7MLT VIV - Bones at the Bottom (Vermillion, South Dakota)

For the 7th 7-Minute Less Taken episode of the 7th month of the year, we're going deep into some obscure folklore as we travel through Vermillion, South Dakota. 

In 1897, a man dug a well behind a quiet South Dakota home—and pulled up more than water. What he found would unravel a decades-old secret, buried in bones and silence. Some murders leave a body. This one left a legend.



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If you're new to LT, Season Four: Hollowlands contains four different episode types:

1. Full-length real-life horror stories (~1 hr)
2. Previews of full-length stories
3. 7-Minute Less Taken stories
4. Transitional/Crossover episodes call 'Roads Less Taken'


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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
This taking contains content that may not be suitable for
all audiences listeners, discretion is advised less.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
You can cover a secret with dirt, with time, with silence,
But when the water runs dry, when the well runs deep,
what's buried has a way of rising up. Vermilion, South Dakota,

(00:48):
September eighteen ninety seven. A modest home stands on the
edge of town, backed by the dry land and brittle grass.
Like most homes in Vermilion, it runs in well water,
or it did until the old well dried up, so
the homeowner, an unassuming man named Benjamin Betts, hires help

(01:11):
to dig a new one. It starts like any other
dig pick axes, shovels, and the thud of tools breaking earth.
The ground here is stubborn, though it's thick of clay,
but the men keep at it. Then, just over ten

(01:31):
feet down, one of them strikes something odd, not stone,
not root, something brittle, something hollow. They pause, then they
start trying to pull it free. They're horrified when they
finally do in their hands as a human skull. They

(02:03):
call in the sheriff and words spreads like wildfire. The
newspapers describe a complete skeleton curled in on itself in
the clay found in what should have been an untouched
patch of earth. No clothing, no obvious markings, no box,
no coffin, no grave, nothing. There are rumors, though, of course.

(02:26):
Some claim it's ancient, a native burial ground of sorts.
Others whisper murder, But no one knows who it was.
No ones have been sure how long the bones have
been there, except one man in a corner saloon, a
patron hears the story and goes pale. He says the

(02:47):
house once belonged to a man named James Holman. Years ago.
Holman lived there with a border named John Henshaw, a
quiet man who come from Indiana. The two were close,
some said too close, others said they fought often. Then

(03:08):
one day, just like that, John Hinshaw is gone. The
man at the bar claims that Omen told the neighbors
that Henshaw had up and left in the night, said
he owed rent, and that to be honest, he was
probably skipping town to dodge some other debt. But something

(03:29):
about this story has always felt off. Newspapers dig up
the old tale in interviews resurface. Some remember loud shouting
the night before Hinshaw disappeared. Others recall seeing Holman in
the early hours, dragging something heavy across the yard. Omen
himself well, he'd move away shortly after, claiming the place

(03:53):
gave him bad dreams, And now years later there's a
skeleton in his old yard. Authorities never file formal charges,
and by the time the bones are found, Omen's long gone.
Some say he might even be dead now living in
another state, claim others don't. No autopsy has ever performed,

(04:18):
and the remains are quietly buried somewhere else. No one
ever confirms officially that the bones belong to John Henshaw,
but then again no one questions it either. In the end,
there's no trial, there's no justice, just a body buried
beneath the house, and a shallow well that never holds water,

(04:43):
and a man who vanishes without a trace until the
ground decides to give him back. In this part of
South Dakota, the land is hard, the clay runs deep.
But even here secrets don't stay buried forever. I'm Seam
Humphries and this has been another seven minute less taken

(05:05):
from season four Hollo Lands. This also is the seven
of seven seven minute less taken episodes for the month
of July. After this, we're taking a short break.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
For the beginning of August, and at the end we'll
be back with our transitional Roads Less Taken episode as
we continue to explore real life horror stories from all
over the Midwest. September and going forward, we'll return to
our normal format where we have the preview, the full episode,
and then the Roads Less Taken. In the meantime, please

(05:41):
let us know what you think by leaving a fair
reading review wherever you're listening, follow us before we follow
you on Facebook, Instagram, and threads, and be sure to
check out everything else at lesstaknpod dot com. A quick
note on our storytelling. While we do our best to
stick to the facts, we sometimes take creative liberties to
maintainative cohesiveness. Once again, thanks for listening, and please come

(06:04):
back at the end of August, as we returned of
season four of Less Taken called Hollow Lands

Speaker 1 (06:24):
Y