The Handprint on the Tombstone, 1874, Decatur

In 1874, cemetery workers in Decatur found a perfect handprint burned deep into Mary Greene’s white marble tombstone, even though nothing else in the cemetery was touched. Crowds gathered to watch as the stone was scrubbed, scraped, and finally doused in acid, but the handprint never faded. The Greene family replaced the stone, only for the outline to reappear on the new one overnight. Local children dared each other to touch it, terrified after hearing how Mary’s dying wish was ignored by her husband. According to town records, the handprint stopped reappearing only after he left Decatur for good.