As the sun began to quit the horizon, it was time for us to suspend our search for the elusive Ruth Ellen. We headed home, somewhat disappointed and satisfied at the same time. We had scoured a good amount of cemeteries and found that there was no Ruth Ellen. This would prove valuable for others who wished to search for the same grave. At this point, I decided to try a new approach to the situation. The article stated that the event took place in Peace Dale, a small village about five miles from the Rose lot. I cannot say how many times I had heard it said that people in the old days never ventured more than five miles from their homes. If so, then why would they be buried so far away?
I looked up the cemeteries in Peace Dale and found the Oakdell Cemetery. From there, I began to search for a Rose lot. While scrolling through the names, looking mostly at the dates, I found it: May 12, 1874. The name, however, was Phebe Rose, who died on May 12, 1874, at the age of forty-eight years. This created even more confusion. How were they related? Was Phebe a relative? Did the writer of the original article have some misinformation or a combination of a few accounts that were rolled into one story? Why fifteen years old? Who was Ruth Ellen? These were just a few of the questions that began swirling in my head.
One more possibility was that the name might have been misspelled along the way. I decided to check any name that was close to the spelling of Rose. Starting with Ross, I began to scroll down, looking at dates. A few minutes later, I hit a date: May 12, 1871. The name of the person was Ruth Ellen. The only snag to this lead was that, although Ruth Ellen Ross died on May 12, 1871, at the age of—you guessed it—fifteen, the cemetery was CH-045 in Charlestown, Rhode Island. How did all this add up? Why was Ruth Ellen buried in a completely different cemetery from the rest of her family? To add a little more spice to the pot, there is also a Ruth S. Rose buried in WK-034, but there are no dates given for her birth or death.
Taking all of these names into consideration, as well as the fact that the cemeteries are all in South County, there has to be some sort of connection between them. A few rational explanations might clear up the confusion. It was common in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries for people to make errors in recording records. Doctors would ride out to homes and record the death of a family member, perhaps take in a few drams of rum as partial compensation and then ride off to another patient or journey home. When they were able, they would venture to the town halls or capital city to file records. Sometimes that took a while, and names would pile up. Perhaps they got a few mixed up and did the best they could to remember who was who when writing them down; sometimes they lost the information and had to go by memory. That does not mean that all of them were wrong or mislabeled, but mistakes or misspellings were not uncommon in those times. Also, as we look at the modern compilations of cemetery records, we see many names. In 1874, many of those names were not there. The data we use for research has been painstakingly compiled for historical record. At one time, there could have been an entry somewhere where Rose and Ross were right next to each other. This could easily cause a researcher and writer to possibly mix up the two inadvertently. Stories handed down by word of mouth tended to take on a lot of inconsistencies or became embellished for the teller’s sake. Some of these inconsistencies, as stated before, might be due to misspelling, errors in recording or even lack of recording, or maybe the authors and subsequent writers around the end of the nineteenth century figured that the Rhode Island vampire had to fit the previous cases of being a fifteen- to twenty-two-year-old female. This would cause the first writers of these cases to manipulate the facts, possibly thinking that the records were, as was often the case, recorded incorrectly. In this case, what they thought they were fixing was actually becoming a whole new dilemma for historians and modern-day researchers to try to puzzle out.
Of course, there is a common thread: Abigail Staples, Sarah Tillinghast and Nancy Young were all young women between fifteen and twenty-two years of age. Ruth Ellen and, eighteen years later, Mercy Brown would also fit the bill. Taking this into perspective, it is easy to suspect that someone shuffled around the records to suit their needs. Remember that this is only a theory; no one remains to divulge the source of the article’s information. Much of the accounts were passed down in families by oral tradition, so it is easy to have several cases mingled into one.
Arlene and I did find the Rose lot in Oakdell Cemetery. There are over eighteen hundred burials, but we got lucky after searching for about twenty minutes. A single monument marks the plot, as the other stones have fallen over and are partially covered by grass. The cemetery is closely watched by authorities due to previous vandalism, so please be respectful and visit only during the hours posted.
