March 22, 1860, Providence, Rhode Island.

A group of men are standing around in the backyard of an old house.

Some are huddled over a pile of diagrams, drawings of garden plots that have notes scribbled

all over them.

Others stand by with these pointed iron rods ready to stab them into the earth.

They're looking for soil with a soft texture to it, kind of loose.

That will tell them if anyone has dug there before.

Because this group is looking for a body.

But no one can agree on where it is.

They've gone around to the neighbors, people who've lived in the town for a long time to

see if they have any memories about where this body could be.

And finally, after digging and digging, they find something.

But it's not quite what they're looking for.

Unless, maybe, it is.

I'm Dylan Thuras and this is Atlas Obscura, a celebration of the world's strange, incredible,

and wondrous places.

Today, we're taking you to Providence, where the hunt to memorialize Rhode Island's founder

created one of the state's strangest and most enduring myths.

That's after this.

In the middle of Providence, Rhode Island is an old 18th century mansion.

Today, it's a museum, the John Brown House.

If you go in the back, there's an exhibit in the house's old woodshed.

...