The Story of William Coefen
By Matt Roberts

In Preble County, Ohio back in 1862 was a man by the name of William Coefen. He had moved to the area earlier that year from Mississippi, where he had lived his whole life. He had his own business, building coffins for a funeral parlor that was run by a guy that he went to school with his whole life and was his best friend.

When he got to Preble County, roughly what is known as Eaton now, he bought himself a small house on a decent plot of land. It was there that he started his coffin making business again, after talking to the local funeral parlor and making a deal with them.

They had told him that they really weren't that busy, being that the town was very small, but they'd appreciate his skills since coffins from the city factory were much too expensive for the small budgets of the families that lived there. But he would definately get paid well for his skills.

William was then known as Willy "Coffin" as the locals would call him, and he didn't mind so much, as he made friends with everyone in the town and they all called him that out of endearment as opposed to making fun of his name and he knew it.

After what seemed to be a lot of funerals in that area, William had built up a pretty good fund in his bank account, so he decided to buy himself a beautiful horse and buggy. His old buggy was ready to collapse, and so was his horse. So he purchased this new horse and buggy and proudly showed it off all around town, sometimes just going out for rides when he really didn't have any particular place to go. Most of the towns people were impressed by his new horse and buggy, though there were a couple who desperately needed an upgrade themselves, but couldn't afford to. Those were the few in the town that started getting jealous of William's new buy, and allowed that jealousy to turn to anger.

The new year came and January brought some harsh winter cold. William caught the flu, and he sat at home next to his warm fire nursing his illness. Like every year, the town had a meeting at their city hall which was also their church, to discuss things for the new year. Typically, nothing new ever came about as it was just a simple town with simple farmers. Unfortunately, William couldn't make it because of his illness.
The town knew this, and it was fine by them. They said that they would just fill him in later when he was feeling better.

The next day the lady that owned the General Store stopped by William's place for a visit, bringing him some soup, as she had done twice the week before. She knocked on the door and didn't hear anything. She waited a few minutes and knocked again, to which she still didn't hear anything inside, and William still hadn't come to the door to answer. She got worried and opened the door and entered the house.

The lady called out to William and didn't hear anything. She worried more about his health, and wondered how she would find him. Getting nervous, she called out to him again, as she headed into his kitchen to sit the soup on his stove. She then heard a noise coming from outside and started feeling a cold draft.

She moved into the back room to find the back door open and foot steps in the snow leading from the door out towards the small barn where William had made his coffins. She heard sawing and hammering and a lot of talking, but nothing she could make out.

She bundled herself up and headed out to the barn, to see if William was okay. The closer she got the louder the sounds got, including the talking, and she could tell that there was more than one person in the barn with William, who's voice she could also hear.

Cautiously she walked up to the barn and peeked in the window to see only William working on a new coffin and he was talking out loud to seemingly nobody, but she could also hear other voices though she couldn't make out what they were saying. She could hear William though, and what he was saying didn't make any sense to her. He repeated over and over, "They'll all have one. They'll all have one." It was then that she realized the floor of the barn was covered with many new coffins.

She knocked on the door and walked in calling out, "Willy, it's Mary Beth, I brought you some soup. How are you feeling?" When she spoke this, all of the voices stopped and William stopped working and looked up to her with staring wide eyes.

"They'll all have one."

"Who Willy?" asked Mary Beth.

"They'll all have one."

"How are you feeling Willy? Would you like me to bring some soup out here to you?"

"They'll all have one" is all he would say. He then turned and started working on his coffin. Mary Beth looked around and seen nobody else in the barn.

"Well, ok Willy, I'm glad to see you're up and moving, but you really should get inside where it's warm", Mary said as she crept backwards slowly towards the door. "Maybe I'll see you in church sunday."

Willy stopped again and looked at her, this time with the same wide staring eyes, but he had a smile and he said to Mary Beth, "Maybe you will."