William C. Rose and Mary A. (Tillinghast) Rose rest peacefully at the entrance of the Rose Hill lot, South Kingstown Historical Cemetery # 010. Mary’s great-grandfather was Stutley Tillinghast.
The grave of Phebe Rose in Oakdell Cemetery in Peace Dale coincides with everything the 1874 article describes, except the age she was supposed to have been when she passed.
It was Dr. Bell’s research that provided me with what I feel is among the most compelling evidence that the vampire theory was handed down from generation to generation. William C. Rose married Mary A. Tillinghast, granddaughter of Amos Tillinghast, who was the son of Stutley and Honor Tillinghast. This was a very important piece of information as it provides a direct reason for why Mr. Rose may have been hasty in making sure the rest of his family would not suffer from the spread of consumption, or at least it was written into the account by early researchers who found the same marriage record. The oral tradition of Sarah Tillinghast surely had to have been passed down to Mary. Many thanks go out to Dr. Bell for this piece of information on family lineage and the connection between these two documented cases.
It is interesting to note that several years later, on March 24, 1882, Dr. Robert Koch (1843–1910) of Germany revealed to the Physiological Society of Berlin that the disease was indeed a microscopic infectious agent by isolating the germ with a staining agent he had experimented with on other diseases and bacterium. The world now knew that tuberculosis bacillus was, without a doubt, the primary cause of the wasting sickness. This is why March 24 is known as World Tuberculosis Day and has been since 1982, one hundred years after Dr. Koch astounded and enlightened the world with his discovery.
1870s
WEST STAFFORD, CONNECTICUT
In the History of Tolland County, Connecticut, written in 1888, J.R. Cole describes an exhumation based on an unusual superstition that the people of West Stafford were inclined to believe. Dr. Michael Bell faithfully retells the report in his 2001 book, Food for the Dead. According to the account, there were six sisters, and five of them died in rapid succession from galloping consumption, a fast-moving form of the disease. In order to save the sixth sister, the people of the town adhered to a strange notion: “The old superstition in such cases is that the vital organs of the dead still retain a flicker of vitality and by some strange process absorb the vital forces of the living.”
They had heard of instances where the heart and lungs had stayed healthy while the rest of the body decomposed. These organs, upon burning, would cause the living relative to recover from his illness. A strange twist is added here, however: the deed must be carried out by a lone adventurer, and only at night, for the cure to have an effect. Again, the word “vampire” is not mentioned, but the word “superstition” seems to show up regularly in contemporary writings. As for the outcome of this narrative, it remains a matter of conjecture, as nothing further is said about what may have transpired in an attempt to cure the final sister.
1889
WEST GREENWICH, RHODE ISLAND
I am waiting and watching for you.
In a horror movie or suspense thriller, the above saying might have a more fearful, ominous or foreboding tone, but etched into a nineteenth-century gravestone, it means that the loved one is waiting to either reunite with family members in heaven or lyi
ng in wait for the coming of the Lord. Unfortunately, to some it was a sign that a spectral ghoul resided beneath, and so a legend was born.
Believe it or not, one of the most famous Rhode Island vampires was never disinterred, or even suspected of vampirism, although she was exhumed from the family burial lot and reinterred in the public cemetery at the corner of Plain and Liberty Hill Road on October 26, 1889, when the family sold their farm. Other than that, she remained anonymous; that is, until a group of legend-trippers stumbled upon her grave in the 1960s.
Nellie Louise Vaughn died on March 31, 1889, at the age of nineteen, presumably of pneumonia, not consumption. She was first buried in the family lot on her farm. Small, private family plots were very common in Rhode Island and, in some cases, are still in use to this day. Families who have owned the same land for centuries have their own private cemeteries where they can someday be buried with their ancestors.
