The Banquet Table on Deacon's Trace: Who Keeps the Settee of St. Odran?

The Banquet Table on Deacon's Trace: Who Keeps the Settee of St. Odran?

A frost‑smooth clearing, a folding banquet table set for seven with every candle burned to a stub, and a single card reading "For the Feast of Saint Odran, December eleventh" left on a remote path where no footprints enter or exit - and this scene repeats itself annually. Who is being remembered, and why does a misfiled parish ledger reveal nine women who all died in December on the same trail, listed simply as exposure?

In this episode, we trace the discovery from the birdwatcher who found the table to the folklore researcher who unearthed a 125‑year‑old ledger, and we lay out the peculiar links between a parish account book, a local priest's private list, and nine December deaths on Deacon's Trace. What did Father Clement Hogue record, and what does the community think they are remembering?

Person: Terry Wilson
Date: December 11, 2019
Location: Deacon's Trace, Caulfield Hollow
Person: Father Clement Hogue
Event: Nine women recorded as "exposure" deaths in Decembers 1888-1892

- The table was photographed at 6:47 AM on December 11, 2019 with a Nikon 500mm.
- Deputy Ed Foss arrived at the scene at 8:20 AM and filed a report noting "consistent with a private memorial."
- The handwritten card at the table center reads "For the Feast of Saint Odran, December eleventh. We remember Susan."
- Susan Lawson arrived in spring 1889, was 22 years old, and kept the parish accounts at Saint Brendan's.
- Father Hogue's ledger lists twelve names with dates and the annotations "not found" or "found late," matching nine coroner entries for December exposure deaths between 1888 and 1892.

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