In 1862, a man named Jean Baptiste worked as a grave tender in Salt Lake City, Utah. His job was to look after the graves in the local cemetery. Unbeknownst to the townspeople, Jean had a secret hobby – he enjoyed digging up graves and robbing the corpses. When the police eventually caught on to his morbid habit, they were shocked to discover that he had exhumed over 300 graves, stealing clothes, shoes, and valuables from the dead.
Jean’s grave robbing ways first came to light after a notorious outlaw named Marnoni Clawson was killed for assaulting the governor. Clawson was buried in a rented suit purchased by the police, but when his brother came to claim the body, the grave was empty except for the naked corpse. Suspicion quickly turned to Jean Baptiste, the caretaker. A search of Jean’s home uncovered boxes of decaying clothes that reeked of death.
The police arrested Jean and he confessed to robbing over 300 graves over the years. The townspeople were unsure how to punish such an egregious crime. The local religious leader Brigham Young suggested they exile Jean and leave him as a “vagabond on the earth.” Taking inspiration from this idea, the police branded Jean’s forehead with the words “Branded for robbing the dead” and transported him to a deserted island in the Great Salt Lake called Fremont Island.
Jean was left on the island with a herd of cattle and some basic provisions. The cattle belonged to a family called the Millers who owned the island and would come check on their herd every few weeks. When the Millers returned three weeks later, they were horrified to find one of their cows slaughtered and the provisions shed dismantled. Jean Baptiste was nowhere to be found – he had apparently constructed a makeshift raft and escaped back to the mainland.
Jean’s daring escape sparked a massive manhunt across several states, but the grave robber was never captured. According to legend, he either made it to Montana and lived out his days as a miner, or he drowned in the Great Salt Lake and his ghost still haunts Fremont Island. The truth about his fate remains a mystery to this day.
Records show that Jean was born in Ireland in 1813 and spent time in Australia before emigrating to the United States. Some believe he may have been exiled to Australia for crimes in his youth before continuing his larcenous ways in America. Though Jean Baptiste’s ultimate fate is unknown, his gruesome exploits left an indelible mark on Salt Lake City history.
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Sources
Jean Baptiste – Salt Lake Magazine
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