The legend was born when, as the story goes, a Coventry teacher told his or her students about the vampire grave, just off Route 102 in South County, of a nineteen-year-old girl who died in the late 1800s. The teacher never gave a name or exact location. It can be assumed that this particular teacher was referring to Mercy Brown but could not remember, or did not know, the girl’s name. Either way, a group of classmates gathered together one night to find the grave of the vampire. How they came upon the historical cemetery behind the Plain Meetinghouse is another matter of mystery. Perhaps they had an atlas with the cemeteries marked and began a tour of each one, looking for telltale signs of a nosferatu, or maybe one of the legend-trippers already knew of the graveyard.
It did not take long for the seekers of the unknown to find what convinced them that their search was over. Just inside the cemetery sat Nellie’s stone with the now-famous inscription. Nellie’s age at the time of death and the date of her death closely matched the teacher’s description, and another Rhode Island vampire was born.
Since then, countless people have paid a visit to the graveyard looking for the grave site where, as legend states, no moss, lichen or grass will grow. It was also related that the grave continues to sink into the earth. There is no stone marking her plot, as it has been removed and stored away in an undisclosed location for preservation. Nellie’s grave site appears to be well tended with grass and is not sinking, as legend has proclaimed. There are a few areas in the burial yard where people claim she is buried, and all of them, for the most part, have plenty of vegetation on them. Unfortunately, the cemetery has been subject to much vandalism—so much so that there is a neighborhood watch, as well as police patrols on a regular basis.
West Greenwich Historical Cemetery #2, where the “mistaken” vampire, Nellie Vaughn, is buried.
There were also claims by certain paranormal groups that Nellie was buried alive, but no evidence to substantiate that assertion has ever been produced. Neither has there ever been any evidence that she may have been accused of vampirism during her time. Another recent aspect of the Nellie Vaughn saga involves the alleged sighting of a young woman in the graveyard and an ethereal voice emanating from nowhere saying, “I am perfectly pleasant.” In the book New England Ghost Files, Charles T. Robinson states that people have heard the words echo through the air while in the cemetery and have spotted the visage of a young woman near the grave of Nellie Vaughn.
Acclaimed author and paranormal investigator Christopher Balzano once stated that we have a tendency to immediately blame a haunting on the most famous person who lived in or passed through the area. Unfortunately, there is no indubitable evidence on the paranormal side to support that, even if there is a voice calling out to the visitors, it is actually Nellie’s. We already know she was never accused of being one of the spectral visitors blamed for sucking the life from family members in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. If anything, there is a beautiful historical cemetery and meetinghouse that should be left alone and respected. There is no need to waste your time traveling four miles up a winding road to see, well, nothing.
If you decide to visit the cemetery, please respect all rules and regulations regarding the cemetery and the historical meetinghouse.
1892
EXETER, RHODE ISLAND
EXHUMED THE BODIES—TESTING A HORRIBLE SUPPERSTITION IN THE TOWN OF
EXETER—BODIES OF DEAD RELATIVES TAKEN FROM THEIR GRAVE. They had all
died of consumption and the belief was that live flesh and blood would be found
that fed upon the bodies of the living.
That was the headline in the Providence Journal on March 19, 1892. The story tells of the gruesome account in which three of the Brown family were tested for vampirism. Related here is the story of the most famous case of alleged vampirism in New England, if not the world.
Mary Eliza Brown, wife of George Brown, died of consumption on December 8, 1883, at the age of thirty-six. About six months later, on June 6, 1884, their daughter, Mary Olive, succumbed to the disease at the age of twenty. Several years later, Edwin Brown became ill and, on the advice of his friends, removed himself to Colorado Springs with his wife, Hortense. During his absence, a sister, Mercy Lena Brown, became ill with galloping consumption, a fast form of the disease, and died within a few months of contraction. Upon Edwin’s return, he also contracted consumption, and his health began to decline rapidly.
Friends and neighbors feared that in some way, one of the relatives of Edwin was feeding upon his flesh and blood, causing him to waste away. The rest of the article tells the story of the exhumation. Although other such exhumations had taken place, it seemed outrageous from a medical standpoint not to mention that many people thought it was an antiquated, gruesome method of curing the malady. Needless to say, the exhumation made headlines the world over and basically brought an end to the New England vampire. Mercy Brown would be the last known case to be documented. Here is the rest of the story:
Mercy Brown’s stone in the Exeter Historical Cemetery #22 on Chestnut Hill, once called Shrub Hill.
