http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/03/30/M
N184584.DTL
Remnants of Secret Society Pose a Mystery Across the U.S.
Skeletons found in old lodges of Odd Fellows
Maria Glod
Warrenton, Va. -- Paul Wallace was alone, repairing overloaded circuits in
the old red- brick building, when he discovered a tiny door to a dark recess
between two walls. Inside was a black wooden box. Curious, Wallace tugged it
from its dark resting place. A white shroud appeared. Then leathery ribs.
Then white candles. "It was like a Dracula movie," Wallace said. "The top of
the skull was covered, but you could see the rib cage and the sinew." For a
good 20 minutes, Wallace sat frozen. Finally, he returned the skeleton to its
home between the walls of the Warrenton lodge of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows. When police learned of Wallace's macabre discovery, they rushed to
get a search warrant and seized the remains. State medical examiners are
studying the bones. Around town, neighbors speculate about the identity of
the corpse and why she was there. But perhaps the strangest thing about the
mini-drama captivating this small town is that strikingly similar mysteries
have played out across the country. It turns out that skeletons like "Jane
Doe Odd Fellow," as one officer calls her, reside in closets, drawers, attics
and crawl spaces in Odd Fellows lodges nationwide. To members of the age-old
fraternal order, the skeleton is a symbol of mortality, a treasured relic
used in one of their most solemn and secret rituals: initiation. But for many
residents in the towns where the bones are found, the whole thing is just
plain odd. "A lot of people thought it was weird. They were like, 'What if it
were my daughter?' " Wallace said. "I just couldn't believe it," said Elaine
Walters, who lived in an apartment below the lodge as a child. "You have
visions of people stealing it from a grave in the 1700s." As with many
fraternal orders that compete with today's fast-paced lifestyles, interest in
the Odd Fellows has waned, and many lodges have closed. More and more of the
skeletons are emerging from their hiding places -- often to the shock of the
souls who come upon them. In recent years, the discovery of Odd Fellows
skeletons has sparked police investigations in Missouri, Indiana,
Pennsylvania and Nebraska. In Oklahoma, the remains prompted a work crew to
flee in terror. Last year, Jim Leuschke, a Missouri accountant active in
theater, was offered two free caskets by a disbanding Odd Fellows lodge.
Always on the lookout for interesting props, he picked up the ornate wooden
coffins and pried one open to find a partial plaster skeleton. Leuschke was
unloading the coffins into his garage when the top of the second one jarred
loose. What he saw wasn't plaster. "I told the kids, 'Just keep it to
yourselves. I don't want you telling anybody we've got skeletons in our
garage,' " he said. Leuschke eventually reported his find, and skeptical
police officers showed up at his door. "No one could believe what we had
there," he said. Lisa Stone, a Chicago historian who has studied fraternal
organizations, said one surprising part of the rituals is that the group has
kept them secret for so long. The rituals are "not a booga-booga scary
thing," but out of context, the skeletons are "frighteningly powerful
objects," she said. She noted that many fraternal orders, including the
Masons, use similar images. Even the Warrenton police haven't been able to
get the Odd Fellows to betray their order. Lt. Kerry White said members have
cooperated -- but with one caveat. "They specifically asked us not to divulge
what they told us," he said. Odd Fellows Virginia Grand Lodge Secretary Jack
Gibson Jr. bristles at the description of the organization's rituals. "I
don't like the word 'secret,' " Gibson said. "It is a ceremony that is
confined to the members, and if you're not a member, you don't discuss it."
Why so hush-hush? "It makes you different," Gibson said. Wayne Colegrove, a
longtime Odd Fellow from New York, still remembers his initiation more than
50 years ago. He hesitates to reveal too much but speaks of passwords and a
skeleton that "wasn't to be seen by anybody until you take the degree." "The
words they say are something like, 'You're here, and pretty soon you're gone,
and there's a hereafter,' " Colegrove said. "It's a lesson in life." The Odd
Fellows skeletons have popped up in costume shops and as decorations in bars.
One made its way into a serial killer display at a New Orleans art gallery.
Another made an appearance in the cult classic horror film "Dawn of the
Dead." The Independent Order of the Odd Fellows dates to 17th-century England
as a charitable organization that worked to help families in need and buried
their dead. The first American lodge opened in Baltimore in 1819. Present-day
Odd Fellows support a professorship of ophthalmology at Johns Hopkins
University and contribute to the Arthritis Foundation and American Heart
Association. The organization's symbol -- three interlocking rings --
represents friendship, love and truth. The skeletons likely were purchased
from scientific or fraternal supply companies. One catalog from the early
1900s advertised a "genuine, full-size selected specimen, set up and wired,
fairly deodorized." "Every one has a different story," said Randall Kremer, a
spokesman at the Smithsonian Institution. "The companies would obtain
skeletons from anywhere possible. They could be indigents. Or often people,
especially at the higher levels of society, were anxious to donate their
remains for scientific study." So far, authorities have learned that the
Warrenton remains are those of a Caucasian woman who stood about 5 feet 1.
Her arms, feet and lower jaw are missing. She could have died from 10 to 150
years ago. Medical examiners studying the bones are consulting with
anthropologists at the Smithsonian, police said. Wallace, the electrician who
revealed Jane Doe Odd Fellow, sees no harm in having her sent back to the
hall. "It's not witchcraft. It's not satanic," Wallace said. "They do a lot
of good works." Still, he said, he hasn't stopped wondering where she came
from. "Who was this person? When did they die? How did they die?" Wallace
said.
