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A headstone missing for almost 150 years has been returned to its gravesite after being found in a Michigan home, and the family says it was used to make fudge.
According to MLive, after an Okemos woman was moved to a nursing home, her family hired an auctioneer to clean out her house and quite the discovery was made.
Loretta S. Stanaway, President Friends of Lansing's Historic Cemeteries, told MLive, Brad Stoecker of Epic Auctions & Estate Sales was shocked to discover that a granite slab was actually a headstone when he turned it over.
"No one in the family knew how or when they came to be in possession of it," Stanaway said. "The homeowners just said, 'We used the backside of it to make fudge.' We had no way to find out whether the family knew it was a legitimate monument or if they thought it was just a throwaway or something." The headstone was donated to the cemetery.
According to a Facebook post by the Friends of Lansing's Historic Cemeteries, the headstone had been missing for 146 years. It belonged to Peter J. Weller, a Lansing pioneer and businessman. He passed away in 1849 and was buried in the city's Oak Park Cemetery. His grave was moved in 1875 and the headstone was lost, until now.
Where it had been for the past 146 years is a mystery, but Mr. Weller's headstone has been reinstalled at his gravesite.