Mystery on the Bayou: Of Addicts, Apparitions, Artists, Awards and a Buried Page of History

MERVYN HAGGER
John Lilburne Research Institute (for Constitutional Studies), USA
and
ERIC GILDER
Linton Global College, Hannam University, Korea

Abstract
Taking a lead off of Raymond Williams’ comment in “Base and Superstructure in Marxist Cultural Theory” that the “dominant” rendering of historical tradition is always a selective rendering of tradition (thereby burying other tellings), this essay tells a story of how an inadvertent uncovering of a lost graveyard in Houston, Texas in 1986 threatened a long-settled version of Texas history, and thus (literally and figuratively) was “covered up” once more.
Author Mervyn Hagger had Dr. Kenneth Brown of the University of Houston present on-site for a television program in 1988, where Brown argued in support for seriously considering his thesis. Yet, after the international publicity died down, Brown was seemingly pressured to drop his investigation furthering this inquiry. Since that time, the earth has been put back (literally and figuratively) on this topic; the matter was “buried.” The authors wonder if an explanation might be found in lives of 114 sailors who were abandoned in the Gulf of Mexico by the English pirate Sir John Hawkins during this same time period. This preliminary essay seeks to revisit unanswered questions.

Keywords: “Selective Tradition”; Base and Superstructure (Williams); Houston; Buffalo Bayou; Carolana settlement; Sir John Hawkins (pirate); Kenneth Brown; Sir Robert Heath; “black earth graves”; Jefferson Davis Hospital; Elder Street Lofts

BACK