At the end of an old dirt road, in South Eastern Delaware, there is an old cemetery dating back to the early 1800’s. Long Cemetery, also known as Colonel Armwell Long Cemetery. Long served in the Revolutionary War with George Washington, and when he died in 1834, he was buried alongside his wife, a son, and several other relatives in their small family plot. The land, owned by the Layton family, was soon turned into a large public cemetery in Armwell’s memory, with him being cited as the first official burial.
The catman, however, has nothing to do with the origins of the cemetery. The catman is actually a former caretaker, called such because of his feline, or cat-like, features. He lived in a nearby home and didn’t appreciate the local teenagers who enjoyed coming to the cemetery to party, or be a general nuisance. He spent much of his time running them off.
When the catman passed, he was interred in an above-ground crypt in the cemetery. But the catman didn’t take his duties as caretaker lightly, and so, even in death, he continued to care for the cemetery.
Unfortunately, the crypt was torn down in 1994, at the request of the family. There had been too much vandalism, and catman and the other four people who claimed it as their final resting place, were given regular in-ground burials. What’s interesting though, is those who had seen the crypt before it was torn down, reported seeing strange scratches on the inside, almost like those of a cat’s claw!
Catman still has no patience for people messing around in the cemetery. There are the remains of a brick wall at the back of the cemetery. It is believed that if you knock on the wall three times, you will summon Catman, and he will cause the visitor’s car to fail, making it difficult for you to leave.
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