A History of Vampires in New England

by Thomas D'Agostino

  Hand-hewn headstones and footstones mark a row of graves. These are most likely the Tillinghast children, who died in rapid succession in 1799 and 1800, thus leaving the family with little or no time to procure proper stones. Sarah is buried somewhere among them.

  When examining Exeter Historical Cemetery #14, one can see a row of fieldstone graves where most likely the children who died within a year of one another were buried. In those days, stonecutters were few and far between, and perhaps the family had to wait for proper stones or was financially unable to have that many stones made at once. Either way, the fieldstones are scattered among regular inscribed stones in the cemetery, which consists of twenty-five burial sites with fifteen inscribed stones dating from 1831 to 1919. There are actually six unmarked fieldstones. The cemetery sits twenty feet east of Forest Hills Drive off Route 102, up a little hill and among brush and trees. Please obey all regulations in regard to historical cemeteries and be respectful of the property when visiting.

  CIRCA LATE 1700

  TO EARLY 1800

  GRJSWOLD, CONNECTICUT

  New discoveries of those who were exhumed for vampirism have continued to occur well into the present. Some are found by thorough research and leads coming from descendents of families who were convinced an evil was trying to wipe them out, and others are found by complete accident. In November 1990, three young boys were sliding down a privately owned sand and gravel pit in Griswold, Connecticut. The boys were having a wonderful time doing what young children do, having good clean fun; that is, until a few skulls rolled alongside one of them as he descended the embankment. The frightened boys dashed home to tell their parents, who in turn called the authorities.

  The police arrived on the scene not knowing what to expect. It was speculated that the area could have been a burial site for a serial killer, but there were no such cases in the region to account for that theory. Upon examining the skulls, they realized that an archaeologist would be more of a logical choice to help identify their find. Connecticut State archaeologist Dr. Nicholas Bellantoni was called to the scene, and after some investigating, he found that the children had discovered an abandoned colonial cemetery literally falling out of the side of the eroding sandbank. The fieldstone markers had been buried over time or were nonexistent. But who was buried there?

  With Dr. Bellantoni on hand and an invitation extended to forensic anthropologist Paul Sledzik, curator of the Anatomical Collections at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington, D.C., excavations began in an attempt to remove and relocate the remains to another cemetery down the road. They found twenty-nine burials in all—fifteen sub-adults, six adult males and eight adult females—but there was one grave in particular that made everyone stop and stare in disbelief. Of the numbered burials, burial number 4 was the oddest. It had been lined on the sides and top with stone slabs. When they removed the slab, they found “JB-55” marked on the top of the coffin with brass tacks. This was concluded to be the possible initials and age of death of the deceased. When the lid of the coffin was opened, the stunned throng found that the skeleton’s skull and thigh bones had been arranged in a “skull and crossbones” manner on top of the ribcage, which had also been rearranged in order for the skull to fit in such a place. Oddly enough, Dr. Michael Bell, who because of his knowledge of vampire folklore was called in to examine the strange excavation, stated that the skeleton of “JB” was the best preserved in the burial lot. The skeleton was sent to Washington, D.C., for analysis.

  Interred alongside of “JB” were two other similar burials with tacks nailed into their coffins that may have been related. One, “IB-45,” was concluded to be a female, and a child, “NB-13,” was buried alongside her. There were several other burials of young children in a cluster, suggesting that a disease, perhaps smallpox or measles, which were prevalent about the time of the burials, may have spread through the family. Research by Dr. Bellantoni showed that the cemetery belonged to the Walton family. Lawrence and Margaret Walton moved from Boston about 1690 and started a farm in what was then part of Preston. One of their five children, John, born in 1694, became a well-respected preacher of the Congregationalist Church. It was their second son, Nathan, and his wife, Jemima, who purchased a small plot of land from their neighbor in 1757 for use as a family burial ground. The Walton family lived on the homestead and used the burial ground well into the nineteenth century, until they decided to move westward to more fruitful farmlands. Then, according to Dr. Bellantoni, another unidentified family used the burial ground for a short period of time. This could be where JB and his family come into the picture, or they may have been related to the Waltons.

  In “Biological and Biocultural Evidence for the New England Vampire Folk Belief” by Nicholas Bellantoni and Paul Sledzik, written in 1994 for the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, it was concluded, based on their research, that JB died of consumption or some form of pulmonary tuberculosis. Several years later, one of the family members became ill. They feared that JB might have been returning from the grave to feed on them. They attempted to burn the heart in typical New England fashion, but when they opened the grave, there was nothing left but a skeleton. They resorted to an alternative remedy of rearranging the skull and femur bones into a skull and crossbones pattern to put an end to the illness that was afflicting them. Dr. Bellantoni based his conclusion that an exorcism for vampirism was most likely performed on three pieces of evidence: the arrangement of the bones, the paleopathological evidence of tuberculosis or a chronic pulmonary infection producing the same physical appearance on the ribs of the skeleton and the historical accounts of the vampire folk belief and remedies that were practiced at about the same time in New England.

