by chiggerbit » Fri Mar 10, 2006 2:00 am
Mars Hill Church of southeastern Iowa, the oldest surviving "log cabin" church structure west of the Mississippi River, burned today. A beautiful little church in a beautiful isolated setting in the timber, it had a reputation for vandalism, and rumors abound of unauthorized use of the church by a few locals for occult rituals. The area was also noted for UFO sitings. So sad.<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Fields/6746/marshillchurch.html">www.geocities.com/Heartla...hurch.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br><br>More history:<br><br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:l_H6-BFqL7YJ:www.klimaco.net/klimacodotnet/ghost_and_orb__pages/ghost_mars_hill_iowa.htm+Mars+Hill+Church%2BWapello+County%2BUFO%27s&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=2">64.233.179.104/search?q=c...=clnk&cd=2</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>"...Margaret Thrall wrote about the church in documents prepared for the Wapello County Historical Society: It (Mars Hill Church) was one of the stations on the underground railway system used by Northerners to aid the Negroes in making their way North and (to) freedom. The Negroes were hidden in the timber by day, and then assembled at the church for further transportation. John Brown of Harper's Ferry fame is supposed to have hidden two wagonloads of slaves there during the Civil War.<br><br><br>On September 13, 1974, Mars Hill was entered in the State of Iowa Register of Historic Places. A document sent to the National Park Service of Washington D.C., a division of the United States Department of the Interior said, local tradition has it that the Mars Hill Church was used as a hiding place during the Civil War as part of the Underground Railroad.<br><br><br>In the late 1970s, occult activities surfaced in south central Iowa, and unfortunately, Mars Hill Church was the site of some of it. In June of 1985, Reva Rupe found a mutilated black cat hanging over the church altar. Satanic crosses and symbols had been painted in blood on the walls. Historic tombstones were broken off. Pews were stacked and set on fire inside the church. Later, vandals drug the remaining pews out into the lawn in front of the church, stacked them and set them on fire. Fortunately the church itself didn't burn as a result of either of these incidences While application was made to the National Parks Service to have Mars Hill Church listed on the National Parks Service's Trail of Stations on the Underground Railroad in the spring of 2001, so far the application has been rejected. Oral tradition is an important part of any community's history, but the committee is looking for written documentation, Bible entries, personal diaries, or letters that describe specific incidences of Underground Railroad Activity..."<br> <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=chiggerbit@rigorousintuition>chiggerbit</A> at: 3/9/06 11:17 pm<br></i>
