It should go unsaid that most things in cemeteries and graveyards shouldn’t move. Obviously, people may need to roam about, and it’s probably impossible to keep small animals from going about – but I’m sure we can all agree that some things, such as headstones and monuments really ought not to be in motion.
There is one cemetery that didn’t get that memo: The Historic Maion Cemetery in Marion, Ohio.
The cemetery does have a fair share of notable and interesting attractions, such as memorials for fallen Law Enforcement and Firefighters from Marion, The Recieving Vault serving as a testament to President Harding, a Memorial chapel for Civil War Soldiers and Sailors … and then there’s the monument for the C.B. Merchant family, which is notable because the thing just can’t sit still.
The monument in question is a large marble sphere resting atop a three-tiered base standing about five feet tall. Even though nobody has come up with a verifiable explanation, that heavy marble ball … it rotates. Quite a bit, actually. The thing weighs 5,200-pounds, how is that even possible?
Due to the way that the marble was constructed, a small portion of the orb remained unfinished, which is fairly easy to notice as it visually contrasts with the polished marble. When the monument was first constructed, that unfinished dot was placed at the top, where it would be impossible to see. It wasn’t long, however, before someone noticed that unfinished bit was on the side.
Marble is notoriously heavy, so the immediate obvious question wasn’t who moved it … but how? People tried to move it back, but the sphere was just too heavy.
The monument was installed around 1896 and the ball has been moving this entire time. Sometimes it may move as much as an inch or two in a several month period, other times it could be closer to five inches.
Possible Explanations
Over the years, several people have attempted to explain why the ball has been rotating, although so far none of the explanations have been fully accepted or proven correct.
The Earthquake Theory
Ohio may not be the first state you think of with an Earthquake Problem, but it does tend to get a fair share. Most Ohio quakes are relatively minor, however local geologists say that Ohio has been hit with over 200 earthquakes with a magnitude over 2.0 since 1776 (I can’t seem to find the data for earthquakes below that magnitude.)
If there were minor earthquakes happening, they could have been just strong enough to vibrate the monument just enough for the ball to rotate, just a little bit.
The problem with this theory is that one would expect that times when seismic activity was elevated, the ball would have moved a bit more, and periods when seismic activity was lessened, the ball wouldn’t have rotated as much. Unfortunately, those times do not align and there appears to be no correlation.
It should also be noted that there are several other “marble ball on a pedestal” monuments throughout this part of Ohio – but none of those seem to be rotating.
The Water and Ice Theory
In the Nevada Desert, for a short time scientists were perplexed over some rocks that were slowly moving across the desert floor. The area where this was happening rarely saw wind of any kind, let alone strong enough to move a rock. Yet, there were observable tracks behind the rocks that proved they had moved.
To make a long story short, after rigorous scientific testing they finally came to a conclusion: ice and water were moving the stones.
At night, there was just enough moisture in the air to make things ever-so slightly damp when the sun went down. Occasionally, it would be just cool enough to freeze that moisture, the ice crystals moving the rock by just a fraction of a centimeter. Considering there was no wind or rain to wash (or blow) away the tracks left by the rocks, it really did look like the rocks had just been dragged across the desert floor. (They were, but it just took a lot of time.)
So, is it possible that something like this is happening here? That when there is moisture in the air (from either humidity or rain) then that moisture freezes, perhaps it is rotating the ball by a very small amount and that over time, all those micro-movements start to add up?
From what I’ve read, this is one of the more popular theories, although there are some scientific skeptics. Some point out that the marble is much heavier than the Sailing Stones of Nevada, asking if ice would have enough pressure to rotate the marble.
The It’s Aliens Theory
Shut up, Giorgio A. Tsoukalos.
The Paranormal Theory
Whenever there is something odd going on in a cemetery, someone’s going to come up with an explanation that involves the paranormal, be it ghosts or demons or some other form of psychic phenomena.
