Is there a body in my backyard? Woman unearths 60-year-old gravestone while gardening

Julie Densham spent much of Monday wondering if she was cursed.

The Hamilton woman was redesigning her back garden when sheunearthed a haunting piece of history.

"I'm digging up bricks and stones and all kinds of crazy stuff and there was just this really big rock and, gosh, it was so heavy," she said."I turned it over and there it was, the gravestone of Annie Barton."

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The first thing that caught her eye was the word "MOTHER"carved into red, granite stone in big, bold letters. A cross and leaf design fills out the marker's top left corner.

"In loving memory of Annie Barton 1866-1958" the inscription reads.

At the bottom is the words, "Tillwe meet again" Denshamdidn't think that message was meant for her.

She moved to the house near the corner of Newlands and Kenilworth Avenues about a year ago. All that time, she had no idea what was buriedin her backyard. Obviously, the discovery raised a few questions.

"Is there a body there? Did someone steal [the stone]? What's this all about?" she asked.

I'm going to dig even deeper, just for curiosity's sake.- Julie Densham

Then her air conditioner cut out, just as Hamilton under a hot weather warning, and she started to question whether she'd disturbed a sacred site and brought a curse upon her home.

Densham isn't among the faint of heart who might have found digging up agrave marker disconcerting. She's a "horror fiend" who plans to do whatever it takes to find who the stone belongs to.

Either way, she decided to stop digging and instead shared a photo and some details about her story on Crown Point Community, her neighbourhood's Facebook page, where it gathered dozens of comments and 150 reactions in just a few hours.

Hamilton's Parks and Cemeteries division heard about the find and started doing some digging of their own.

Manager Kara Bunnsaid staff were able to confirm the stone was once at Woodland Cemetery, but it appears to have been replaced by a stone with two names, not just Annie's.

"When a family decides to replace an existing marker the old marker, because it belongs to them, they can take it home, or they can ask us to properly dispose of it, which we do by crushing it," she explained.

"We went out and found the replaced marker and were able to confirm the family must have taken the other one."

Bunnsaid Densham'ssituation isn't unheard of, but added it's unlikely she's stumbled on Annie's final resting place.

"Nope, no bodies there."

Denshamsaid she wants to honour Annie's 92-year life by finding her family. If they aren't interested in taking the stone, she plans to find a special place for it in her garden.

She's also aiming to get back out in the yard to see what else she can find. Who knows what else is out there?

"I'm going to dig even deeper, just for curiosity's sake."