William continued staring at her with this smile until she said, "Okay Willy, get better soon" and she walked out of the door.

As she ran from the barn towards her buggy she could hear William start to work again and she could hear him still saying "They'll all have one".
Again, she heard more voices but couldn't make out what they were saying.
She didn't stop running until she got to her buggy and she got the horses to make good time as she hurried down the road towards her General Store to get it opened for the day.

Over the rest of the week Mary Beth had told just two people of what happened at William's barn and she talked to Pastor Barnes who ran the funeral parlor who informed her that as far as he knew there wasn't but one funeral coming up in town, sadly a boy that died from the flu, and another two in the next town over where William had also made coffins for.
She thanked him and left the parlor, knowing she had seen at least 15 or more coffins on the floor of the barn.

That Friday came and Pastor Barnes headed out to William's place to check up on him and to pick up the coffin for the funeral that was to take place the next day in his parlor. He knocked on the door and heard a still ill William say "come in", so he entered. He seen William sitting in his chair next to the fire place eating soup.

"How are you feeling Willy?" asked the Pastor.

"I'm getting better I believe. Mary Beth makes some delicious soup, would you care for some?" replied William.

"No thanks, I must be on my way. I just stopped by to check on you and to pick up that coffin if you have it ready."

"Sure, it's out in the barn. I'll go get it for you if you like."

"No Willy, I think I can handle it. You stay here in the warmth of the house and get better. We're all pulling for you."

"Okay, thanks Pastor. Anyway, the coffin is right next to the door. I made it just the way you described. I'm so sorry to hear about little Jacob Smith. Please offer my condolences to the family, as I may not make it tomorrow."

"I sure will Willy, I'm sure they'll understand. Thanks again." And with that the Pastor headed out to the barn to get the coffin.

Sunday came and William showed up to the Church for mass. Everyone said hello to him and asked how he was feeling to which he would respond that he was feeling better but still had a little left in him. During mass, William seemed fine until the bread and wine was handed out. William stood up to get his piece of bread and small sip of wine when he suddenly passed out and fell over. Everyone jumped up and a couple of the men grabbed William and the Pastor told them to take him to the back room and lay him on the bed. The men had done so, and one sat with William to make sure he was ok.

Out in the Church someone said they smelled smoke, and everyone started looking around for a cause, when one wall went ablaze. Everyone frantically tried to get out of the front doors and found them to be locked, as they wouldn't budge. More and more of the Church started to burn, and suddenly the whole place was on fire. Right before the roof came down on everyone inside, alive or dead, Mary Beth looked out of a window and seen William standing outside with the same look on his face that she had seen in the barn. Men ran up behind her and told her they were heading out of the window and they broke the glass. She looked again and William wasn't there. She made it out with several other people, though the rest burned in the Church.

After a count of everyone in the Church, of the 64 people that had attended Church that fateful day, 43 people died and all were identified, including William Coefen. When Mary Beth heard of this she told the town that she had seen him outside, and then told everyone of the occurance that had happened in the barn. Some believed her, others were skeptical.
Almost all of them then wanted to blame him of the fire, though he was found in what was the back room with the other man, both burned to death.

What happened at William Coehen's barn that cold January day? Was that really William that Mary Beth had seen? Nobody knows for sure. The story has passed from generation to generation, and still nobody knows what happened. All they do know is, when William's house and barn were cleared out for reselling and 43 coffins were found in the barn, which also helped the speculation that he had done it.

Some say that the few men who were jealous and angry at William were apart of a cult that nobody knew about, and they placed a curse on William.
Others say that William's house and property were previously haunted and William was possessed. Another story was that of William himself being in the occult. Again, nobody knows for sure. But to this day his property never had another owner, and in 1953 it was finally demolished to make way for another corn field. He's still hanging out in that field, and some say they can hear his saw and hammer, making what he loved to make.

Story first posted on the www.TMGhostHunters.com forum.