Sherri Fulmer Moorer
The mystery in my life that I would love to have solved � and that would make for an excellent mystery novel � is the death of my great Uncle Bunk.
As a child, I was close to my grandfather’s sister, great Aunt Myrtle. She was a retired teacher who lived alone and never had children of her own. We got along great, and I was heartbroken when she died from complications with Alzheimer’s when I was eight years old. When my grandfather died six years later, my parents had to explain who that person named “Bunk� was that was buried beside her. I never knew she was married until then, but when I found out the rest of the story, I was shocked.
Uncle Bunk was hit by a train. The story is that he was out drinking whiskey with his friends when the accident happened. Aunt Myrtle was embarrassed, and feared that I wouldn’t understand that she had been widowed before I was born. Bunk was drunk, and that’s why he died. That’s what the family believed, and that was the end of the story. She moved on, loved her great-nieces and great-nephews, and lived a full life, and Bunk became a secret.
I don’t believe it.
I can understand why the family is embarrassed. Getting hit by a train is dumb in any generation, especially when it’s so easy to step out of the way. If Uncle Bunk had a reputation as a drunk, then the story is more pitiful. But Aunt Myrtle was no fool, and I have a hard time believing that she would have the patience to marry a drunken idiot. There’s more to the story. I can hear the trains traveling on the tracks two miles from my house every time they pass, so he had to be passed out to get hit. And surely, he didn’t decide that a train track was a good place to do that.
I think Uncle Bunk had help getting on that train track, perhaps from his “friends.� After all, he alone was hit, and none of them shared this unfortunate fate. There’s probably a fantastic mystery here. Too bad they didn’t have today’s forensic science in the 60’s and early 70’s, or Uncle Bunk’s unfortunate demise could have made one of these intriguing true crime TV shows.
But it isn’t, and will never be. The true story died with him, and if anybody else was involved in this “accident,� then they’ve also no doubt met their demise and ultimate judgement as well. As for the living generations that follow, we won’t know.
Alas, a great mystery never to be solved. Or, maybe it is what it is, and he was a drunk hit by a train. I prefer to maintain the mystery.
As a child, I was close to my grandfather’s sister, great Aunt Myrtle. She was a retired teacher who lived alone and never had children of her own. We got along great, and I was heartbroken when she died from complications with Alzheimer’s when I was eight years old. When my grandfather died six years later, my parents had to explain who that person named “Bunk� was that was buried beside her. I never knew she was married until then, but when I found out the rest of the story, I was shocked.
Uncle Bunk was hit by a train. The story is that he was out drinking whiskey with his friends when the accident happened. Aunt Myrtle was embarrassed, and feared that I wouldn’t understand that she had been widowed before I was born. Bunk was drunk, and that’s why he died. That’s what the family believed, and that was the end of the story. She moved on, loved her great-nieces and great-nephews, and lived a full life, and Bunk became a secret.
I don’t believe it.
I can understand why the family is embarrassed. Getting hit by a train is dumb in any generation, especially when it’s so easy to step out of the way. If Uncle Bunk had a reputation as a drunk, then the story is more pitiful. But Aunt Myrtle was no fool, and I have a hard time believing that she would have the patience to marry a drunken idiot. There’s more to the story. I can hear the trains traveling on the tracks two miles from my house every time they pass, so he had to be passed out to get hit. And surely, he didn’t decide that a train track was a good place to do that.
I think Uncle Bunk had help getting on that train track, perhaps from his “friends.� After all, he alone was hit, and none of them shared this unfortunate fate. There’s probably a fantastic mystery here. Too bad they didn’t have today’s forensic science in the 60’s and early 70’s, or Uncle Bunk’s unfortunate demise could have made one of these intriguing true crime TV shows.
But it isn’t, and will never be. The true story died with him, and if anybody else was involved in this “accident,� then they’ve also no doubt met their demise and ultimate judgement as well. As for the living generations that follow, we won’t know.
Alas, a great mystery never to be solved. Or, maybe it is what it is, and he was a drunk hit by a train. I prefer to maintain the mystery.
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