Zimmerman House backstory on one of our digs!
Talking to the home owner he shared this fascinating mystery!:
He introduced us to his daughter who had been playing in the attic of the 185 yr old home ( a famous home because there where more slaves that went through it then almost any other home on the underground railroad….it was there before Michigan was a state) and when she reached in she felt something and she pulled out a bloody corset and as she pulled it out an ENTIRE HUMAN VERTEBRAE fell out of a bloodied corset.
After taking up the floor boards they discovered body parts for at least 4 people and the police where called in, but after the genetic testing and the bones being well over 100 yrs the case was dropped, and so was the genetic testing which stopped at 4 people…ALL THE BODY PARTS FROM DIFFERENT PEOPLE…not one complete person…a head from one, torso from another, leg from another etc….also some other items where discovered with it including a book giving directions on HOW TO FORCE NUNS INTO HAVING SEX??
….so now a hero of history becomes possibly a very nefarious individual of history….the local historian told us he thinks they could dig up the bones if we would pay for more genetic testing because they want to see if they can solve this mystery….you could do a year of episodes just on that one back story:
- who did they belong to?
- the genetic testing stopped at four people, as the city could not afford to do any more testing…so how many more individuals involved.
- how many where women and where there any men
- where they slaves?
- Zimmerman built the house and lived there over 100 yrs so he was the one living there when the body parts where hidden under the floorboards in the attic…so who is he really and how did he hide something like this from his family ( its not like he buried the body parts in the back yard…and what about the smell he obviously left the bloodied corset on the torso and so it wasn’t as if he put dried bones up there?)
- why the book in Latin on how to force nuns into having sex??
- would more genetic testing eventually connect them with any living relatives?
- etc…
Wikipedia:
“Union City was designated as Station No. 2 of the famous Underground Railroad, where John D. Zimmerman (1811-1879), formerly of Connecticut, was stationmaster. The slaves seeking refuge were taken into a home built around 1840 by Mr. Zimmerman, who arrived in Union City from Fairfield, Connecticut, in the spring of 1838. He brought with him a set of blacksmith tools to operate the blacksmith shop promised for him by Israel Ward Clark, one of the four proprietors of the village of Union City in 1837. In September 1839, Zimmerman returned to Union City with his family; he soon built a wagon factory, blacksmith shop, and a Greek Revival house. Outraged by the institution of slavery, Zimmerman became a stationmaster for the Underground Railroad, hiding escaped slaves in his house and assisting them in their flight to Canada and freedom. The home is on the list of Michigan State Historic Sites and is located at 119 East High Street