The burial, the exhumation, the three ministers falling into the grave, the terrified mourners, the rumors of zombification — none of these details appear to have been reported by any newspaper in 1915 or in the years immediately following.

In a world where local papers routinely covered unusual events, the complete absence of any contemporaneous coverage is a significant gap in the documentary record.

The first known published account of the story appeared in the Augusta Chronicle on August 25, 1955.

That is forty years after the alleged events of 1915.

And that article was not even primarily about Essie Dunbar.

It was written because Dr.