Last European Execution for Witchcraft, 1782

[Philippe Cordier]

For some reason (probably Halloween), a blurb came up on one of my internet news pages about the last person executed for witchcraft in Europe (Switzerland, 1782). Technically, she was executed for poisoning, but it was accusations of witchcraft that led to the charges.  Here's a link to one of the more thorough accounts of the case that I found in a quick search:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7003128.stm

What year was it that Quentin Collins was on trial for witchcraft and threatened with beheading?

[Nelson Collins]

What year was it that Quentin Collins was on trial for witchcraft and threatened with beheading?

1840 wasn't it?

[Zahir]

Wow, that was before the Witch Trial in 1795!

[Nelson Collins]

And there is that Kenyan Bishop Thomas Muthee, who in the late 1980's (apparently) channeled the spirit of Rev. Trask, and defeated a local witch, Mama Jane, in a great spiritual battle, and liberated his town from sin and opened its people to the spirit of Jesus.... 

 

[The Doctor and K9]

I grew up in Newport, RI, and we used to hear about the legend of Mercy Brown.  Supposedly, she was a vampire, and her body was exhumed in 1892.  This caused quite a stir when it was reported in the Providence Journal.  Apparently, RI at that time was a contradiction.  Providence was very sophisticated and "modern", while the rural areas were as backward as any where in the world.  Let's put this in perspective.  I was doing a paper for school, and I chose vampires.  My teacher told me that I should try to go and talk to a man who actually remembered the whole Mercy Brown incident.  He'd lived in Exeter as a boy and had been about 10-12 when it occurred.  Unfortunately, I never go to go see him, because he lived in Providence.  I was too young at the time to take a bus to the nursing home up there.  Within the lifetime of this man, he'd seen furor over vampires, the telephone come into common usage, two world wars, radio, TV, flight from its early beginnings and ultimately to the moon and SKYLAB.  I don't know when he died, but I did the paper in 1978.  At that point, he was in his 90s.  My teacher reduced my grade from an A to a B because she thought I should have "made the effort" to go to Providence to see her X distant relative.  I wish I'd been able to, but my Dad was not about to take me there, and I certainly was not going to be able to get on a RIPTA bus on my own.  Still, it's startling to realize how close we are, timewise, in this country, to the age of superstiion. 

[michael c]

wow,

i've never heard of the legend of mercy brown.that sounds fascinating.

i'm going to look for a book on that.

[Gothick]

Unfortunately "witch hunts" are more popular than ever in Nigeria today in 2008.  There was a link making the rounds on the Nets a few months ago about this. 

The pattern of unscrupulous ministers inciting mob hysteria against supposed "witches" in the community sounds frighteningly similar to what happened in Salem, only on a much bigger and more violent scale. 

G.

[D_Friedlander]

This Wikipedia article is pretty concise, containing a good summary of the facts in the case.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercy_Brown_vampire_incident

Poor Mercy and her family were plagued by tuberculosis, which, along with rabies, porphyria, cancer, and some other serious wasting and/or blood-related and/or mentally-deranging illnesses, are thought to have inspired the concept of vampirism.  You have to feel for the father, watching his wife and most of his progeny, including the only son (who was a newlywed, but alas left no child), dying so terribly, to have him agree to this drastic (and ultimately futile) attempt at a cure.

Mercy was not "exhumed" from an actual grave, she was in a receiving tomb (along the lines of the one in Sleepy Hollow cemetery which served as the "Collins Tomb" in HODS) because the ground was too hard to dig a grave.  Nevertheless, the determined villagers warmed and dug out Mercy's mother Mary and sister Mary Olive.  Being that it was reportedly a very cold winter, the frozen conditions in the above-ground tomb (not a crypt as is sometimes stated) kept Mercy quiite well-preserved after just 2 months dead, compared to her mother and sister who had been buried for years.  There are some pictures of the tomb:

http://www.quahog.org/attractions/index.php?id=50

I suspect that bringing the poor sick brother home in the dead of winter and subjecting him to the traumatic and nauseous ordeal, right out in the cold cemetery, might have deteriorated his condition that much faster!

