The New England Vampire Panic
In 1892, a Rhode Island family struck by tuberculosis opened their relatives' graves to find the one 'feeding' on the living.
What was reported
In the late 1800s, tuberculosis was killing members of the Brown family of Exeter, Rhode Island. After the mother and a daughter died, the son, Edwin, fell ill, and the youngest daughter, Mercy, died in January 1892.
Following an old New England belief, neighbours persuaded the father that one of the dead was draining the living. On 17 March 1892 the bodies were exhumed. Mercy's, kept through the winter in a cold vault, seemed little decayed, which was taken as proof. Her heart was burned, and the ashes were given to Edwin as a cure, but he died soon after.
Explanations offered
Her body was well preserved because she had died in winter and been kept in a cold vault. Historians have found dozens of similar 'vampire' exhumations in New England, all driven by fear of tuberculosis, then little understood. Mercy Brown's is the last well-documented case.
- When
- 17 March 1892
- Where
- Exeter, Rhode Island, USA
- Witnesses
- The Brown family, neighbours and the local doctor
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.