A Revolutionary Spy and a Cursed-Hanging Tree, Part ll

As Mary Post was hanged for being a British spy during the Revolutionary War in 1777 she placed a curse on the tree used to hang her. Before she died, she stated if anyone harmed this tree, they would suffer.

More about Mary’s story is shared in Part l, here.

Camp Glen Gray in the Ramapo
Mountains in northeastern NJ.

The curse placed on this tree was first documented after a Boy Scout camp was built in 1917 on the site where Mary Post was hanged. The ancient maple tree still stood on the camp property.

Are the following stories truth or legend?

In 1935, a scoutmaster wishing to stamp down belief in this curse cut a limb off the tree to prove the curse did not exist. Three days later he and his family perished in a house fire.

Sixteen years later a camp official attempted to chop down the tree, again to put an end to the legend. As he fiercely swung an ax at the trunk, it flew back and sliced his throat. He later died from this wound.

A camper that knew nothing about the curse unwittingly carved his initials in the tree in 1940. Everything was normal until he fell asleep in his tent that night. When he awoke the next morning he felt severe pain, he discovered one of his legs had a compound fracture.

Camp Glen Gray

Fifteen years later a camp worker decided to defy the curse. He chopped off pieces of the Mary Post tree to sell as souvenirs. Soon after he started to have horrible nightmares—they continued until he went insane. This man lived the rest of his life in an asylum.

By 1969, this tree was so diseased New Jersey officials decided to have it chopped down. Two men were sent to do this job. The first professed he did not believe in the curse—the night before they were slated to cut down the tree he died of a brain hemorrhage. His partner left quickly.

Another six years passed and the tree still stood, but by this time it was dead. Some believed the curse would now end, but they were wrong.

In 1980 on Friday the 13^th a group of 13 men including 3 scouts decided to tempt the old curse. With chainsaws, they succeeded in felling the tree.

A portion of this tree can still, be seen at Park Headquarters. When the boy scout camp closed in 2001, Bergen County turned the old camp into a public campground.

So what happened to the 13 who finally felled the tree?

One was killed in a car accident two weeks after the tree came down. A second man perished in a ski accident, and the third died of liver disease—he started to drink after he participated in the felling.

The other 10 participants did not escape misfortune all suffered bad injuries within 12 months after the tree came down.

The locals now believed that the evil that surrounded this maple had finally come to an end but something else unusual began to happen.

Lake Vreeland

Witnesses reported seeing Mary Post’s ghost near where she was executed. Then others came forward to state they saw her at Lake Vreeland near where her inn once stood.

Her ghost is seen floating above the water unusually late at night in the autumn months. Her apparition has also been spotted in the nearby-untouched forest.

In Part l of A Revolutionary Spy and a Cursed-HangingTree how Mary Post betrayed the American Patriots is shared.

A Revolutionary Spy and a Cursed-Hanging Tree, Part l

From 1917 until 2001 this story was told around a campfire at Camp Glen Gray, a Boy Scout camp, located in the Ramapo Mountains in northeastern New Jersey.

Unlike most of the stories shared at this camp, this one has many elements of truth.

Scouts at Camp Glen Gray in the 1950s.

The scouts that heard this story were very scared when they discovered the incidents in this story happened right on the grounds of their camp. It was here in 1777 a Revolutionary War spy was executed.

The Cannonball Trail ran through this camp and was used as the main route to transport soldiers and supplies for the Continental Army. Along this route was a popular stop called The Mary Post Inn.

Modern-day hikers overlook Yellow
Trail a part of the original
Cannonball Trail.

The proprietor of this inn—Mary Post—was a beautiful young brunette who enchanted everyone she met.

Continental Soldiers.

American officers including members of George Washington’s staff often stayed at Mary’s inn. The inn was known to provide comfortable lodging and delicious food and drink. 

Mary, a gracious host, regularly participated in the soldier’s conversations with a quick wit. Unfortunately, these soldiers often imbibed too much of Mary’s beer and talked too much.

Beginning in 1776, Washington’s staff including Alexander Hamilton-- who served as America’s first secretary of the treasury—noticed the British had uncanny luck when it came to capturing the Continental supplies sent along the Cannonball Trail.

The British seemed to know exactly where to strike each time. The Americans realized a spy was in their midst. Mary Post immediately came under suspicion.

British grenadiers in 1777 New Jersey.

Hamilton sent Patriot operatives to watch Mary Post. Their suspicions were confirmed when these men observed Post mounting a horse late one night. She headed for New York City where the British were based.

She spent the night with her British lover, Major Carlton McDonnell.

With this information Hamilton decided to lay a trap. In early August a group of soldiers requested Post close the inn so they could hold a high-level strategy meeting. Post agreed.

As Mary served this group, they discussed a large shipment of equipment and supplies that would pass by her inn in eight days.

The next night Mary galloped away on her horse to tell this news to her lover. On Thursday, August 19^th a large contingent of British soldiers descended on the Cannonball Trail near Mary’s inn.

They expected to waylay and capture a large Continental supply convoy but instead an elite unit of Patriots soldiers that were hand-picked by Washington overwhelmed them.

The next day Mary Post was arrested at her Inn but as she was led out a group of local Patriots took her. Angry, they beat her ruthlessly then they affixed a hanging rope to a nearby maple tree.

The locals watched as it took 15 minutes for the rope to slowly tighten around Mary’s neck—prolonging her suffering, which satisfied the revenge-hungry crowd.

Mary’s last weak words were to accuse the British who failed to rescue her. She then cursed the maple tree, stating whoever harmed it would come to know the meaning of pain and suffering.

No one at the time took this curse seriously. But this tree would become the source for death, misery and unexplained incidents in the future.

In Part ll of A Revolutionary Spy and a Cursed Hanging Tree read about how this curse played out and about sightings of Mary Post’s ghost.