  I had the honor and pleasure of speaking with Dr. Bellantoni about the findings at the Walton burial lot. He found it very intriguing to have actually come across such a rare find by accident. Dr. Bellantoni stated that JB-55 was, to his knowledge, the only physical evidence found thus far of the New England vampire scare.

  The remains found in the Walton lot were buried in the Hopewell Cemetery, along the Patchaug River, in an unmarked area to keep vandals from digging up the graves in search of the alleged vampire.

  We once again find a tie to Rhode Island in this particular case. The town of Griswold was originally set out in the North Society of Preston. Griswold, consisting of many Rhode Island emigrants, petitioned the state to be incorporated as a separate town in 1815. In October of that year, the Connecticut State Assembly granted that request, making Griswold an official town. Border disputes between Griswold, Preston and Voluntown continued, however, until 1872, when the final boundaries of the town were recognized. Many of the locals considered the Rhode Island settlers to be crude, uneducated and socially inept.

  Hopewell Cemetery in Griswold, Connecticut, where the remains of the Walton burial lot were relocated in an undisclosed location.

  It seems weird—almost surreal—in this day and age to have such evidence literally pop up in front of us, but New Englanders have a lot of eerie skeletons in their family closets and even more in their graveyards.

  1807

  PLYMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS

  Every New England state had at least one documented case of exhumation and exorcism for vampirism. This next account took place in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The land where the pilgrims settled (they actually first landed at Provincetown but a month later shoved off for more bountiful land) was apparently once an abode for a creature of the night. The author of the account adds a poem that he wrote for extra measure. There are no names given, like so many other New England vampire writings, but the story remains true to the historic essence we have come to know in New England. I am guessing that the writer left out specific names for the sake of anonymity on the part of the people involved. The article appeared in the very first issue of the Old Colony Memorial and Plymouth County Advertiser dated May 4, 1822. It also appears in Christopher Rondina’s Vampire Hunter’s Guide to New
England, Michael Bell’s Food for the Dead and Jeff Belanger’s Weird Massachusetts. I present it here once more in its entirety for the sake of record and thoroughness.

  In that almost insulated part of the state of Massachusetts, called Old Colony or Plymouth County, and particularly in a small village adjoining the shire town, there may be found the relic[k]s of many old customs and superstitions which would be amusing at least to the antiquary. Among others of less serious cast, there was, fifteen years ago, one which, on account of its peculiarity and its consequence, I beg leave to mention.

  It is well known to those who are acquainted with that section of our country, that nearly one half of its inhabitants die of a consumption, occasioned by the chilly humidity of their atmosphere, and the long prevalence of easterly winds. The inhabitants of the village (or town as it is there called) to which I allude were peculiarly exposed to this scourge; and I have seen, at one time, one of every fifty of its inhabitants gliding down to the grave with all the certainty which characterizes this insidious foe of the human family.

  There was, fifteen years ago, and is perhaps at this time, an opinion prevalent among the inhabitants of this town, that the body of a person who died of a consumption, was by some supernatural means, nourished in the grave of some one living member of the family; and that during the life of this person, the body retained, in the grave, all the fullness and freshness of life and health. This belief was strengthened by the circumstance, that whole families frequently fell a prey to this terrible disease.

  Of one large family in this town consisting of fourteen children, and their venerable parents, the mother and the youngest son only remained—the rest within a year of each other had died of the consumption.

  Within two months from the death of the thirteenth child, an amiable girl about sixteen years of age, the bloom, which characterized the whole of this family, was seen to fade from the cheek of the last support of the heart-smitten mother, and his broad flat chest was occasionally convulsed by that powerful deep cough which attends the consumption in our Atlantick States.

  At this time as if to snatch one of this family from an early grave, it was resolved by a few of the inhabitants of the village to test the truth of this tradition which I have mentioned, and, which the circumstances of this afflicted family seemed to confirm. I should have added that it was believed that if the body thus supernaturally nourished in the grave, should be raised and turned over in the coffin, its depredation upon the survivor would necessarily cease. The consent of the mother being obtained, it was agreed that four persons, attended by the surviving and complaining brother should, at sunrise the next day dig up the remains of the last buried sister. At the appointed hour they attended in the burying yard, and having with much exertion removed the earth, they raised the coffin upon the ground; then, displacing the flat lid, they lifted the covering from her face, and discovered what they had indeed anticipated, but dreaded to declare. Yes, I saw the visage of one who had been long the tenant of a silent grave, lit up with the brilliancy of youthful health. The cheek was full to dimpling, and a rich profusion of hair shaded her cold forehead, while some of its richest curls floated upon her unconscious breast. The large blue eye had scarcely lost its brilliancy, and the livid fullness of her lips seemed almost to say, “Loose me and let me go.”

