Shelly Wilmarth¶
Shelly Wilmarth is Alberta Wilmarth's mother, who died of a heart attack out with the cattle on the family ranch near Ballard, Utah, yet appears on a local news broadcast and is said to walk the ranch at night. Her case brings the task force to Utah in The Walkers in Skin.
| Type | NPC (dead; apparent revenant) |
| Aliases | Alberta's mother; Revenant Shelly Wilmarth; the apparition; the dead mother |
| Status | Dead and buried; the exhumation is ordered but never shown. The nature of the apparition is never explained |
| First appearance | Walkers 01 |
| Played by | Andre |
Description¶
Shelly is never seen directly; she exists in photographs, an obituary clipping and a few seconds of news footage. According to Alberta, she was "just a heart attack. She was out with the cattle." Her grave lies in the churchyard cemetery under a big black granite slab laid over the top of the plot (Walkers 01, Walkers 03).
History¶
Alberta's request¶
Alberta arrives at the PITF office with a box of documents and tapes (Alberta's box): a yearbook photo, a photo from a family reunion five or six years earlier, the obituary clipping, and a VHS copy of local news footage of a protest about the community center, in which her mother appears just before a cut. Alberta wants the Mormon church forced to exhume her mother. She says other people have seen Shelly too, including the man renting the ranch, who did not know she was dead. Andrew Howard rules out a secret twin, since Alberta has only brothers, and a doppelganger goes on the list of possibilities (Walkers 01).
Investigation¶
In Salt Lake City, Carl Gardner says the Bureau has already looked into the young woman's report and checked for twins. Robert Bigelow refers to Alberta's apparition at the big house. Whether it is a ghost, a shapeshifter or a hallucination is not settled (Walkers 02).
The party tells Sheriff McDermish they want an exhumation, and he asks whether they have checked for twins. They find the grave after about half an hour of searching (Walkers 03). Andrew gets a court order through Big Bill, and it is expected to go through the day after tomorrow (Walkers 04, Walkers 05).
In Walkers 06 the party repairs the ground-penetrating radar and pushes it over the grave, comparing the readings with neighboring graves and the dirt beside it. They conclude, with about 85 percent confidence, that there is something solid in the coffin. By Walkers 07 the exhumation order is set for the next morning, but the digging is never shown. See Exhumation of Shelly Wilmarth.
Trivia¶
- The date of her death is inconsistent. In Walkers 01 Alberta says her mother "died two years ago" and the obituary reads winter 1990. In Walkers 05, when Rita asks, Andre answers that she died "about, I think, like two months ago."
- Two other characters share the name: the "ape woman" Jan Martense named Shelly (Shelly (ape woman)), who Andre admits he named while drunk, and a staffer addressed as "Shelly" on the intercom at the Salt Lake City field office.