OT - New England Vampire Panic in mid-1800s - Article

[Philippe Cordier]

The Smithsonian Magazine arrived at home a couple of days ago, and one of the articles immediately caught my attention -- in addition to a cover story unearthing new information on Thomas Jefferson's slaves, and an interesting article on the real Tom Sawyer, a friend of Mark Twain's. The one relevant here is called "The Great New England Vampire Panic."

I've barely had time to skim the article, which is quite lengthy and luckily is also available online.

It's also quite timely given another discussion thread here, because the article documents dozens of cases of bodies being unearthed -- and some beheaded -- in wake of local fears and beliefs that a vampire was preying on the community. These occurences took place in many areas of New England -- many of them well past 1840, interestingly enough.

The Great New England Vampire Panic
Two hundred years after the Salem witch trials, farmers became convinced that their relatives were returning from the grave to feed on the living
By Abigail Tucker, Smithsonian magazine, October 2012

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/The-Great-New-England-Vampire-Panic-169791986.html#ixzz27iUNcRrZ

[Patti Feinberg]

I wonder what would cause farmers to fear their departed had returned from the dead?

Thanks for the link.

Patti

[DarkLady]

From Smithsonian Magazine--it's that time of year!

[D_Friedlander]

Mercy Brown is now the subject of a young adult novel.  A (fictional) modern young collateral descendant of the unfortunate, mutilated Mercy researches her relative's life, which helps her deal with her own problems.  There are some elements of the paranormal in the story as well, which I guess would make it a good Halloween read.

Some names and ages of the principals were changed (her dead sister is called "Grace" rather than "Mary Olive"; the afflicted brother in the book is a young boy, while her brother was in his 20s and a newlywed.)

http://bangordailynews.com/2011/10/21/living/meet-the-last-new-england-vampire/

Apparently there are no photographs of Mercy or her family from that period (1880s-90s); at least none have surfaced at this time.  However, Mercy did leave a souvenir of her life, talent, and interests in this handmade quilted coverlet, which was preserved by her father's side of the family:

http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?kid=4D-85-35