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Photos taken by Laurie O'Leary.

Laurie O'Leary sent me the following information about her visit to Robbins Cemetery:

A while ago I ran into this blog on the ghostvillage.com website:

"Up further in Knox County, on Johnstown Road in Centerburg, there is supposedly an abandoned house (reader said it looked like a castle) next to a lake. Legend has it that it was a gangster hangout that used to belong to old man Robin, who is buried in a cemetery in the nearby woods. The neat thing is that he was buried standing up--at his request--so that he may continue to watch over his property in the afterlife."

My daughter (Jessica) and I were intrigued, so we pulled out the topographic and aerial maps of Knox county and pinpointed just where we thought the house and cemetery would be. Topo map lists "Robbins Lake" and a cemetery not too far away. We drove northeast on Johnstown Road to the intersection of Lock Road (just entering Knox county). Just north of that intersection, there is a white farm house and a house made of some kind of stone. I thought it looked more like the Alamo than a castle. Both houses are set well off the road and some distance apart. The "Robbins" House appeared very occupied, so we concentrated on finding the cemetery. There is a gravel turn around on the left hand side of the road. We parked there. There’s a small creek that runs between the two houses, and through the farm fields behind them. We followed that creek back behind the houses probably about a ½ mile. There is a large clump of trees in the middle of the field which appears to be in a direct line from the back of the "Robbins" house..although it isn't in the woods anymore. We headed towards the stand of trees and found that it was actually a small cemetery fenced in with an old but interesting wrought iron fence. Edwin Robbins, his wife, sister, and some others are buried there. The stones appear jumbled...perhaps from tree roots? I did notice that a tree grew right in the middle of the entrance to the cemetery. Also – Robbins may have been buried standing up so that he could continue to watch over his property, but he didn't anticipate the tree that grew directly in front of his tombstone!!

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