WHO IS THE BONE KING?

Local Lowery Legends Uncovered

by Paul Erskin

“The Bone King, the Bone King. He watches over everything.”

Simply typing his name sends a jolt of adrenaline up my spine. It’s a story we’re conditioned to completely disregard as we get older. Putting it in print is almost certainly going to get me in trouble with the owner of our fair paper. (Sorry dad!)

Growing up in Lowery is easier said than done. The population is tiny, the rules are restrictive, and the night life is…nonexistent. More than any other town I’ve heard of, however, Lowery has a secret history not covered on the front page. I say it’s time for that history to enjoy some time in the spotlight. Now that we've survived the horrors of Y2K, I even plan to put it on the town's web page. Welcome to the 21st century, Lowery. I promise it won't hurt you.

Can I ever adequately relate the stunned silence of my house the first time I learned about the Bone King? 

Well, I can try.

I was in first grade. My neighbor Danny had come over for dinner. After we ate, my parents did the dishes while Danny and I ventured down into the basement. We hadn’t even gotten to the bottom of the staircase when he whispered the story to me.

”My brother saw The Bone King,” he told me. His eyes were wide, as if I had any idea what that meant.

“He said I couldn’t tell anybody, but he snuck out after curfew to smoke. He saw a man staring at him from the woods. A man wearing a crown of human bones.”

Danny told me that the Bone King was a crazed killer who watches over the woods around Lowery. If you step foot in the woods after sundown, he’ll carry you off into the forest, and serve you as food to his family.

I’m not sure I took so much as a single breath while he spoke.

Eventually, my parents came to check on us, and Danny quickly dropped the topic. That night, I could hardly sleep.

Danny’s brother had been dead for just barely a week. The first dead person I’d ever known.

Not long after the funeral, Danny and his family moved away from Lowery. I’ve never forgotten how terrified he looked as he told me his story. 

Was the Bone King responsible for killing a teenager? Or was he simply a means by which a young boy tried to make sense of the untimely loss of his brother? 

Over a decade later, I still wonder.

The Bone King legend is hard to research (after all, Lowery is still on dial-up). Rumor has it the stories date back to the early founding of Lowery, explained then as a creature lurking in the old mines. The Bone King was supposedly the reason those same mines were eventually closed. Of course, verified history says the mines were closed because they were worthless, but I’d never let facts get in the way of a good story!

Apologies to my father for not writing the sports column I promised I would, but if anyone reading has any stories of the strange and unusual, get them to me and they may appear in a future column. Assuming this column is allowed to continue existing!

Until next time: stay out of the woods, or the Bone King might just get you!

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