(eerie music) -[Lynette] So, I found out about the graves or the babies being buried, there probably back when I was like 13 years old or 14.

(eerie music) I thought it was made up, but Gene said it actually said that on the sign about those flowers blooming (eerie music) -[Jessica] And we found it and when we turned on it, it was like a abandoned road, like completely overgrown, almost looked like an eerie type lane.

(eerie music) So, we go down it, we're walking down it (eerie music) looking around.

Where is this?

What's it gonna look like?

And then we see it, and to me, what I remember of it is a gated, like a black fence.

It looked like any kind of a spooky movie.

(eerie music) (car whooshing) -[Narrator] Nearly 10 miles northeast of small town Ravenna, across from a rural cemetery and hidden within the overgrowth of an abandoned road exists a grave site said by locals to be the final resting place for a pair of infant twins.

(eerie music) The burial site is notoriously difficult to access and even more difficult to locate.

Those who may have stumbled upon it by chance often have a hard time recalling its exact location.

Yet, to those who've stood face to face with the marker, it's left a lasting impression, one that's mystified locals for decades, but before the twins ever became a local legend, they were simply children starting a new life in the United States with their parents, August and Anna Zeller.

(gentle music) (gentle music) The twins were German immigrants, 19th century pioneers of the American West.

(gentle music) Their father August was a shoemaker in Germany and at the age of 25, he and his wife Anna decided to leave their life and their home country behind.

(gentle music) In July of 1880, the family arrived in New York where they would begin their 1,423-mile journey to Nebraska.

(gentle music) They settled just north of what would later become Ravenna in a small sod house where the family would continue to live well into the 20th century.

(gentle music) August began his life in the United States as a farmer and he and Anna continued to grow their family, raising 10 more children in the coming years, (gentle music) but the twins, their first born children, who bravely endured the long and treacherous journey to America, never lived to see the new life their family built.

(gentle music) Although the cause of death and date of their passing have been lost to time, the children died shortly after the family arrived in Nebraska.

Their mother buried them roughly 100 yards south of their home, marking the grave with a plot of irises (gentle music) In 1980, over a century after the twins had passed, a local farmer noticed the irises blooming in his pasture.

Remembering the story of the twins, Bud Pritschau took action, and with the help of the Sherman County Historical Society, he and his wife Elsie built a marker to remember the children and protect the burial site.

Decades later, the homemade marker still stands.

(gentle music) The crude structure, built from the farming materials Pritschau had on hand, protects the irises that continue to bloom after all these years, (gentle music) (birds chirping) but to Kirk Zeller, a fifth generation descendant of August and Anna, the burial is more than a humble sign and a bit of history.

It stands as a reminder of his heritage.

-[Kirk] I've always been curious about the family history and always felt a deep connection to it, a connection to my German ancestry, and so I was very intrigued when I did find out about it and went out there and I've gone out there to take pictures with all three of my kids at different stages in their life, because it's something that, something that I think is really important to pass down.

(bird chirping) -[Narrator] No matter where his career takes him, Kirk always finds himself returning to Ravenna, where he can reflect on his family's heritage and revisit the place where his story began.

(gentle music) -[Kirk] I remember coming here with my son and he sat, didn't say a word.

I explained to him coming here in advance of what we were doing and where we were going after we'd visited the homestead and he just walked right over here and sat down, crossed his legs, bowed his head, and just wanted a moment of silence and sat here in front of this, thinking about the sacrifices they made, he told me later, and how grateful he was that he was able to be an American (gentle music) (gentle music) -[Narrator] To some, a ghost story taken right out of a spooky movie.

(gentle music) To others, a cherished piece of family history.

(gentle music) Throughout the grueling era of westward expansion, thousands of pioneers lost their lives as they pursued prosperity on the new American frontier.

(gentle music) Some of these brave men, women and children are remembered fondly, their burial sites identified by a granite headstone, historical marker, or a handcrafted sign, (gentle music) but many of these graves remain unmarked, undocumented, and forgotten.

(gentle music) For every inspiring legend of resilience, sacrifice, and preserved family heritage, there are likely hundreds more completely lost to time.

(gentle music) -[Kirk] I'm appreciative that some of the things, some of the old churches and stuff, there's at least landmarks where they once were and I'm hoping we can preserve that stuff, so other people and future generations, two or three generations later have the ability to go back and be able to physically understand, "Wow, my great-great-great grandparents lived here."

I think it's important to feel that, that connection.

(gentle music) (gentle music)