We do see claims like this at just about every other cemetery and it’s not hard to figure out why. However, in nearly every other case, these stories are associated with some sort of legend or story – but here there are no stories that could, possibly, go on to sort of explain anything. Nobody in the family had a connection with any kind of rotating globe, by any stretch of the imagination.
On a basic level, all the paranormal theories come down to one thing – since we can’t explain it, it has to be something … else.
The Practical Joke Theory
This one makes about as much sense to me as Aunt Irma’s Philosophy of Solipsism (which I only think works in her mind) but I feel like I have to include it here. This theory is that the rotating ball is something of a practical joke being played by Cemetery Staff.
I have a number of problems with this idea … some are fairly basic, such as how the cemetery staff are even physically able to rotate something that weighs approximately two Honda Civic cars? When staff had purposely rotated it in the past (to get the unpolished bit back on the top) they had to hire a massive crane, which struggled to do its job lifting the thing. Surely, people would notice a large piece of heavy machinery coming in to rotate a marble globe.
Another issue is how long this has been going on – centuries. Anyone who had been involved with rotating the ball when it was first noticed would have died of old age long before now. So, in order for this theory to stand any merit whatsoever, a lot of people would have to be in on it … and like they say, three people can keep a secret only if two of them are dead. (Yeah, someone would have spilled the beans by now.)
My third problem with this theory is the motive behind it. Why would they be doing such a thing? If this was a hoax, then why this particular monument? Why not other monuments? What’s the motive?
The more you think about this theory – the less sense it starts to make.
Who Was C.B. Merchant
In this day and age, one would think that if you walked into a cemetery and visited one of its most famous monuments, it should stand to reason that we would know exactly who all is buried there … Right?
In this case, we aren’t entirely sure who C.B. Merchant was. This lack of knowledge just adds a new dimension to that whole rotating marble ball mystery.
Cemetery records do not contain any official records from the time the monument was built, and it is unclear if those records were lost or damaged somehow, or if that part of the cemetery was just too old, dating before the time when people thought it would be important for cemeteries to keep record of such things. Either way, the cemetery can’t tell us for sure who “C.B. Merchant” was.
One of the top contenders was Mr. Christian Benner Merchant. Many accounts of the rotating orb I’ve encountered say that the monument was built for him, upon his death in 1896. Yet, it’s fairly easy to find Christian Benner Merchant in the historical record – he had a long history with the Marion County Farmer’s Institute, which continued well past 1896 … and he was also connected to a number of other members of the Merchant family well past that date, too – such as his brother Isaac who spent several years dabbling in politics.
Perhaps an easier thing to do would be to look for a headstone labeled “Father” which lists Christian Benner Merchant’s birth and death days – which also clearly state the guy passed away in 1916. (Records of his obituary say the same thing.)
By 1916, not only was the monument already erected, but people were also starting to notice the thing was rotating. So, if he was alive … and this phenomenon was already going on … then maybe he isn’t the right C.B. Merchant after all.
Charles B Merchant is, according to some, another possibility of who is buried under C.B. Merchant’s monument, as he is also frequently cited in stories of the rotating ball. There are, however, a few problems to this theory.
First and foremost, there is no genealogical record of there being a “Charles B” in the Merchant family, except for those whose only source is the C.B. Merchant monument.
Likewise, I found no historical evidence of there even being a Charles B. Merchant in the Marion area (or the surrounding counties) at the appropriate times.
There are, however, stories of a “Charles B Merchant” so perhaps there was one in town, but without complete and accurate records from the time period – it’s kind of hard to tell.
It’s also entirely possible that whoever C.B. Merchant is – it’s neither Christian nor Charles. Or, it could be a different Christian (or Charles) than the one we already know about as families tend to name their children after other relatives.
But, for now … all we can say is that the true identity of C.B. Merchant isn’t known, not for sure, which makes the mystery of the rotating marble ball even more mysterious.
