Shiloh Desecrated: DCSD seeks information on vandalism at cemetery

Adam Huening

Decatur County Sheriff’s Deputy Dave Henderson has seen a number of baffling things in his line of work, but the discovery he made Monday evening may have been one of the worst.

“I don’t understand it,” Henderson said Tuesday as he walked through the cemetery. “I don’t know what joy somebody could get out of defacing somebody’s grave.”

On Sunday, caretakers and trustees of Shiloh Cemetery discovered a violent scene of criminal mischief. About 30 to 40 gravestones at the historic Shiloh Cemetery were toppled, broken and destroyed. Henderson said, given the size of many of the broken markers, a group of people trespassed sometime in the late night either Tuesday or Wednesday and wrecked havoc on the more than 160-year-old cemetery. They targeted the largest and oldest tombstones, destroying most of the large markers, many of which had dates between 1850 and 1880. The oldest was from 1837.

Each weighed easily two tons, according to Bill Fenley, one of the cemetery trustees, and caretaker Lonnie Spillman. They said it would take at least three or four people to topple some of the largest stones. The vandalism was wide spread as well. Henderson noted they didn’t stick to the back of the cemetery where night would have hidden them from any passers-by on desolate County Road 400 North. They had the audacity, he said, to break stones under the only lamp post at the cemetery and not a row of graves was untouched. The damage to the old tombstones was hard to gauge.

“It’s hard to put a price on something sacred,” Spillman said.

The men estimated the damage at between $30,000 and $40,000, which makes the crime a Class D Felony, cemetery mischief.

The stones, Fenley said, could mostly be fixed, but it would be hard to place them back the way they were. Given the cemetery’s age and history, finding the proper location for each broken shard and toppled headstone would not be an easy task.

“Somebody’s 20 minutes of fun is going to lead to months of work. Some may never get put back together,” Henderson noted. “It’s like a giant jigsaw.”

Fenley said this wasn’t the first time vandalism had struck the quiet country cemetery. Shiloh, he admitted, was not like other private country burial places. Since the 1970s, when a murder was committed near its gates, the place has held a mystique amongst area youth. Teenagers, he noted, often visit the area for the folklore that swirls around it, but most never dare to commit such acts.

“This has happened before, but never like this,” Fenley said. “I don’t think it’s ever been this bad.”

Henderson said given the remote location and the time the crime likely took place leaves him with very few leads. He asked if anyone had information regarding the crime to call him, day or night, at the Sheriff’s Department at 812-663-8125.

The stones may be replaced but the act has left all three men unsettled. As they surveyed the sacred place littered with broken stones, they wondered what kind of mentality would lead to such an act.

“It’s disgusting. What defense do these people have? Everyone in here was someone’s son, daughter, mother, grandparent. It’s just shameful,” Henderson said.

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