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Head to Patreon.com slash Southern Mysteries to join today. The Old Marshall Reservoir was constructed in Richmond, Virginia in the early 1800s. It was situated on six acres near the James River.

In 1885 the area consisted of a brick-lined facility that house water along with the reservoir

keeper's house and a small garden behind the streets and path that led to the top of

the walls surrounding the grounds.

On the morning of March 14th,

Reservoir Keeper Lysander Rose was walking the grounds

as he did every morning to ensure all was well.

He noticed a broken shoestring and a red glove on an embankment

near the water.

As he looked around, he noticed two sets of footprints on a nearby muddy path and it

appeared to Lysander that a struggle had taken place on the grounds. As he

looked out across the reservoir, he did a double take when he saw

something floating in the water. He called in workmen who pulled from the water the lifeless body of a young woman who was

noticeably pregnant. When the coroner examined the body he noted the woman had not

been in the water long. Her body showed no sign of

decomposition. He would write in his report that there were possible signs of an

assault with bruising on her face, a swollen mouth, and her dress was torn near the

elbow. The coroner ruled the cause of death was drowning and determined she was eight months pregnant with a baby boy at the time of her death.

The young lady wore no wedding ring which made the coroner wonder if perhaps she was an unwed mother who had been

shamed and could have taken her own life. On March 17th a woman met with a corner, viewed the body, and identified 23-year-old

...