James, a dreamer with aspirations of striking gold and finding a wealthy bride, faced ridicule in the mining town for his futile endeavors. Despite being labeled a fool and a coward, he persistently courted affluent ladies, earning a reputation that preceded him.
In a mysterious turn of events, after James’s untimely demise, his corpse began appearing in peculiar places around town, always clutching love notes and wilted flowers addressed to various well-to-do women. The sheriff, perplexed and irritated, repeatedly buried James, only to find him resurfacing at the doorstep of different prosperous families.
Frustrated, the sheriff enlisted the help of a local boy to watch over the grave. To their astonishment, James seemed to defy death, emerging to pick flowers at night. The eerie occurrences continued until the sheriff discovered James’s decomposing remains at the home of his own sweetheart.
Determined to put an end to the bizarre phenomenon, the sheriff took matters into his own hands. Vowing to help James “stay put,” he declared an end to the unearthly courtship. Surprisingly, the townsfolk never encountered the courting corpse again.
Years later, grave robbers uncovered a coffin covered in fool’s gold, containing the skeletons of James and a wealthy spinster who had passed away shortly after him. The mysterious tale of James, the persistent suitor from beyond the grave, left the town with a lingering sense of the unearthly.
