---
name: "Ike Towell's Grave"
subtitle: "A 1934 Texas headstone reading AN INFIDEL WHO HAD NO HOPE OF HEAVEN NOR FEAR OF HELL"
date: 2026-07-23
link: "https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ike-towell-grave"
linkText: "atlasobscura.com"
source: "Atlas Obscura"
topics: [travel-and-places, history-and-archives]
tags: [texas, cemetery, epitaph, history]
description: "A city marshal in Columbus, Texas bought his own coffin, wrote his own funeral speech, and had his headstone declare him an infidel with no hope of heaven nor fear of hell."
---

Ike Towell, a onetime city marshal in Columbus, Texas, didn't trust anyone else to handle his send-off: he bought his own coffin in advance and wrote the speech read at his own funeral. His 1934 headstone carries the epitaph he chose for himself — "AN INFIDEL WHO HAD NO HOPE OF HEAVEN NOR FEAR OF HELL" — a piece of stone-cold defiance that still stops visitors mid-stroll through the cemetery.
