It’s said that the town of Lafayette, Oregon has been cursed since the 1800s when a woman was accused of witchcraft and then hung for her alleged crimes. Before her execution, she placed a curse on the town, saying that it would burn down three times–and it has since burned in its entirety twice–those who are wary of the curse she placed wonder when it will happen again! To this day, her ghost is seen roaming the town’s cemetery. Another version of the legend has it that in 1886, a woman and her son killed the woman’s boyfriend, her son was arrested and hanged for the crime–in this version of the story, while her son was being executed, his mother screamed that the town would burn down three times.
Here’s the real story…
Richard Marple, his mother Anna, and his wife Julia moved to Lafayette, Oregon from Corvallis in 1885. Despite the availability of jobs, Richard was unable to keep a job, so he turned to a life of crime–allegedly–but he was suspected of multiple robberies. Between 1885 and 1886, his mother Anna became involved with a local shop owner by the name of David Corker. Unfortunately, on November 1, 1886, Corker was found hacked to death by an ax and his store had been pillaged and town Sheriff Harris brought Richard in for questioning. While Richard was not a fan of Corker–even disparaging the man during his questioning–he maintained his innocence. Evidence of his guilt, including a bloody shirt, a bloody piece of paper, as well as tools that he could have used to break into the store were found at his home. Richard, not relenting, made a claim that the evidence had been planted at his home by the sheriff’s office to frame him.
Neither his mother nor his wife corroborated his alibi and stated that he had not been at home when the murder was being committed; Richard was subsequently convicted of first-degree murder on April 9, 1887. His mother, Anna, was indicted as an accomplice, but a lack of evidence resulted in the charges against her being dropped. By November 11, 1887 Richard was set to be executed by hanging next to the county jail and thirty people bore witness to his death. Sheriff Harris ordered that Richard be executed with a black hood over his head, and Richard desperately yelled one last thing out into the crowd, “Murder! May God judge you all!” Unfortunately for Richard, when the trap door was released, the knot slipped under his chin and instead of breaking his neck, he was slowly strangled to death over the span of eighteen minutes.
It is true that during Richard’s execution, his mother Anna shouted that the town would burn and never prosper–after his death, Richard was buried at the Oddfellow’s Masonic Cemetery in Lafayette. According to sources, Richard apparently confessed his guilt to a fellow inmate while his execution was pending and ended up implicating his mother, stating that she had become involved with Corker in order to gain his confidence. After Richard’s execution, his mother moved to Jackson County for the remainder of her life and was buried in the cemetery there. Several years after she moved out of the area, their home in Lafayette was destroyed and the bloody ax used to kill Corker was discovered. It’s not known whether Anna Marple was a witch or a gypsy, but since she was not buried in Lafayette, it is unlikely that she haunts any of the area’s cemeteries. The fact that she was reported to have cursed the town to burn down and it completely burned down twice may have been entirely coincidental. Fires were actually a commonplace occurrence that people had to face in the years before buildings were constructed out of less-flammable materials.
Author. Artist. A little bit Alaskan. Mary lives with her dog in a rural cabin outside of Fairbanks, Alaska. They explore the bounty of the Alaskan wilderness during the summer and cozy up in their log cabin during the winter.
2 replies on “Urban Legends: The Gypsy Curse of Lafayette, OR”
You might want to do a bit more research on this story. Anna Marple never cursed the town to burn. What she said was that if her son had to die, then 18 of the innocent sons of Lafayette would have to die. Later she hoarded a great deal of Strychnine, perhaps to commit mass murder in Lafayette. She was arrested. It was after this she left Lafayette for Jacksonville. Also, the ax was discovered at the scene of the crime the morning after the murder. His wife and mother did state in their testimony that he was home by 9PM. His wife stated she knew he was home because his shoes were in their normal spot and he only had one pair of shoes. Anna Marple was never indicted for anything to do with David Corker’s murder. She was arrested for holding stolen goods from a robbery in Polk County, Oregon, and it is highly unlikely that she had an affair with David Corker or was at the scene the night of the murder. . Gus Marple is most likely buried in Corvallis. According to news accounts, his body was released to his father after his hanging. This would have been what was traditional at the time. The idea that he is buried in the Masonic cemetery comes from the Index at the Secretary of States Office. This information is probably recorded incorrectly. Another source says he is buried at the Pioneer cemetery. Gus Marple was an ax murderer pure and simple. He saw the ax as the perfect killing tool. On the Gallows Sheriff Harris was having trouble with the noose. Gus told him he would have an easier time had he just used an ax. Anna Marple was sometimes his criminal accomplice, and sometimes his scapegoat. There is a lot more to this story. I’ve been researching it for the past two years and am making a short film on David Corker and the murder.
Thanks for the info. If you have some links to your sources I will definitely review and modify. This stuff is hard to find but I welcome new sources to keep the stories up to date.