Mercy Lena Brown’s Ghost

Mercy Lena Brown is famous for being a vampire, but her spirit also lingers.

In the 1700s and 1800s, New England was ravished by consumption-- a new term for tuberculosis.

Families watched as their loved ones died a long, painful death. This illness left its victims gaunt, flushed, and with sunken eyes. Relatives stood by helpless as the ill coughed and coughed.

Doctors were unable to help.

People described this illness as literally sucking the life out of its victims. Entire communities, fearful and ignorant, began to rely on superstitious beliefs.

Most came to believe evil forces were at work. A widespread belief took hold. New Englanders began to blame what they called the “walking dead” as the reason for their loved ones dying. It was stated these evil entities moved among them at night—and sucked the life out of the living.

The term “vampire” was not used, but this is what this superstition was based upon.

Read more details about this belief in the Smithsonian Magazine here.

Click to enlarge

The most famous New England vampire case involved a young woman named Mercy Lena Brown (1872-1892). Her family lived in the small village of Exeter, Rhode Island.

Mercy’s family, like many others were struck by consumption. Mercy’s mother and a sister died. Her older brother Edwin became ill. He moved to Colorado in hopes of a cure but returned to Exeter, still sick.

Brown Family Plot

Mercy also became ill with consumption. She died at age 19 in winter, so her body was placed in a sort of freezer—an above-ground vault—so she could be adequately buried once the ground unfroze.

Neighbors of Mercy's father, George Brown, asked him for permission to exhume his family’s bodies. They felt one deceased member must be among the “undead” and was continuing to make his son Edwin ill. George gave his permission.

Vault her body was kept in at
Chestnut Hill Cemetery.

When dug up, they discovered the mother and sister had decomposed to bones, which was expected. But when Mercy’s body was examined, it had not decomposed—having been kept in the cold vault.

The group also discovered congealed blood in Mercy's heart and liver. They took this as a sign she must be among the undead. They then performed a ritual that was believed to release Edwin from this evil influence.

They removed Mercy’s heart and placed it on a rock and burned it—this turned it to ashes. They then mixed these ashes with water and had Edwin drink it. But alas, he died 2 months later.

Mercy’s body was among many in New England that were desecrated in this fashion. But her story, like the others, does not end here.

Her spirit has been restless ever since. Over the years, people in this small community have reported strange sights and sounds.

Mercy's gravestone.

Her body is buried in Chestnut Hill Cemetery in Exeter. Residents and visitors report seeing strange lights in this cemetery. Witnesses who have stood on graves in this cemetery state that something unseen shoved them off these plots.

Other residents have come forward to state, they have seen Mercy’s ghost walking around the community.

Those who have offered prayers for Mercy report afterward, smelling the scent of roses.

Mercy’s spirit is known to Visit members in the community that are about to die. Relatives had encountered their loved ones in earnest conversations with Mercy hours or even minutes before they passed.

It appears that Mercy’s spirit is a kind soul who doesn’t want to see any more graves desecrated. She also exhibits compassion for those who are about to die.

Today people often leave items on her gravesite. A wish is these items be respectful and not a joke because ignorance labeled her a vampire.

Telling the Bees

An odd death superstition involves bees. It originated in Europe and then was brought to America.

In the 19^th century, this custom spread from New England to the edge of the Appalachia. It involved people “telling the bees” when their beekeeper died. This superstition even included telling the bees when one of the keeper’s family members died.

It was believed if the bees were not told they would die or leave their hives in search of a new home.

This was an economic loss that family’s who kept bees were not willing to risk for honey was a valuable commodity.

So these families went out of their way to protect their hives--which included the following customs.

When someone died a person was sent to inform the bees of this death. They would then drape the hive in black crepe. In some instances, funeral cake or wine was left out for the bees to enjoy.

Many families even pinned an “invitation” to the funeral on the hive.

This last custom came about because bees were known to invade funeral services if

Danville Bee
June 4, 1956

they were not told. These incidents are well documented. Here are just a few.

In 1894, during a funeral being held in a church, the mourners noticed swarming bees. A pallbearer was stung on the neck and the Undertaker was attacked viciously.

When the procession headed for the graveyard the bees followed. Many of the mourners left afraid they would also be stung.

Minneapolis Journal
July 6,1901

In 1901, a graveside service for a deceased Indiana child turned into a scene of panic when the mourners were attacked by thousands of bees as the coffin was lowered into the ground.

The grave could not be covered until that night when it was safer.

Margaret Culp’s funeral in 1916 was delayed when farmers scheduled to dig her grave where “stung severely” by bees.

The Washington Herald
August 9,1916

Honey-bee swarm.

At the turn of the century, during a funeral for Josh Simms in Kentucky flowers were placed on his grave as it was being covered. Mourners then watched as a huge swarm of bees landed on the gravesite.

They then stung many mourners who had remained behind.

All these funerals have something in common—the deceased was either a beekeeper or was a relative of one. The bees had not been told there was a death in the family—and when the hives were checked afterward they were abandoned.

In 1858, the American poet, John Greenleaf Whittier wrote a poem about this belief

John Greenleaf Whittier

entitled, Telling the Bees. Here is just the last part of this poem.

Before them, under the garden wall,

Forward and back,

Went drearily singing the chore-girl small,

Draping each hive with a shred of black.

Trembling, I listened: the summer sun

Had the chill of snow;

For I knew she was telling the bees of one

Gone on the journey we all must go!

Then I said to myself, “My Mary weeps

For the dead to-day:

Haply her blind old grandsire sleeps

The fret and the pain of his age away.”

But her dog whined low; on the doorway sill,

With his cane to his chin,

The old man sat, and the chore-girl still

Sung to the bees stealing out and in.