  In two weeks the brother, shocked with the spectacle he had witnessed, sunk under his disease. The mother survived scarcely a year, and the long range of sixteen graves, is pointed out to the stranger as an evidence of the truth of the belief of the inhabitants. The following lines were written on a recollection of the above shocking scene:

  I saw her, the grave sheet was round her,

  Months had passed since they laid her in the clay;

  Yet the damps of the tomb could not wound her,

  The worms had not seized on their prey.

  O, fair was her cheek, as I knew it.

  When the rose all its colours there brought;

  And that eye, - did a tear then bedew it?

  Gleame’d like a herald of thought.

  She bloom’d, though the shroud was around her,

  Locks o’er her cold bosom wave,

  As if the stern monarch had crown’d her,

  The fair speechless queen of the grave.

  But what lends the grave such a lusture?

  O’er her cheeks what beauty had shed?

  His life blood, who bent there, had nurs’d her,

  The living was food for the dead!

  That is the account, as vague as it may be. It is an eerie recanting of the writer’s presumably eyewitness report of a family’s desperate attempt to effect a cure for consumption. In this case, we find that the cure was to turn the body facedown in the coffin. A small clue such as that might help in narrowing down the origins of some of the families who settled in the area at the time. Ancient Celts were known for this type of burial to make sure that the body rested in peace. They may also have performed this form of burial in order to confuse what they thought was a vampire. By burying the body facedown, it cannot find its way to the surface and instead may be inclined to dig deeper into the earth.

  Arlene’s first reaction upon hearing this method of exorcism was: “They did not think that vampires were very smart did they?” She half humorously commented on such precautions, stating that if a vampire has the power to rise from the grave, how would he be so obtuse as to fall for such a trick? It is a case that exemplifies how the living were often desperate and let their rationality fall to the wayside when dealing with their fear of vampires.

  1810

  BARNSTEAD, NEW HAMPSHIRE

  Twenty-one-year-old Janey Dennit died of consumption and was buried in the family graveyard. When her father took ill, neighbors were compelled to dig her up and examine her for any strange sign that might prove supernatural forces were preying on the Dennit family. On September 5, 1810, the procession of family and friends gathered at the cemetery as soon as the sun rose. They exhumed Janey’s body, which had been buried for a little over two years. Oddly enough, they were not looking for fresh blood on her lips or in her heart, or even a youthful rosy complexion upon her cheeks. Their interest was more in what might be protruding from the remains of her stomach. It was believed by these townsfolk, just like in Willington, Connecticut, and Dummerston, Vermont, that if vines or sprouts were growing out of her stomach or vitals, then surely an evil had taken up residence in her corpse and therefore had to be exorcised in order to save her father from the same fate. A traveling minister named Enoch Hayes Place, who wrote the account in his journal, witnessed this gruesome rite. He also made no secret of how it affected him to behold such a ghastly exhumation and examination of the dead woman’s body, which consisted of little more than bones and the remains of vitals. He later gave a sermon in a neighboring town, where the people told him of another such exhumation that took place in nearby Loudon.

  The Shakers had removed from the grave one of their own, presumably for the same purpose as in the Dennit account. When they examined the remains, they found eleven sprouts that had grown out of the bones, especially from the torso, and one that grew from the skull. It was reported that the people who broke off the sprouts all died within a short time, and the cure was ineffective to the inflicted relative. Even the Shakers were convinced that something beyond the grave could be a threat to their well-being. Where does the notion that plant growth on the bones of the deceased is an evil omen or portent of death to another member of the family come from? Voltaire mentions that vampires often sucked blood from the stomachs of their victims. New Hampshire adopted this belief for its own set of criteria for vampirism. It is interesting to look at the different regions of New England and read about the different beliefs that prevailed in finding evidence of the living dead. Of course, this is closely related to the vine growing from coffin to coffin, as in the Burton case, but it takes things right to the body itself as host to the malevolent malady.

  Either w
ay, it’s clear that there was widespread fear of the dead coming back to feed on the living. Unfortunately, there is no writing from the people who performed these exorcisms outlining their psychological reasoning or how the belief came into practice.

  1817

  WOODSTOCK, VERMONT

  The case of Frederick Ransom was written by his brother, Daniel, in his unpublished manuscript, “Memoirs of Daniel Ransom.” Although the script was written many years after the incident, when Daniel was in his eighties, it still brings home the dilemma that New England people faced in regard to the evil disease consumption. The incident took place in 1817, based on the recollections of Daniel. It is a classic example of how families turned to folklore and superstition in a desperate attempt to stop the dreaded affliction that was taking their loved ones to the grave.

  Many notable figures have hailed from the bucolic Vermont town of Woodstock since its settlement in 1768, but it is also well known for its ghosts, peculiar monolithic structures and vampires. The Ransom memoir appeared about the time of Exeter, Rhode Island’s Mercy Brown exhumation, having been acknowledged in 1894. About this time, articles and stories were popping up in just about every publication, from small-town papers to major scientific journals. It appears that the New England vampire had finally sunken its teeth into the annals of history.