Vampire panic in New England (7 photos)

Vampires are creatures as mysterious as they are dangerous, and they are present in various cultures in one way or another. And sometimes they are accused of completely ordinary things, to which nocturnal creatures have nothing to do.





The New England vampire panic was an attack of mass hysteria in the 19th century, caused by an outbreak of consumption, for which they were blamed.



Tuberculosis Bug

Consumption, known today as tuberculosis, is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). The disease typically attacks the lungs, causing a chronic cough with bloody mucus, fever, night sweats, and weight loss.

In Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, outbreaks of tuberculosis were widespread and so severe that they killed about 2% of the region's population between 1786 and 1800.





When a person with tuberculosis died, it was believed that they were taking the lives of their surviving relatives, who were usually infected as well. To protect the survivors and avoid the symptoms of consumption, the bodies of the deceased were exhumed to examine them for signs of vampirism.

The concept of a blood-sucking spirit or demon devouring human flesh has been present in the mythology and fairy tales of almost every civilization throughout the ages. Some of the earliest depictions of vampirism are found in cuneiform texts from the Akkadians, Samarians, Assyrians, and Babylonians, which mention demonic figures such as Lilu and Lilitu.



It was not until the late 17th and 18th centuries that vampire folklore began to be passed down in the oral traditions of many European ethnic groups. They were described as vengeful evil beings, suicide victims, witches, corpses possessed by an evil spirit, or victims of vampiric attacks.

Vampire numbers peaked in Eastern Europe in the 18th century, with exhumations and impalements common in the practice of killing potential revenants. This period is commonly referred to as the "18th century vampire controversy."



Mercy Brown's headstone in the Exeter Baptist Church Cemetery

In New England, vampire signs were determined by how fresh the corpse looked, especially if the heart or other organs still contained traces of liquid blood. Once a vampire corpse was identified, the remains were either turned over in the grave or, in some cases, the organs were burned and the family members inhaled the smoke to cure consumption. In rare cases, the deceased were beheaded and the remains reburied.

One of the most famous cases was the Mercy Brown vampire incident in Rhode Island in 1892. Several members of George and Mary Brown's family became ill with tuberculosis, with the mother, Mary Eliza, dying first. A newspaper account from the time states that villagers and a local doctor persuaded George Brown to allow several of his family's bodies to be exhumed. Examinations revealed that Mary and Mary's daughter Olive had the expected level of decomposition, but that of the daughter, Mercy, was almost completely undecayed and still had blood in her heart (likely due to her body being kept in an ice chamber in an above-ground vault).

Mercy's heart and liver were burned, and the ashes were mixed with water to make a drink that was given to her surviving brother. What remained of Mercy's body was buried in the graveyard of Exeter Baptist Church.



Bela Lugosi created the classic Hollywood vampire when he starred in Dracula in 1931. However, in early New England, young women were most often accused of being "vampires."

In another story, Henry David Thoreau wrote in 1859: "The savage in man can never be wholly extirpated. "I just read about a family in Vermont who, when several members died of consumption, simply burned the lungs, heart, and liver of the last deceased so that no one else would get sick" - referring to the case of Frederick Ransom of Vermont, who was exhumed and his heart burned in a forge.



Vampires are not to blame

The term "vampire" was not commonly used in 19th century New England communities, but was likely used by newspapers and outsiders of the time due to its similarity to contemporary vampire beliefs in Eastern Europe.

In an anthropological study of the New England phenomenon by Dr. Michael Bell, a specialist in folklore, he stated the following:

No credible accounts describe a corpse leaving its grave to suck blood, and there is little evidence that the people involved in the practice called it "vampirism" or the suspected corpse a "vampire," although newspaper accounts used the term to describe the practice.