An 1890s Vampire Scare Terrified Rhode Island

In the modern era, we know that vampires and other ghouls belong firmly in the pages of fiction, but things were a little different as recently as the 19th century. The infamous New England Vampire Panic of the age was a hysterical reaction to deadly tuberculosis (TB) outbreak that claimed the lives of thousands of people in various parts of the region including Rhode Island, Vermont, and eastern Connecticut.

Due to a lack of medical knowledge, inhabitants of this region thought the disease was caused by the undead consuming the life force of their relatives. It was normal for bodies to be exhumed with internal organs burned to prevent the ghastly disease from spreading. The real cause of TB wasn’t known until the end of the 19th century, so people jumped to the conclusion that vampires were at work.

One of the big problems with TB is that it spreads quickly throughout a family so when one person died from it, his or her family members gradually became weaker as the bacterial disease had also infected them. When someone was suspected of being a vampire, their corpse was exhumed for signs of the undead. If the body was unusually fresh, it was said to be feeding on the flesh of the living.

An 1890s Vampire Scare Terrified Rhode Island — Coolinterestingstuff.com

Deaths in the Family

Hopefully, the above background provides you with some insight into the seemingly crazy activities of the Brown family of Rhode Island. In the 1890s, the family would become synonymous with the New England Vampire Panic as their plight came to national attention.

George and Mary Brown lived in Exeter, Rhode Island in the 1880s. Unfortunately, like so many families of the era, the Browns suffered a series of TB infections. The disease, known as consumption at that time, was feared because it was known to be a debilitating and deadly illness.

Mary was the first to die from TB in December 1882 and was closely followed by one of her daughters, Mary Olive, in 1883. Mary Olive was just 20 years of age, and the entire town attended her funeral which was marked by the beautiful singing of a hymn the deceased girl had chosen. In 1890/91, one of George’s sons, Edwin, contracted the disease. He was known as a big strong man, but he began to wither away. He left for Colorado Springs with his father in the hope that an improved climate would help him.

Sure enough, Edwin began to feel better but the Browns received another terrible blow. While George was away with his son, his 19-year-old daughter Mercy contracted a severe form of TB and died quickly. As it was an extremely cold winter, she was kept in a crypt above ground until the soil became soft enough for a proper burial. Edwin’s condition got worse almost as soon as he returned. One night, he claimed to have woken up to find his dead sister Mercy sitting on his chest and trying to suck the life out of him.

The Exhumation

Residents of the town believed that the Browns were cursed and went so far as to suggest that undead activity (they did not use the word vampire although I have and will continue to do) was to blame because so many members of the same family suffered from TB. They suggested that one of the deceased Brown women was, in fact, a vampire and responsible for sucking the life out of Edwin. The key to his recovery was to find out which woman was the culprit before destroying the body.

The exhumations took place on March 17, 1892. Obviously, the first two Browns to die were essentially piles of bones having died a decade earlier. Mercy’s corpse was still fresh, so she was the culprit according to the townsfolk. They didn’t take into account the fact that Mercy had been kept in freezing temperatures, which slowed decomposition. A doctor removed her heart and liver and found decayed blood on the heart. He also found dormant TB germs in her lungs, but the people of the town were convinced that Mercy was, in fact, a vampire.

As was the ritual of the age, her liver and heart were removed and burned on a rock. Edwin ate the ashes in the hope that his condition would improve. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t work, and he died two months later. The unfortunate Mercy’s remains were buried in the local Baptist Church Cemetery. In the modern era, the strange case of Mercy Brown has created a cult following. Indeed, she is apparently the inspiration for ‘Lucy’ in Dracula.

Where Did People Get The Crazy Idea Of Vampires?

The so-called ‘Yankees’ of the 19th century were known to be reasonably practical, so how did they fall for such a myth in the first place? The word ‘vampire’ originated in Slavic Europe in around the 10th century and Germanic and Slavic immigrants probably brought their superstitions with them to America when they settled in the 18th century.

In June 1784, a councilman by the name of Moses Holmes penned a letter in the Connecticut Courant and Weekly Intelligencer. He warned people about a foreign ‘quack’ physician who told families to dig up their dead relatives and burn them to stop the spread of TB. In his book ‘Vampires, Burials and Death‘, Paul Barber explained that observations of decay in the human body brought about the idea of vampires. For example, a staked corpse will ‘scream’ as the natural gasses escape, and a bloated body looked as if it has been eaten recently.

It is also important to note that only 10% of rural folks in New England in the 19th century belonged to a church. Superstition took the place of organized religion; a notable example includes burying shoes by the fireplace to catch the Devil if he comes down the chimney. Disease spread fast in these communities, so an exhumation of a family member was a sign that you are doing everything you could to solve the problem. Residents knew that if the disease wiped out the Browns, it could get the next family too.

George Brown never believed in the vampire myth and was not present for the ritual. He only agreed to it to satisfy his neighbors. Having buried four of his family because of TB, George never contracted it and didn’t die until 1922.