In early March 1935, Aaron Dear (sometimes spelled Deere) aged 16, was doing an unpleasant task—digging post holes for his father Hulon Dear. Unbeknownst to Aaron, he was about to make a very curious discovery.

As the post hole digger slipped into the soil, he felt it land on something considerably harder than the dirt. Aaron reached down to move what he assumed to be a rock and found himself staring at a very old skull! But it was not alone…

Several days of digging amounted a total of 26 skulls in a area of around 10 feet square. But the really strange part was that they were just skulls, no other bones were found near that particular spot, which leads to a disturbing conclusion: they were decapitated and buried there.

The skulls were at different depths as well, the deepest being around 6 feet. Native Americans artifacts were located within the grave. Soon experts from Tulane university were consulted who confirmed the skulls as to being likely Native American in nature. An intriguing theory soon emerged as to the identity of the skulls!

During Hernando Desoto’s exploration of what is now the southern United States, he had many encounters with Native American tribes, many did not end well for the Native people. In one account of Desoto’s travels, it is mentioned that a group of around 30 Native Americans were captured at Tianto, a village of which the location is uncertain but that “it took six days of actual marching time to reach it from the village of Ayays, the present site of Monroe (Louisiana).” (Quoted from the Shreveport Times, March 26, 1935).

Could this small farm near Mangham be where the Native captives were slayed by Desoto’s men? It would seem like an obvious answer but some scholars theorized that they they would have travelled much further in the allotted time, probably near present day Jonesville, Louisiana.

At this point, it is not clear what ever happened to the remains. Whether they have been studied further… but it certainly made for an enduring mystery!

Hulon Dear is buried in Lone Cherry Baptist Church Cemetery in Mangham, Louisiana. His life not remarkable for any scandal other that owning property where an Native American tribe was obviously slain.

Loyal Zeigler was a mean dude. He was just not one to be trifled with. If he felt any hint of ill will towards him, then he would happily commence to beating or cutting the offending party. If you thought older brother Gordon was bad, Loyal makes him look like a Boy Scout.

Most records agree that Loyal was born in 1906. The first time he appears in the news as being in trouble is in 1927 where he is involved in the Finley Filling Station beating as well and being the intended victim in the Julian Bryan(t) shooting.

In 1933, Loyal and younger brother, Breard Zeigler rob and beat severely a man named Robert Skipper near Scruggs’ Filling station near Jonesboro. Skipper said the boys robbed him of $11 and shot at him 3 times after beating him half to death.

The boys appear to have settled down a little for a time period, possibly related to Gordon being convicted of the murder of Charles Gunter and being sent to Angola. What we do know is that Loyal married Verda Nix who was either widowed or divorced and had a daughter from her first marriage. Loyal enlisted in the US Army and was sent to England. As he wasn’t wrapped to tight to being with, the factor of being in combat did not stop him from unraveling. He returned to the US in the early 40’s and was as crazy as a loon.

Loyal was a violent husband by all accounts. Verda toughed it out as long as she could but by May of 1945, she had had enough. She packed her daughter up and moved back with her parents. On May 9, 1945, Loyal came to the Nix residence in Ruston and began yelling at them to allow his wife to return. Verda did not wish to return. Her father, TW Nix ordered Loyal to leave, which Loyal appeared to do.

Loyal did not leave, instead he hid under the Nix front porch. When Mr. TW left for work the next morning, Loyal grabbed a stick of stove wood and crept through the window. Mrs. Mattie Nix sat up in bed when she saw him coming in the house and Loyal beat her to death. He next went and gathered up his terrified wife and step-daughter and ordered them to walk with him into the woods. The stories that Loyal would tell when compared with the stories that Verda would tell were very different about what happened next.

Loyal’s side of the story: Loyal said that he and Verda had decided to kill themselves and the little girl. Once down the road, they changed their minds and sent the girl back to her grandmother’s house. Loyal said that he and Verda had sex and then had a huge argument. He decided the best way to calm her down was by hitting her with a club, several times on the head. She did not die so he decided to let her go to Ruston to the doctor to get something for her “headache.” She was to return to a nearby pond later so that the two of them could drown themselves.

Verda’s side of the story: she managed to convince Loyal not to kill her daughter and sent her back to her grandmother’s house. Loyal then attacked and raped Verda twice. Not surprisingly she was angry and tearful after the attack and he was upset. So he grabbed a club and beat her around her head and neck with it. She begged to go get some medicine to help with her head as now she was dizzy and in a lot of pain. He agreed and she promised to meet him later to allow him to kill her. Of course she went straight to the hospital and told the doctors what happened who called the police.

During the events above, Verda’s daughter found her grandmothers dead body and ran all the way to Louisiana Tech Campus where her grandfather, TW Nix, was employed as a janitor. Nix called for the law and rushed home to find his deceased wife. Loyal just sort of showed back up later when Verda did not turn up to be drowned! The police arrested him and, quite frankly, Loyal seemed confused as to what he was in trouble for. Once he realized that he was in serious trouble and that the things he had done were frowned upon, he claimed to be insane and also made the claim that he had not slept in 5 months!

So…Loyal was committed to the Louisiana State Mental hospital for evaluation. Which after a couple years deemed him to be completely sane and aware of his actions. He was convicted of the murder of Mattie Nix and sentenced to life in prison. Poor Verda passed away of cancer in 1946, only a year after her mother was murdered. End of the story? Nope!

Loyal served around 8 years of a life sentence and was paroled. Incredibly. He wasted no time in chasing his relief checks that had piled up while he was in prison which amounted to around $1800. He found him a cute little barmaid in Monroe named Lola Bell Pickerell to date. But he was never going to stay out of trouble…

Lola Bell’s room mate, Myrtle Mae Mills, did not like Loyal Zeigler one bit. She did not trust him and spent a lot of time trying to run him off. Try as she might, she could not convince Lola Bell that Loyal was scary and dangerous. Myrtle Mae was right.

Myrtle Mae came back to her home on the evening of September 13, 1956 to find Loyal Zeigler hanging around waiting for his girlfriend Lola Bell (now remember, this is Loyal’s story! Myrtle was not around to tell her side and Loyal did not seem to have a good deal of perception when it came to others—or more likely he was just a liar). Loyal stated that Myrtle attacked him, hitting him first with a beer bottle and then with an electric iron. Loyal felt the only way to survive such an attack was to beat Myrtle, in the front yard of her home, in front of witnesses…. Once he had her down, he shot her four times, while she begged for her life.

Loyal went into hiding in Monroe. After about 50 hours of avoiding the police, he was captured and brought in. Once again his story painted him as the victim, he was apologetic to the police and claimed he was insane. Once again he was sent to the State hospital and passed all tests, he was deemed sane, stood trial and once again was convicted of manslaughter. And given a life sentence.

By 1972, he had applied for both clemency and pardon. Apparently, he received one or the other and at the time of his death in 1977, he was living in a Veteran’s Home in Alexandria. He was buried at the family cemetery as well, to lay at rest with the boys who help him terrorize Eros and surrounding communities for the last several decades.