bodies

KN, p. 206 “Top Ten Fan Favorites – 2017”

 

Krav Maga class, Wichita Falls, Texas

More than ever, it seems as if readers and professional writers that follow the Notebook most enjoy learning about the nuts and bolts of crime as well as the crime fighters that take care of the bad guys. It was fun to see that two of our (always taste-tested) recipes made the list this year as well.

 

Here are the Top Ten Fan Favorites for 2017, listed in reverse order. Click on the links to re-read the articles (or enjoy them for the first time) and let us know in the comments whether your faves made the list.  Happy sleuthing, one and all.  🙂

 

  1. “Sheila’s Chick Pea Dip” https://bit.ly/2k1v4lf created originally for last year’s Super Bowl party, it has become our family favorite as well as for many of you.

 

  1. “The Blue Flu” https://bit.ly/2nVeKC4 my own bout with the flu caused me to write this one. The research behind this historically accurate piece was fascinating.

 

  1. “An Garda, Irish National Police” https://bit.ly/2mhg6WL After the wildly successful series of articles about the Texas Rangers, it seemed that Kerrian followers wanted more information about law enforcement groups, even in other countries.

 

  1. “Bodies on the Golf Course” https://bit.ly/2prGhKX  I keep saying that golf courses are lousy places to hide bodies, but the bad guys aren’t listening. 😉

 

  1. “Training for An Garda, Irish National Police” https://bit.ly/2mLqAzz Rigorous and getting more so as the competition for a limited number of spots increases.

 

  1. “Kerrian’s Mac & Cheese” https://bit.ly/2kXv0Vg Yummy. We guarantee it. Made and enjoyed by numerous followers.

 

  1. “Is he/she a serial killer?” https://bit.ly/2lhXE1P I kept alllll the lights on while doing the research for this one.

 

  1. “Deadly poisons in the house.” https://bit.ly/2l6cHZH Inspired by an accidental combining of cleaning products.

 

  1. “Krav Maga, self-defense for the real world.” https://bit.ly/2wFwOnT A real-world way for people of all shapes, sizes, and ages to defend themselves.

 

And the most read new post of 2017?

1.   “200 ways to die an unnatural death.” https://bit.ly/2jmDIeE


Take a look at “Kerrian’s Notebook, Volume 2: Fun, facts, and a few dead bodies,” just released. Download to your e-reader and enjoy!  🙂

Happy New Year, everyone!

 

 

 

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KN, p. 196 “Bodies on the Golf Course”

 

When golfers are sidelined because of rain or sleet or snow or as in my case, the flu, our minds start dreaming of everything we have ever done around a course. I’ve been honking and coughing for weeks, so it’s been waaaay too long since I stood anywhere near a green. On the plus side, the Golf Channel has been on for 24 hours straight and I am getting some great tips on improving my short game. Choking up on the 9-iron might give me an edge. But, it’s me after all, and I started thinking about bodies on the course.

 

I’ve maintained that hiding a body on a course is not all that easy, because there is a lot of foot traffic from dawn to dusk, whether it’s the players themselves or groundskeepers in charge of maintaining the fairways, the greens, and the deep rough/woods next to the fairways.

 

In September of 2016, a woman was heard arguing with her boyfriend at 5 a.m., was dragged away, then driven to a golf course in the Chicago area and left there. Her body was found a little after 8 a.m. and the boyfriend was charged a few days later.

 

 

Then, in October, 2016, a body was found in a pond near a fairway at the Seven Bridges Golf Club in Illinois. It was golfers who discovered the body of the 29-year-old man, so they were probably looking for a lost ball. Imagine that surprise!
A Fire Dive Rescue Team recovered the body, and the police decided that there was no foul play involved. That made me think of all the times I’ve played near water hazards and was tempted to go in after a ball that didn’t quite make it across the lily pads. I always opted for keeping my feet dry and left the ball to the ducks unless I could see the little white orb right at the edge. What could have made the guy go in far enough to lose his footing and drown?

 

 

Private and/or public courses are not the only places bodies pop up. In January, 2017, a 50-year-old man’s body was found in the water at the Cypress Lakes Golf Course, which is operated by the 60th Force Support Squadron at Travis Air Force Base. Another non-suspicious death, but seriously, how expensive was that golf ball?

