The Lost Town in Marrowbone Forest

By ~ Tommie Flannery Baskis and Duskflyer Vison Art & Productions © October 2021

I remember our Marrowbone Town in the way a child sees enchantment in the familiar, as streams of smoke and light stir among the large Yellow Poplars and Locust trees in the moments of dusk. We would pass through the desolate, country road that led into the ageless settlement and arrive when the only sounds to be heard, cast a lonely echo upon the dark woods.

Unbeknownst to me, time has since passed over this town like forgotten whispers; leaving only dust and bones of old place.

I have meticulously collected moments through my ‘seasons of growing’, like a child who places sacred trinkets and photographs in a tin box to keep them protected; moments, that have coalesced into memories of my time here, which seem far away as well as illusive.

I have been gone for 11 years. My Father took a position in the neighboring County of Iron Church, as a clock maker. So we packed our humble belongings and treasures from our two story Federal style house, when I was 13 years of age.

We only had one working truck and the distance between the forests of our counties made it nigh impossible for me to visit my Grandparents back in Marrowbone. It seemed like we would only traverse the snowy back roads to visit a spell around Christmas time.

I have fond memories of the town’s folk as we all decorated the square with a colossal Douglas fir; a tree, carefully adorned, with glowing candles, ornaments of shiny glass and painted wood. The older ones would start singing songs of praise and good tiding for the yearly harvests as darkness and snow flurries cloaked the heavens. Nevertheless, all of this seems like a distant memory.

I am Ylva Rue. This tale is an account of my return to Marrowbone only to discover a place suspended by time itself or perhaps… something more menacing.

Stay Tuned for more of this story and about my latest books ‘The Abandoned Story’ series on Kentucky!~

Marrowbone Forest Road