A man found a mysterious cross in an attic. The local history museum said no thanks | NCPR News

Published by Reblogs - Credits in Posts, May 13th, 2022

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A man found a mysterious cross in an attic. The local history museum said no thanks

by Hannah Finley (News intern) , in Harrisville, NY

May 12, 2022 —

04:37

00:00

Hannah FinleyA man found a mysterious cross in an attic. The local history museum said no thanks

Nearly a decade ago, Chuck Fowler bought a building on Main Street in the Lewis County town of Harrisville. Fowler is from Harrisville and already owned the building next door, known as Chuck’s Market.

After Fowler bought the second building, he realized it used to be where the Freemasons held meetings. Up in the attic, he found something that really surprised him.

In that attic stands a 6-foot-tall cross. It's wrapped in a white cloth with some sort of oil stain. Fowler thinks that the oil is from kerosene.

The cross that Chuck Fowler found in the attic of a building he bought in 2013. Photo: Hannah Finley

"How did that end up there? My personal thought on it was maybe someone was going to do something with it and then whatever they planned on doing never happened," says Fowler.

The local museum declines to investigate

He isn't sure what the cross was used for or when it was made. There are speculations that it might have been a relic of the Ku Klux Klan, possibly something the Freemasons left behind, or just a religious object. So, Fowler has been talking with senior citizens in the area to find out more.

"I always say half-jokingly, that haters had to hate somebody," said Fowler. "I think the Klan was a protestant organization. Some of the older people in town mentioned that they remember people not being too happy that the Catholics were moving into town. That’s all I know about it."

Fowler brought the cross to the nearby town of Diana museum, but Fowler says they wouldn't take it in or give him information on its origins.

"I think they would just rather not have the controversy associated with them. I offered it to them, got a hold of them and I said you know I have this cross up there if you want to bring it down. You know I was thinking it would start a conversation about it with people, and they were like eh we’d rather not," says Fowler.

This all happened back in 2013.

Fowler and the museum curator Ross Young say they remember the museum board deciding as a group not to display the cross or look into the history of the cross.

"Well, I didn’t have no objection to it," says Young. "I know some of the other ones did. I didn’t know too much about it besides that it is part of history."

What stories do we tell about our history - and what do we leave out?

This issue of how to handle potentially sensitive or controversial artifacts in a place has a big role in determining the stories a community tells about itself.

Braden Paynter is the Director of Methodology and Practice for Sites of Conscience, an international coalition that works to provide safe spaces to remember difficult history.

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"In a lot of ways museums are about this kind of context we can build around any experience," says Paynter. "That’s one of the key pieces when we think about what the influences that museums can have."

Deciding whether or not to include certain artifacts in a museum is something Ellen McHale is passionate about. McHale is the executive director of the NY Folklorist society.

"To put something in its context is important. If we don’t know what happened in the past, we are not able to address it in the present day," said McHale.

"I think museums have an obligation to present history in its entirety. And not just whitewash or to display historical events and ideas that are always laudatory. It is good to know that there are points where we were not at our best. So that we can figure out how to move forward in a better way."

Fowler believes that there is kerosene on the cross. Photo: Hannah Finley

Even when complicated or controversial history is included in a museum, it's important that it is presented properly, says Erika Sanger, the Executive Director of the New York State Museum Association.

"If you are displaying things and talking about things that you can’t make a bridge between a person’s life and what they’re looking at then they're not going to be really interested in what you are saying," says Sanger, "or they might not want to come back."

Fowler is now the Vice President of the Town of Diana museum. He says he hasn’t brought up the cross recently, explaining that he doesn’t want to ruffle any feathers. But he still thinks it deserves to be displayed there.

"You’ve gotta have history whether it is good or bad," says Fowler, "so you can look back and say, 'Well that was a mistake or that was good.' I don’t think you should erase history. It belongs in a museum."

As of right now the cross is still sitting in Chuck’s attic collecting dust.