Real Vampire Hunters

The Bizarre but True Story of a Vampire in 19th Century Rhode Island
Enter the real Vampire Hunters!

The story of the last official case of vampirism in the U.S. is that of 19 year old Mercy Brown of Exeter, Rhode Island, who died on January 17,1892.

The Browns were an upstanding farming family and pillars of their community. Mercy died of consumption (tuberculosis), which had previously killed her mother and sister and which now also seriously affected her brother, Edwin.

Mercy's father, George Brown was now faced with losing his entire family to this then misunderstood and incomprehensible disease. He was frantic and there were no answers available from science or medicine to help.

To save his son and only remaining relative, Edwin gave-in to the folklore suggestions of some of his neighbors, who felt the situation was indicative of vampirism in their community. It was asserted that the deaths and illnesses of his family were caused by vampirism. Son Edwin was slowly wasting away and it was necessary to immediately put an end to the vampirism in the Exeter community.

Mercy had been laid to rest in a temporary above ground crypt behind the Baptist Church in Chestnut Hill Cemetery. The ground was frozen in January and she could not be buried until Spring. On March 17,1892, George Brown and a group of neighbors went to the cemetery and inspected Mercy's body. Finding the body suspiciously well preserved, they cut out her heart and burned it on a rock - later mixing the ashes in a liquid concoction which they gave to Edwin to drink (as a cure). Mercy's desecrated remains were then reburied in a plot next to her sister and mother. Mercy's brother Edwin was not cured and died two months later.

Thus ends this tragic, but true tale of vampirism in the U.S. Unfortunately, due to the prevailing folklore and superstitions in the 19th century and the pervasive spread of consumption, these bizarre practices often occurred in Europe and the U.S.