The Tooth in the Jar: Why Mossgate Buried a Child's Name

The Tooth in the Jar: Why Mossgate Buried a Child's Name

A sealed glass jar sat for more than seventy years beneath the Mossgate County Courthouse containing a baby tooth and a genuine court order for a case that, officially, never existed - a vanished infant recorded as "no given name." Who put a tooth in a jar under a courthouse floor, and why was a child's legal existence erased from every public record?

In this episode, we trace the paper trail pulled from a crawl space photograph taken at 11:14 a.m. on a spring day in 1994 and follow the researcher who spent three days in the county clerk's office reconstructing what the records do and do not show. What did a court order to preserve evidence mean when the corresponding case cannot be found?

Person: Heather Bauer Date: March 3, 1922 Location: Mossgate County Courthouse crawl space Researcher: Dawn Larsen Photograph time: 11:14 a.m., spring 1994

- The sealed glass jar was photographed by septic contractor Jerry Gardner beneath the northeast corner of the courthouse. - The jar contained a folded document identified as a genuine court order and a single baby tooth. - Birth registration entry reads "Bauer, infant female, no given name recorded," mother Heather Bauer, age 22. - No infant death record, no marriage record, and no trace of Heather Bauer exist in official records after October 1922. - The courthouse portrait of "C. Waite, 1918-1926" hangs face-to-wall in a second-floor corridor, explained locally as "for the town."

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved. This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].