Wilson Smith was born in 1876 to Liza Suttles Smith. Liza was a rich girl transplant from New York to the newly cleared John Smith farm in Ohio. She absolutely hated Ohio until little Willie was born.
She had married John on a whim and wanted to punish her high class mother for being such a controlling bitch for so many years. Little Willie made it all worth while. He grew into a beautiful fair haired boy. He could never leave her side without a kiss on the cheek.
Little Willie was a special little fella. Many times he would predict a friend coming, rain the next day and what kind of meat his father would bring home from a hunt. John and Liza were amused by his predictions and simply began to take them for granted.
Willie was just seven years old when the nightmare began.. John had given Willie a small knife to whittle sticks with. Willie sat on the cabin step and stabbed at black ants. He became enraged when he would miss and stab with a frenzy of madness! Liza shouted "Willie...Willie...Wilson J. Smith...you stop that this moment!"
Willie stopped stabbing the ants and said, "For you and father...I stop, I stop, I stop and I." Liza cut him off while running to him saying "God Willie, what is wrong with you?" Willie looked up at her smiling and said, ", I stop, I stop, I stop, I stop." Liza picked him up to hold him and he just kept repeating "I stop" over and over. She hugged him tightly and begged him,"Willie, what is wrong child, what is wrong with you?"
Willie began to scream, I stop, I stop, I stop!" Liza sat him back down on the step and ran to the field to get John. John and Liza came running back to the cabin and Willie was still sitting there saying "I stop" over and over. John shook him and smacked him but Willie would not quit saying those words. Liza was crying, so John held her and said, "Just leave the boy be...he will tucker out and quit his tantrum."
Willie didn't stop saying, "I stop." He said it through supper that evening, at bedtime and even through the night he would wake up and say only those words. After three days of listening to Willie, Liza begged John to take them back to New York to have Willie see a doctor.
It was harvest time and John told her that it would have to wait. They tried folk medicines and suggested treatments from neighbors but nothing worked.
Willie continued with, "I stop, I stop, I stop." They had to feed Willie with a tube that John made from dried catfish skin. They tied his hands behind his back and gagged him at night so they could rest. Liza would still wake up all hours of the night and hear Willie moan,"I ah, I ah, I ah." She would dig her finger nails into her pillow as she tried to muffle the sound while covering her head.
This had gone on for weeks. John and Liza were far beyond miserable. On the night of October 31, Liza knelt at John's side by the fireplace and begged him to do something, anything....she couldn't take another moment of Willie repeating those words. John was a hard man but the tears steamed down his face as he told Liza what he had to do.
The creek wasn't far. John picked up Willie as Liza gave Willie a kiss on the forehead. John told Liza to stay in the cabin and she did. He carried Willie in the moonlight to the creek bank. He untied Willie's hands and took the gag off. He held Willie down in the cold water and cursed himself for being a father who had to kill his son!
He felt the life go out of Willie but still held the body under for a long time. He carried Willie back to the cabin and Liza wrapped him in a blanket. By lantern light, John and Liza went up on a small hill by the creek to bury Willie. John scattered a few stones on the fresh dirt. They told everyone that Willie had accidentally drowned.
A few years later, John had a grave maker made for Little Willie. In the fall of 1889, John and Liza went to visit Willie's grave and just kneel there as they had done many time before. The grave was covered in black ants. John swept some of them away with his hand but they covered the clearing instantly.
The ants crawled on John's sleeve and rushed up Liza's dress. They both stood up and smacked at the ants. In seconds, they were both speckled with black ants. They were trying to smack them off their faces. Liza began to scream for John's help but John couldn't help her! The ants just kept covering them.
The ants rushed to their heads and began crawling in their ears, noses and the corners of their eyes. The pain was excruciating but the voice they were hearing among the crunching was unmistakable. Little Willie was screaming, "I stop, I stop, I stop! "
John and Liza were found face down in the creek the next day. As the Constable had the men carry the bodies past Willie's grave......one little black ant crawled to the top of the stone.....and stopped.