 

 

All these bodies had been discovered within a few days of the person’s death. But with this next case from February, 2017, the remains had been there since 2005. Twelve years of nobody tripping over a young man who had committed suicide? He was found next to the second fairway at a Columbus, Ohio, Golf and Country Club.

 

Danny Sanders was a senior at Worthington Kilbourne High School when he left his house in February, 2005 and he wasn’t reported missing for 10 days. When asked why they waited so long, the family thought that he had just taken off somewhere. Then three months later, the father discovered that his handgun was missing.

 

What’s even more tragic was that Danny’s body was found about 100 yards away from the family’s house, 30 yards into some woods and heavy brush off the fairway. At least the family has closure. In this case, I have to concede that it was unlikely that the body would have been discovered any sooner, since most guys/gals won’t bother looking for a ball that far off the fairway. My guess is that the heavy brush will disappear soon.

 

Interested in finding out more about two of the cases? Check out these links:

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-boyfriend-charged-in-slaying-of-woman-found-at-golf-course-20161001-story.html

 

http://nbc4i.com/2017/02/06/human-remains-discovered-near-northwest-columbus-golf-course/

 

 

Stay out of the water hazards and stay safe on the golf course!

 

*Kerrian is a fictional character, but the bodies on the golf courses were real.

 

*Photo by Patti Phillips

 

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KN, p. 116 “Cemetery at the Golf Course”

 

 

I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that most of you have never played golf above a cemetery. Maybe you’ve walked past a golf course and seen how peaceful the landscape is, with its beautiful trees and manicured expanse of grass and/or been lucky enough to play a round on it. Maybe you’ve visited old cemeteries and been struck by the size of the property.  But, combining the two uses of grassy knolls is unusual.

 

Occasionally I play a round at a local public course that sits right next to a very crowded small cemetery. The 7th hole runs along the edge of an older section of grave sites and while separated by a row of tall shrubbery, errant golf balls do fly through the gaps in foliage.

 

 

Do lost golf balls plopping on the graves bother the forever-resting occupants? Do golfers leave the wayward balls to the dearly departed, so that no footsteps ever fall on the burial ground?  I know a few guys who see the little white sphere traveling above the headstones and take out another golf ball right away. No attempt to retrieve said lost ball. They take a mulligan for the shot and play on. If a little kid sat behind the bushes and tossed the ball back from the cemetery (while staying hidden) I think the guys might run off the course and never return.  😉

 

Recently, in Chastain Park (Atlanta, Georgia) it was discovered that a section of the golf course actually sits right above an old potter’s field graveyard.

 

Watch the video here:

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/dozens-graves-discovered-under-chastain-park-golf-/138124636/ 


There is a possibility that wildflowers will be planted on the turf above the graves, allowing the permanent residents some peace and a bit of respect they might not have had in a forgotten potter’s field. There is no plan to disturb the graves.

 

 

Just in case you think it’s weird to combine a golf course with a cemetery, however accidental, here’s a bit of insider golfer information:

 

Many, and I mean MANY, avid golfers would love to have their ashes spread on their favorite golf course, and have even picked out the hole upon which they’d like to spend eternity. Maybe it’s the hole with a great view of the countryside; maybe it’s the place where they first hit a hole-in-one or won a bet. I’ve yet to sink a hole-in-one, so my choice would be somewhere around the green with a great view.

 

There are so many of these dedicated players all over the world that some large golf courses have regulations specifically dealing with the issue:

 

–      what day of the week the scattering is permitted

–      fees that may be required in order to gain access

–      who is allowed to do the scattering (a company that specializes in this event or the actual grieving person)

–      where on the course the ashes can ‘rest’

 

Why do the powers-that-be care? Cremated remains are not all like small grains of sand. In the mix are pieces of bone, irregular in shape, unless they’ve been ground after cremation. Soooo…while the golf course managers may permit the scattering, they might have a concern about people dumping an urn full of ashes into a sand trap or on a tee box or (gasp) anywhere on a green.

 

Do you have a relative that wants to overlook the 8th green in perpetuity? Tell him/her to look into the policies at the chosen resting place. And tell him/her to figure out who is supposed to do the scattering. And what to do if there’s snow on the ground. Uncle Joe or Aunt Mae may have to wait a bit on somebody’s mantle until the spot at the golf course is ready for occupancy.

 

For a bit more information about the graves under Chastain Park, click on the link.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/dozens-graves-found-beneath-atlanta-golf-article-1.1806260

 

 

*Photos by Patti Phillips

 

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