And the song she was singing ever since

In my ear sounds on:--

“Stay at home, pretty bees, fly not hence!

Mistress Mary is dead and gone!”

Here is a link to the entire poem.

Death Harbinger: Three Knocks

An old superstition states that when a person hears three knocks, it means someone has died.

In many paranormal tales when three knocks are heard at the door, and no one is there this means someone has died or is about to.

Since these knocks are usually heard before someone dies they are a classic omen or harbinger.

This belief is sometimes known as the “three knocks of doom.”

The Irish and the Scots both have traditions that state three knocks on a door or three taps on a window primarily when heard at regular intervals--lasting for two minutes--means death.

According to several Native American tribes when the thumping of a stick 3 times on the ground is heard or the beating of a drum 3 times is heard it means someone will die.

This superstition also pops up in Arab and Jewish traditions.

The Oriate and His Brothers

In Africa, the Yoruba religion of Orisha has a folktale where three knocks play an essential role.

In this tale, three brothers are destined to become Oriates or high priests in their religion, but they must work hard and perform many rituals first.

The two older brothers impatient do not follow this dictate.

Orisha Priest

They become jealous of their younger brother, who does the necessary work and becomes an Oriate before them. They become so incensed they murder him.

Later these two hear three knocks on their door.

Their dead younger brother walks in. One older brother dies of a heart attack immediately, and the other is put to death by the villagers because they now know he helped murder their beloved Oriate.

Paranormal Stories with Death Knocks

In America, people have told tales for years that involve three knocks and death.

Sometimes relatives pass down family “lore” that involves a grandparent who heard three mysterious knocks only to receive word afterward a beloved relative died--sometimes at exactly the time this sound was heard.

These knocks are described as out of the ordinary. Those who have heard them state they were very loud, or that when they were heard, they caused a feeling or sensation of fear or creepiness.

Most often these knocks or taps are heard on doors or windows. But other stories mention knocks on walls or even sounds that seem to come from inside the walls or from every corner of the room.

It is stated that the cause for these knocks is never found. For instance, if a door is opened, no one is there. These stories often occur in winter, and it is stated after the knocks are heard and the door is opened no footsteps are seen in the snow.

In an offshoot of this superstition some believe when three knocks are heard it means the devil or an evil spirit wants to come in.

An example of this would be the Bell Witch haunting in Adams, Tennessee.

At the onset of the activity, this family experienced strange knocks and taps within their home. They were always heard in a series of 3. This story ends with the family’s father John Bell, dying under mysterious circumstances.

Three knocks! Should I Be Scared? This article mentions that 3 knocks are not always a bad omen.

New Mexico Legend: La Llorona

Old Spanish song about La Llorona

Don’t go down to the river, child,

Don’t go there alone

For the sobbing woman, wet and wild,

Might claim you for her own

She weeps when the sun is murky red

She wails when the moon is old

She cries for her babies, still and dead,

Who drowned in the water cold

She seeks her children day and night,

Wandering, lost, and cold

She weeps and moans in dark and light,

A tortured, restless soul

Don’t go down to the river, child,

Don’t go there alone

For the sobbing woman, wet and wild,

Might claim you for her own

In another post, I talked about how children in New Mexico are very familiar with the La Llorona story. La Llorona is New Mexico’s most famous ghost. 

If you visit anywhere along the Rio Grande river in my state, you will encounter New Mexicans who will gladly relate their version of La Llorona. This story is told in other parts of the country, but the following version is one told often in New Mexico.

In the early 1700s, there was a young woman named Maria who lived in a small village along the Rio Grande. 

As Maria matured, she began to attract much attention in the village because she was very beautiful. Her family was very poor so her mother encouraged Maria to marry one of the local men. 

Maria with the firm self-belief that her beauty would someday attract a wealthy man refused.

One day a handsome young man rode into the village. He was the son of a rancher in Mexico. He wore nice clothes and rode a well-groomed horse with a fancy saddle—all the signs of a man of wealth.

Maria started to follow him around, she tried to catch his eye, but he only noticed the better dressed young girls in the village. At night he would play his guitar for the locals, many young ladies swooned at his golden voice. Maria was sure her heart would break.

Then one day as Maria shopped the young rancher stopped near her. Maria blushed with embarrassment because she wore an old dirty, tattered dress. 

But her blush caught his eye, and for the first time, he noticed how beautiful she was. He began to court Maria. 

Within a short time, he had paid Maria’s father a large dowry so he could marry her. Knowing his family would not accept his marriage to a woman from a lower class—the couple settled along the Rio Grande.

Over the next several years Maria’s husband worked as a merchant along the El Camino Real, and Maria bore him three children. But as the years passed Maria and her wealthy husband grew apart. 

He spent less and less time at home, and he showed no interest in their children. Maria began to suspect that he was seeing another woman while he was away.

Maria’s suspicions were confirmed when she spotted her husband riding in a buggy with a young beautiful woman by his side. Her heart was broken. 

She exploded in a jealous rage. Distraught she thought that if only she did not have the children, her husband would love her once more. 

In a rage, she dragged her children one by one to the river and held their heads under the water until they drowned.

Her senses lost to reality; she approached her husband and told him what she had done for him. Horrified he ordered her out of his life. 

Numb she wandered the streets of the village for several days crying for her children. The villagers started to call her La Llorona—meaning the wailing woman.

Maria realized she had lost everything that was dear to her so she went down to the river and cried for her children. 

She then flung herself into the river. Her body was never found. 

People in New Mexico still see a woman dressed all in white walking along paths near water. They hear Maria’s desperate cries for her children and then she slowly fades away.

Many believe she is condemned to wander, weeping and searching for her children. Others believe that she is a harbinger of death—if you see her someone will die.