This 5-stage, 12-kilometre multicache is about witches, murder, and spirtual possession. Search for it at your own risk.
The final cache is located on private property with the owners' kind consent (but there’s no need to enter the property to find the cache). Please restrict your search there to the daylight hours. Please don't pester the home owners. And please pick up any messes your pet leaves behind.
The lock needs to be pressed firmly to get it to close properly.
Joseph E. Baker’s “The Witch No. 1,” 1892 (portion)
The 1692 Salem witch trials in Massachusetts are well known. They resulted in the hangings of 14 women and 5 men. The state later overturned all these convictions and awarded some monetary compensation to relatives.
The 1892 execution of Calgary’s alleged witch is a well-kept secret. There was no trial, his death went unrecorded, and his good name was never restored. It is said his tormented soul still seeks revenge.
The Facts
Ezekiel Burroge moved from Halifax to Calgary in 1887 and purchased farmland southeast of town. He had been born with two right hands and two right feet and was generally shunned by his neighbours because of these differences.
Using his excellent agricultural skills, Ezekiel prospered and bought additional property. In 1892, when a blight devastated many local crops, Ezekiel’s fields mostly escaped the disease. This raised suspicions among other farmers, many of whom blamed supernatural causes for their loses. Accusations of witchcraft were whispered against Ezekiel.
Photo by Russell Lee
On 30 October 1892, a 10-year-old boy disappeared after walking in the direction of Ezekiel’s farm. Accusations of witchcraft were shouted.
The next evening, five men appeared at Ezekiel's door. Without a trial, they hanged, beheaded, and quartered him. One man placed Ezekiel's head in a locked wooden box while the other four took the remaining body parts on horseback to distant locations for burial.
The missing child was safely found on 2 November. He had run away from home after his father beat him with a leather belt.
I first learned of these events while working on the 2006 federal census. I had interviewed a great granddaughter of one of the murderers. “Sue” was terminally ill and had no living relatives. Her family had passed the story down through the generations, and Sue needed to unburden herself of this knowledge before dying.
I’ve confirmed the basic facts from historical records. An old letter written by the son of another one of the murderers corroborates the details of the execution. There is no official record of Ezekiel Burroge’s death. His property reverted to the Northwest Territories in 1893 for failure to pay taxes.
The Oddity
Sue revealed enough information about where Ezekiel’s limbs were buried for me to find their general locations. Interestingly, in each of these four spots there is a bare circle about 4 to 5 metres in diameter. No vegetation grows, as if the earth has been heavily salted.
I received permission to dig at one location. I failed to find any bones or other evidence that a body part had been buried.
Illustration by AJ
The Myth
Towards the end of our interview, Sue slipped into a demented state. She claimed Ezekiel's remains are not at rest. During each full moon, his arms and legs awaken and crawl 666 feet towards his head.
Once his body is reunited, Ezekiel’s spirit will have a vessel with which to inflict revenge upon his executioners' descendants.
Sue also warned that anyone who touches all five body parts will become temporarily possessed by Ezekiel's tormented ghost.
The Search
Sue refused to give me the exact location of Ezekiel's head. She did, however, provide this formula:
N 50° 56.A+B W 113° 51.C+D
She claimed each limb holds vital information for finding the head.
Once I became active in geocaching, I realized the approximate location of Ezekiel's head might be sufficiently accurate to compute the alleged position of each limb. I did the math and now report my findings in the form of a multicache.
The posted coordinates are where I calculated you can find Ezekiel's first leg. See the other waypoints, below, for the locations of his other leg and two arms. The order you find them is entirely up to you.
If you believe Sue, then finding all four extremities should provide you with enough information to solve the above formula and locate the box holding Ezekiel's head. The box is locked, so you'll also have to figure out how to unlock it.
Personally, I don't buy a word of the myth and haven't wasted any time searching for crawling body parts. If you're a believer, though, feel free to look. Do you also believe Sue's warning about becoming possessed? Seek at your own risk.
This cache started with a Halloween theme, but trade whatever you like. Leave the head, log book stuff, and stash note. Everything else is available for trade. You did find the log book, didn't you?
Please be sure the box is securely relocked when you leave. We wouldn't want anything to escape.
Always be aware of barbed wire fences, none of which you'll need to cross.
Kids should enjoy this entire multicache…as long as they don't frighten too easily.
Congratulations to gordoner on the FTF.
Thanks
The property owners permitted us to place the final cache on their land, and we very much appreciate this.
Thanks as well to one of our favourite cache hiders for allowing us to copy one of their techniques.
And thanks to Ms. CanadianRockies for painting the final cache's camouflage and its log book holder.
Note: Except for the Salem witch trials information, this story is pure Halloween fiction. I don't know of any Calgarian who was executed for witchcraft.