Heads of Death?!?

We live in the Tete Des Morts Valley. I don't know how many of our readers know French. For those that don't, "Tete Des Morts" literally means "heads of death" (pause for dramatic effect - insert your own soap opera music if that helps). Now, I know a little French. I took four years of French in high school. I haven't really used it since, largely due to the lack of French speaking immigrants in the Midwest.

Stephanie and I first looked at the property that has since become our dream home last September. The house and two acres of woods were just perfect. There was even a large creek - almost a river - running adjacent to the property, and it was even far enough below the house that flooding would not be a risk. We were awe struck.

Then, Stephanie divulged the name of the creek - Tete Des Morts Creek. Now I was awe struck for an entirely different reason. Steph took German and Spanish in high school. So, she honestly didn't know the literal meaning of the words she spoke. After her brief French lesson on the drive home, she was on the internet as soon as we walked in the door.

After her exhaustive research, she discovered that she would have to go to a college library to find out the important details, but she did find out the basics from a few anecdotal sources. Apparently, a French explorer in the 1600's was the first settler to name the creek. He did so with the inspiration of floating severed heads from a recent Native American massacre.

Obviously, we really liked the place because we made an offer the following week. (Our well tested just fine!)