This blogger went to the site (with the pictures to prove it):

http://www.oddthingsiveseen.com/2007/12/grave-of-mercy-brown-vampire.html

Stu of Doom shows how Mercy's well-known and probably oft-disturbed tombstone has been repaired:

http://www.stuofdoom.com/mercy.html

FindaGrave entry:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6628164

Oddly, and one presumes simply by coincidence, there is a window-like cut-out in this minister's son's tombstone through which one can look directly towards Mercy's grave.  However, William C. Johnson died 2 years before Mercy was born, and his parents also died some years before the unfortunate Brown girl died and became the "vampire" of legend.  Their stones have carved-out sections which may once have contained pictures or decorative inserts, but not all the way through like William's.  No telling if some prankster actually accomplished this. 

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSsr=41&GScid=1451811&GRid=8728829&

[The Doctor and K9]

There's a local legend that says that you can hear the sound of Mercy wailing at her grave.  When I was in college we decided to go to Exeter and see if we could hear it.  We took this kid from somewhere like Oregon, I don't remember for sure.  Any way, we got lost and never made it to the grave.  I think we were in the right cemetary, but we got cold and decided to head back.  On the way back, this part is OT by the way, we got super lost and ended up near the CT state line.  We decided to cross over and get some more beer.  CT had an age 18 drinking age. RI was transitioniing to 21.  When I turned 18 it went to 19, when I turned 20, it stayed 20.  At that time I was underage. We had to make a pitstop, and we were near a sign that said WELCOME TO WYOMING (RI of course). Our designated driver got the bright idea to wake up the kid from Oregon or wherever and show it to him.  He looked at it and just froze.  Then he used a string of language I can't repeat here and started crying I'm in *^()^ing WYOMING! I have an EXAM TOMORROW and I"m in ())*_(+WYOMING!  Ok, I know that was off topic, but I couldn't resist.  We never ventured out to Exeter again.  I did hear a recording of the supposed wailing, but I wasn't clear what was wind, what was tape hiss, and what was supposedly wailing. 

[D_Friedlander]

In Griswold, CT., some years ago, an old family cemetery was revealed in a gravel pit.  Out of the 29 sets of remains, mostly of a family named Walton one, a male, showed signs of TB, and had been disturbed in a manner similar to Mercy Brown.  Thus it seems likely that her fate was shared by numerous others in the new USA, the difference being that the Griswold man had died before about 1840, while Mercy died almost at the turn of the century.

 Interestingly, this poor chap may not have been a member of the Walton family--- tacks on his coffin-lid spelt out "JB---55", presumably his initials and age at the time of death.  A middle-aged woman and young teen, also with "B" initials, his wife and child perhaps, were buried with him, but did not have signs of post-mortem disturbance.

Several members of the Ray family were notorious in Jewett city for dying of TB circa 1850, and the dead were cremated in order to save the living.  So much for Connecticut being "the land of steady habits" and Yankee common sense.

This article describes in detail the medical examination of JB  (to be read only if that kind of thing doesn't make you squeamish):

http://www.ceev.net/biocultural.pdf 

or:  http://74.125.45.104/search?q=cache:eTnlf_GrM7EJ:www.ceev.net/biocultural.pdf+connecticut+vampire+story&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=26&gl=us&client=firefox-a

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14319352.500-science-how-new-england-laid-vampires-to-rest-.html

[Taeylor Collins]

And people say the world is scary now?  I am like it's always been C R A Z Y!! LOL  It's true.  People act like all the horrid acts in the world are something new to behold.  The only reason we know more terrible news is because of media and salaciousness!! Imagine if TV were around in those days.  Talk about insanity!

Thanks this was fascinating!