The tiny town of Kane, Wyoming, no longer exists.
But for descendents of the departed souls who inhabit the Kane Cemetery, on the plains of the Bighorn Basin overlooking the Shoshone River, the legends of those who came before still live.
Karen Spragg is the curator of the Lovell/Kane Area Museum. From time to time she’ll lead tours out to the Kane Cemetery and talk about the tragedies surrounding the people buried there.
The Blue Lady
One of the most notorious and tragic of the tales told of the Kane Cemetery is that of Matilda Waters. In 1921, Waters murdered — or attempted to murder — all of her children, then killed herself.
“Matilda was the second wife of Jim Waters,” Spragg related. “He had a grown daughter, and they married and had these six children well, then the youngest one died when she was less than 2 years old, and Matilda had some mental issues.”
Spragg said one night, the neighbors invited the family, including Jim, his grown daughter and her husband, over for supper. But Matilda said she’d rather stay home with the children.
“So, she gave the kids all a bath, popped them some popcorn and put them all to bed,” said Spragg. “The girls slept upstairs. The boys were downstairs.”
After they’d been tucked in, Matilda did the unthinkable.
“She went upstairs and shot the two girls, come down the stairs and shot the boys,” Spragg said.
Spragg said the true story about Jim Jr., one of the children, isn’t known for sure. One version of the story is that he was shot, but it was only a minor wound.
“Another one says he hid from his mother because he could hear what she was doing,” Spragg said.
Matilda’s husband Jim, along with his daughter and her husband, were returning home from the neighbor’s when they heard gunshots.
“They ran to the house,” Spragg said. “The screen door was locked, and Matilda come and opened it for them, and she was covered in blood. She had shot herself in the chest.”
Newspaper reports say that Jim could hear the small children crying, and dropped Matilda. She died instantly.
“He went and found the kids,” said Spragg. “A couple of them were dead. A couple of them lived a couple of days. Paul was shot through the hips, and they thought he was going to be okay, and he died two days later.”
Then the legends began.
“And now the story is that Matilda haunts this area out here at the Kane Cemetery, and she's called the Blue Lady,” said Spragg. “And people have said they've seen this floating blue thing out here. And the story goes she's looking for her children.”
Newspaper Accounts
Spragg said newspaper accounts told the story in very blunt detail.
“Our newspaper burnt in 1935 and so we have no old newspapers to reference back to,” she said. “They didn't gloss any of the story over. One newspaper clipping even said that she started out with a knife and found that didn't kill them, so she went and got the revolver.”
Grave Dowsing
Spragg said there may still be mysteries to be solved at the Kane Cemetery.
She brings dowsing rods on some of her trips to the cemetery, in case someone discovers a previously undiscovered grave. When the rods move themselves, that means that you’re standing on a body.
Nicole Mickelson and Stacy Bair, descendents of Asa Beal and his wife Eva buried there, were along for this particular expedition to the Kane Cemetery. Mickelson said she definitely felt something when she dowsed on her grandparents' graves.
“That was a weird, a weird feeling,” said Mickelson, who has been to the cemetery before. “I've never done anything like that. It was kind of a surreal thing, just seeing all that and seeing how it worked.”
Matilda Still Haunts The Cemetery
Although the town of Kane basically disappeared in the mid 1960s when the Bureau of Reclamation built Yellowtail Dam, the cemetery remains — a desolate reminder of those who have passed on.
And yet, according to Spragg, there have been several accounts of a mysterious blue light that appears near the cemetery.
“People have told me that they, especially one of them back in the 1960s, said her and her mom was driving home, and they live maybe half a mile from the cemetery, and she said, “We're going down the road, and this blue floaty thing just floats out across in front of our car,” Spragg said. “And she swears today that she saw that.”
She said other stories she’s heard involve sightings farther away from the cemetery.
“Others have said they've seen her clear over to Crystal Creek, this floating, this blue floating thing floating through the air,” Spragg said. “They just call her the Blue Lady, and she's looking for her children.”
Wendy Corr can be reached at wendy@cowboystatedaily.com.
