we hopped in the truck and headed to the lumber yard and hardware store for needed supplies. Upon our return, Katie got busy painting the exterior walls of the cabin and pre-painting the trim before the installation, and I took to installing the last window we purchased for the cabin. We had enough work to fully fill the weekend, but we were not in a great hurry to get it all done, so there was plenty of time for relaxing and taking photos of the landscape. After installing the window, I headed up the drive to dig a hole and install a post for our gate. The hinge side of the gate is secured to a tree, but there was nothing for the latch side to fasten to. A half hour of digging with the post hole diggers, and we could now lock our gate! 
Every accomplishment is celebrated like it’s a crowning achievement, not because it is, but more so, every addition or accomplishment makes our place more “ours”, and that makes us happy. Our routine is changing a little bit though. We’ve started to experience what most recreational property owners face each and every time they “head up to the cabin”; maintenance. One task I’ll forever need to perform is mowing the trails, so with the gate post installed, I hooked up the mower deck and headed down the road. My effort was short lived, as ten minutes into my work, I shredded the belt for the mower. Oh well, add one more task to my list.
Saturday afternoon found Katie needing a break from painting, and I was all too happy to offer an alternative – cleaning out the well. We have a well of sorts, maybe “cistern” is a better term for it. A previous owner took a twenty foot long corrugated culvert pipe, about three to four feet in diameter, and buried it vertically next to one of our wetland areas. After inspection, we found that someone had shoved logs and timbers, some near ten feet long and eight inches in diameter, into the pipe. It was a “head scratcher” for me… I couldn’t understand why someone would do that? But, I settled on the concept that kids do dumb things for entertainment, and wrote it off as that. It never donned on me that someone with more nefarious motives might do that to cover up a crime.
Katie and I worked hard descending into the pipe, grabbing and lifting each piece of debris up and out. We were happy to see the bottom start to clear, and even happier to see there was roughly six feet of water depth at the bottom. I doubt we’ll ever use the water for drinking, but it will certainly be clean enough for washing and watering. On one trip down the shaft, something caught my attention. There, clinging to a timber yet to be removed, was a fist sized mass of blond hair. I brought it up to show Katie, and we both had the initial nightmarish thought… “Where’s the rest of the owner of that hair?”
Our land was basically unoccupied for over twenty years, with the exception of one inhabitant, a bank robber, who happened to be on an FBI wanted list! He was squatting for some time, hiding from the law, until a neighbor (a Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agent) started investigating, and ultimately arrested him on the property. With that knowledge, and the clump of fine blond hair in my hand, the worst thought of all ran away with my imagination. Did he murder someone, and drop the body down the well? We nervously dismissed the idea and got back to work. 
Our conversations were filled with fantastical comments referencing the movie “The Ring”, and how a dead woman was going to crawl out of the well in the middle of the night and terrorize Katie. Ok, maybe those were mostly my comments, but I was enjoying teasing my wife, and inadvertently setting the stage for restless sleep filled with nightmares. Sorry honey. After we cleared the large debris, there was a layer of smaller stuff floating in the water. 
We started removing it, by taking turns filling a bucket by hand while the other would pull the bucket up and dump it. The water was cold and dirty, and after I “accidentally” spilled some on Katie three of four times, when it was her turn down the well, it was decided that we would just stay up top and fill the bucket as best we could. Near dusk, we had had enough and decided to clean up a bit and get dinner. 
We had been using an aluminum ladder to get in and out of the well, and when I pulled up the ladder, there on the two rungs that had been submerged in the water, were two more massive clumps of hair.
It was enough, that, rather than continue, we felt it best to call the authorities “just to make sure…” Out came the phone, and I searched for the sheriff’s non-emergency number. A very nice man answered the phone at the dispatcher, and after listening to “the crazy dude in the woods”, ensured me that yes, in fact, they were very interested and would send someone to investigate. Katie and I made dinner, watched the bonfire, and went to bed. One of us slept like a baby.
The next day, Katie resumed painting, and I started installing trim. Just after noon, we heard the sound of a vehicle coming down the drive. The two sheriff’s deputies that arrived appeared to be jovial, and not annoyed at having to make the trip deep into the woods. They thanked me, as introductions were made, for the accurate directions that led them to our place. Specifically the part where I said “go past where the road turns into a firebreak, past where the firebreak turns into a deer trail, and a 1/4 mile later, our driveway is on the left.” They were also glad to make note of our location in the case an actual emergency arose, they would be able to find us quickly. We wasted no time and led them to the evidence. Earlier in the day, Katie proclaimed that in the sunlight, the hair look more like animal hair than human. We apologized to the deputies for wasting their time, neither accepted it, and said they were happy to come and look. Part of me believes they were just happy to get out of the office. I must admit that I explained to the deputies, that I was rather disappointed that they agreed that it was animal hair. They figured one possibility, was that someone shot a wolf illegally, and dumped it down the well. I was secretly hoping that a call would be made over the radio, and a forensics team would descend on our little paradise, and suck that well clean, saving me the time and expense of doing it myself. They both laughed and admitted that would be convenient, but no dice. They did tell us that if we did by chance find human remains at the bottom, that we should call them back, otherwise, we could keep what we found. We thanked them as they walked back to the truck and then they headed off.
All in all, it was kind of a fun weekend in a different sense. Whenever we make a new discovery on the property, there are always lingering questions; Why did they do this or that? What was this item used for? What were the people like who lived here? Sometimes, I wish I could see the history of this land in documentary form. I’d like to know the important, and unimportant things that took place here. We did get a couple of stories from the daughter of the previous owner at closing. Like the time her mother shot a black bear right outside of the homestead as she played nearby. Or, how she was responsible for the destruction of the VW bug that still resides on the property. When she was 12, she decided to take her toddler brother for a drive, and managed to roll the car out on highway 2.
We are super excited to announce that we are having our first overnight visitors for our next trip! My Mom & Dad, along with my sister and her husband are coming up to work a bit, relax a bit, and check out the progress. This is our purpose, to have a place for people to gather and enjoy life at a slower pace, and we can’t wait to share our blessing.
As always, check back for more updates, and also…. keep the wildlife out of your well!