Campbell's "Dead Ringer" marker stands out in Holton cemetery

Lyle Campbell, 76, of Holton said every aspect of his life is “unique,” including his future grave.

Visitors at the Holton Cemetery west of town may have already noticed Campbell’s future resting place, which includes a large silver bell with the words “Here Lies A Dead Ringer” painted on it.

 Campbell, who was born in Woodlawn (an unincorporated area in Nemaha County) and graduated from Sabetha High School, said he bought the working bell years ago at a flea market or garage sale.

“When I ran across it, I had to buy it,” Campbell said. “I had it sitting around for quite a while before I decided I needed to do something with it.”

Campbell said he recalled the phrase “dead ringer,” and he began researching the history of the saying.

“I wanted to do something that would help people remember me when I’m gone,” he said.

The bell is attached by cement to a gravestone that has already been erected for Campbell at the cemetery. A plaque nearby also tells the history of phrases “saved by the bell” and “dead ringer.”

In the middle 1300s, during “The Bubonic Plague,” millions of people in Europe died from the disease and the towns were running out of places to bury their bodies.

So members of the town would dig up coffins, take the bones of the deceased to a “bone house” and then reuse the grave.

When they began re-opening some of coffins, scratch marks were found on the insides of one out of 25 of the coffins, and people realized that they, in some instances, were burying people alive.

In order to prevent that from happening, a string was tied to the wrist of the corpse that led through the coffin and up above ground where it was tied to a bell.

Someone would then have to sit at the graveyard at night - which became the “graveyard shift” - to listen for the bells. Thus, someone could be “saved by the bell” or was considered a “dead ringer.”

Campbell’s bell is also a nod to his 43-year career with the United Telephone Company, he said.

After high school, Campbell worked for an earthmoving company and then a tool plant in Hiawatha. In 1963, he began working for the United Telephone Company and moved to Holton in 1968.

In his spare time, Campbell said he enjoyed playing music in several bands through the years, channeling Elvis Presley. He also built his own home in Holton.

“I never stopped thinking,” he said. “The bell is kind of like me – unique. Everybody says that I am. There isn’t too much of anything that I haven’t done.”

Campbell has four children, Allen, Richard, Sandra and Welsey, who all reside in northeast Kansas.

“I tell everybody, ‘Tell me how good of a guy I am right now and don’t wait until I’m dead and gone,’” he said.