The bond between siblings is often stronger than any of the other bonds we form in life. Studies have shown that we end up spending more time with our siblings than we do almost anyone else, including our spouses or significant others. For these reasons and more, it’s very difficult to lose a sibling as it’s a bond that we can never replace. Still, when our siblings pass away and leave us here, we may have time to reflect on who they were—and how much we really knew about them.
That was the case for one woman in the UK who discovered that a stranger had been visiting her brother’s grave for more than 70 years.
The woman in question was Ann Kear of Cotswold Village in England.
Kear’s brother Karl Smith died in 1947, when she was only seven years old. Although she doesn’t have many memories of him, she still thinks of him fondly as a kind boy who often had time for the local elderly population. Above all, though, Kear was puzzled that someone had been so dedicated to paying respects to his grave throughout the years so anonymously.
But things changed when Kear was contacted by BBC journalist Camila Ruz who decided to help her track the person down.
Karl died in Wales but was buried in Prestbury.
News reports at the time said that Karl had drowned and the event had a huge impact on the town. Karl’s mother received more than 100 letters from her neighbors expressing their grief and sympathy. To this day, the discussion of Karl’s passing lives on in the village due to the stranger who continually pays respects at his grave. The figure has been so mysterious in the town that local townsfolk began to develop their own theories about him. One woman thought he must be a scholar:
“From the evidence of the poems [left at his grave], it is obviously somebody who is very familiar with and very well-read in English literature.”
Still, others thought it must’ve just been an old friend:
“It could’ve been somebody who was in the choir, in the Scouts and at the school with him. We don’t know.”
For her part, Kear went to great lengths on her own to uncover the mystery surrounding her brother’s unknown visitor.
Over the years, Kear spoke on the radio, wrote articles and spoke on the news about it. She even left notes on her brother’s grave addressed to the visitor. Despite her efforts, she was never able to identify the man. Kear’s main worry, she said, was that the person might pass away before she was able to speak to them:
“It’s not fading away but obviously eventually it will, because the person who’s doing it must be getting on in years.”
With the help of the BBC, Kear and Ruz set out together to find who the person was.
After a trip to the public records, they found the last photo of Karl ever taken—and on it were the names of all the other Boy Scouts in the troop! One by one, Kear and Ruz sought them out and interviewed them about Karl. Still, nobody had any answers. Ruz even took the poems to an expert to have them analyzed. The clues they found there led Kear to Karl’s old classmates.
After a number of fits and starts, the investigation led to one of Karl’s classmates named Ronald Westborough.
Shortly after, Kear and Ruz arranged a meeting with Westborough.
As it turns out, Westborough was one of the people who actually pulled Karl out of the water. Still, even after talking to Westborough, there were parts of the mystery that remained unsolved. Without giving anything away about the ending, the journey that Kear and Ruz take together leads to many shocking and incredible places. What is clear at the end of it all is that Karl’s life touched so many more people than anyone could’ve expected.
For the full story, check out the BBC mini-documentary below!
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