No Leatherman Remains Recovered at Gravesite

During a dig that began on Sunday and ended Tuesday afternoon, a team of researchers did not uncover the remains of the , a mysterious wanderer who routinely walked through Westchester and Fairfield (CT) Counties during the 1800s.

"We found the grave and we have the organic remains," said Norman MacDonald, president of the Ossining Historical Society, the organization that oversaw the process. "The bones were not found. They have disintegrated and became part of the soil upgrade. And we found the coffin nails."

The Ossining Historical Society petitioned Westchester County Supreme Court in October of 2010, seeking permission to exhume the remains of the Leatherman.

"The remains of the Decedent after removal will be reburied by Petitioner in a gravesite in the main portion of the cemetery in a safer and more dignified setting," the petition claimed.

MacDonald said there will still be a reburial ceremony this afternoon at the Sparta Cemetery, in a site farther from the edge of the property where the Leatherman was marked as buried.

"We were fairly certain that we would find skeletal remains," he said. "That turned out not to happen."

The document additionally asserts the purpose of the exhumation would include "forensic and genetic testing to be performed on said remains for the purpose of public education on historical and genealogical matters..."

MacDonald confirmed Wednesday morning that no DNA evidence ras recovered at the scene.

The project was backed in the petition through supporting affidavits filed along with the petition by Dan DeLuca, who authored the book The Old Leather Man; Bernard Adler of Adler Consulting, Transportation Planning and Traffic Engineering, who said he found the area of the grave to be dangerously close to Route 9 and John Lee and Cathy Crisfield, who take tours groups through the cemetery and said they find the location to be dangerous.

Additionally, Connecticut State Archeaologist Dr. Nicholas Bellantoni, the project's intended lead archaeologist, submitted a supporting affidavait.

In a legal response dated Nov. 8, 2010, Justice Nicholas Colabella ruled the organization would be permitted to exhume and rebury the remains, as well as conduct:

"(a) forensic gross morphological evaluation of the biological life history in Descendant; (b) a CT scan of the decendent's skill; and (c) DNA testing of a molar and/or a fragment of a large bone; and (d) stable carbon isotope and trace element analysis of such dental and/or bone tissue..."

A team of researchers began to dig and search for the remains of the Leatherman on Sunday, in the vicinity of the "pauper's grave" created for the man after his March 20, 1889 death at the old Dell Farm in what is now Briarcliff Manor.

The Leatherman's unknown origins and especially reclusive demeanor has made him a local legend and, according to MacDonald, "one of our greatest historical mysteries.”

There has been no conclusive evidence pointing to the Leatherman's ethnicity, religion or other background; as well as whether he was autistic, as some have guessed.

Stephen Griswold, a Canton, CT*, resident, said in an email he knew of the Leatherman while growing up, "but heard a lot more shortly after 2006 when I became interested in a hobby known as Geocaching, in which a lot of the caves and the paths he took, were dedicated to him in one way or another."

Through geocaching, Griswold said he learned, "[The Leatherman] may’ve had many friends along his path, but any who pressed him for his name, or where he came from, he would shy away from, or avoid their location all together."

Griswold, who said he does not support the exhumation, revealed he made his first visit to the site of the Leatherman's burial on Dec. 18, 2010 and has frequented the cemetery ever since.

Upon hearing about the plans for exhumation, Griswold connected with Donald Johnson, a middle school history teacher in Connecticut, who created the website Leave the Leatherman Alone.

Both Griswald and Johnson said they felt it was not right to dig up and study remains of a man who was known for his life of solitude.

Johnson, of Bethany, CT, said he sees the exhumation as "fast-tracking research by taking secrets from him and what's left of him."

Johnson previously contacted MacDonald and asked him to reconsider the extraction of the Leatherman's DNA, explaining a vast majority of his site's visitors indicated they were against the measure in a poll. MacDonald rejected the notion.

Upon hearing the team was unable to locate remains at the site, Johnson said, "I think that's great. That way, the research can continue above the ground where it belongs."

*This story previously stated Griswold is from Avon. That is inaccurate and has been corrected.