The Brown family plot: father, George T.; mother, Mary E.; two daughters, Mary Olive and Mercy Lena; one son, Edwin; and Edwin’s wife, Hortense.
Within a few years George T. Brown of Exeter has been bereft of a wife and two daughters by that dreaded disease consumption. His wife, Mary E., daughter of Pardon M. Arnold, was first stricken down eight years ago, leaving her husband with six children, one son and five daughters. Within two years from the mother’s death the eldest daughter, Olive B., died of the same disease, leaving the other members of the family apparently in good health. In a few years the son, Edwin A., who has been employed as clerk by G. T. Cranston and by Taylor & Davis of Lafayette, was taken ill, and by the advice of friends went to Colorado Springs about 18 months ago. During his absence the past winter another daughter, Mercy Lena, who appeared in good health at his departure, passed away after a few months of suffering. Three weeks ago Edwin A., finding his health so rapidly failing, came back to Rhode Island and is now critically ill at the residence of Willet Himes, his father-in-law.
During the few weeks past Mr. Brown has been besieged on all sides by a number of people, who expressed implicit faith in the old theory that by some unexplained and unreasonable way in some part of the deceased relative’s body live flesh and blood might be found, which is supposed to feed upon the living who are in feeble health. Mr. Brown, having no confidence in the old-time theory, and also getting no encouragement from the medical fraternity, did not yield to their importunities until Thursday afternoon, when an investigation was held under the direction of Harold Metcalf, M.D., of Wickford. The bodies of the wife and two daughters, who were buried in the Exeter Cemetery, were exhumed and an examination made, finding nothing but skeletons of the bodies of the wife and the eldest daughter. After examination of the body of M. Lena, who was buried nine weeks ago, Dr. Metcalf reports the body in a state of natural decomposition, with nothing exceptional existing. When the doctor removed the heart and the liver from the body a quantity of bl
ood dripped therefrom, but this he said was just what might be expected from a similar examination of almost any person after the same length of time from decease. The heart and liver were cremated by the attendants. Mr. Brown has the sympathy of the community.
It seems that the newspaper was not completely done with the event and felt a need to update and clarify its previous story. On March 21, 1892, the Journal printed a follow-up article, delving further into the vampire theory and the accounts that led up to the Exeter exhumation. I acquired a copy of the two articles, the above account and the follow-up story below, in an attempt to understand what the writers were thinking while penning the actual accounts that transpired as told at the time of their experience. With kind permission from the Providence Journal, supplemented by research in Michael Bell’s Food for the Dead and Christopher Rondina’s Vampire Hunter’s Guide to New England, the article is reprinted here in its entirety as it appeared in 1892:
THE VAMPIRE THEORT-THAT SEARCH FOR THE SPECTRAL GHOUL IN THE EXETER GRAVES. NOT A RHODE ISLAND TRADITION, BUT SETTLED HERE. It originated in Europe. Cremation of the heart of the sister for the consumptive brother to eat the ashes.
“Ugh!” says the person of refinement. “Horrible!” ejaculates even the reader of the horrible daily papers. But those who believe in it express themselves thus; “It may be true,” “You may find one there,” “I always heard it was so,” and “My father and grandfather always said so.” From traditions of the vampire, it is, on the whole, pleasant to be free, but how singular that this old belief of the Hindoos and Danubian peoples should survive in Rhode Island! Had such a superstition been acted upon in White Russia or lower Hungary, Rhode Islanders would have read it as fiction, or a strange, wild falsehood, but this exhumation in the South County, in the town of Exeter, with the names of the persons authorizing it known in the county, and with a modern physician assisting is a fact divested of mystery or fictional description. People who believed in the theory went to the Medical Examiner of the District, and he had the bodies exhumed, and examined them. It is probable that the theory was never practiced in this state under a better light of publicity, discussion and criticism.
A History of Vampires in New England Page 10