Are vampires haunting a New England town?
Learning Objective: to learn about a historical event through a work of historical fiction and a primary document; to write an imagined conversation with a key figure from that event
SD1: Jacob, Sophia, and Ethan, dressed in costumes, walk up to the door of a small house and ring the bell.
SD2: A grinning jack-o’-lantern flickers on the porch.
SD3: A moment later, an elderly woman opens the door.
Jacob, Sophia & Ethan: TRICK-OR-TREAT!
Mrs. Ainsley: Well, aren’t you all adorable? (to Jacob) Ooh, a vampire! What a handsome ghoul you are.
Jacob (removing his vampire teeth): Thanks, ma’am.
Mrs. Ainsley (to Sophia): And what are you, young lady? Some kind of disco singer?
Sophia: I’m a 1980s pop star.
Mrs. Ainsley (to Ethan): And oh, you must be a kitty cat!
Ethan: Well, sort of . . . I’m Black Panther.
Mrs. Ainsley: You can each take one piece of licorice, OK? Don’t stay out too late.
Jacob, Sophia & Ethan: Thanks.
SD1: The friends walk back to the street.
Jacob: One piece of licorice? Seriously?
SD2: They watch two parents drag a screaming toddler dressed as a pumpkin to the next house.
Sophia: This is lame.
Ethan: Let’s just go see a movie.
Sophia: Sure, yeah. Looks like rain anyway.
SD3: As thunder rumbles in the distance, a teenage girl in a plain white dress walks by. She drops a silver bracelet. Sophia scoops it up and calls after the girl.
Sophia: Hey ! You dropped your bracelet!
SD1: The girl turns around. She has very pale skin, black hair, and deep-blue eyes. Sophia hands her the bracelet.
Lena: Thank you. I like your costumes.
Jacob: Uh, thanks. I’m Jacob. This is Sophia and Ethan.
Lena: My name is Lena.
Ethan: Are you from Exeter? I don’t recognize you.
Lena: Yes, I’ve lived here forever.
Sophia: So what’s your costume?
Lena: I’m Mercy Brown.
Ethan: Who?
Lena: Mercy Brown. (sigh) She lived here about a hundred years ago. And she . . . (trailing off)
Sophia: What? And she what?
Lena: She was a vampire. At least, that’s what some people thought.
Sophia: A vampire? You mean like Jacob?
Lena: No, not like that. It was said that Mercy’s spirit rose from the dead to feast on the living.
Jacob: Gross.
Lena: She is buried here in town. In fact, I am on my way to visit her grave. Do you want to come along?
Sophia: Sure!
Jacob: Totally.
Ethan (to Sophia and Jacob): You guys just want a photo for Instagram. (to Lena) Actually, we’re going to a movie.
Sophia: Oh, come on, Ethan. The cemetery is more fun.
Jacob: It’ll be a Halloween adventure.
Ethan: Fine, fine.
SD2: Lena leads the way.
Jacob: So, Lena, tell us the story of Mercy Brown.
Lena: Very well. It all happened in 1892. Exeter was smaller then, and isolated. Mercy’s family lived on a humble farm. Their lives had been filled with tragedy. . . .
Illustration by Allan Davey
The Science
Tuberculosis, or TB, is a disease that has been making people sick for thousands of years. It causes weight loss, fever, and a bloody cough. By the late 1800s, TB was killing one out of every seven people in the U.S.
In the time of Mercy Brown, TB was known as consumption. It was not widely understood—and it was greatly feared. Today we know that TB is caused by bacteria. It is treated with antibiotics.
SCENE 2
Exeter: January 1892
SD3: The lights come up on a simple but cozy bedroom with faded floral wallpaper.
SD1: Mercy Brown, 19, lies in bed, shivering and sweating. She coughs violently into a handkerchief that is red with blood.
SD2: George, Mercy’s father, stands across the room with Dr. Metcalf, talking quietly.
George: There’s really nothing you can do, Doctor?
Dr. Metcalf: There is no cure for consumption. Even the cause is debated.
George: Yes, I know. That’s what they told me a decade ago, when consumption claimed my wife, and again months later when it claimed my eldest daughter. Doctor . . . what have I done to deserve this?
Dr. Metcalf: I’m sorry, George. It’s a terrible disease.
George: Mercy is so frail; her body has wasted away.
Dr. Metcalf: Your son, Edwin, how is his health?
George: More sorrow! His consumption has only gotten worse. Oh, Doctor, what will I do?
SCENE 3
Exeter: Halloween 2019
Lena: Mercy died later that night.
Jacob: What’s consumption?
Ethan ( looking at his phone): I already googled it. “Consumption is now known as tuberculosis. The disease is caused by a bacterium that usually infects the lungs. Highly contagious, it was once the leading cause of death in the United States. Scientists discovered the bacterium in 1882, but news was slow to reach rural areas.”
Jacob: So the cause was known, but they hadn’t heard about it in Exeter?
Ethan: Well, it says here a cure wasn’t developed until the 1940s, so knowing the cause wouldn’t have done Mercy much good anyway.
Sophia: What does all this have to do with vampires?
Lena: I will tell you. After Mercy’s death, her body was placed in the family crypt until spring because the frozen ground made digging a grave impossible. Meanwhile, it seemed that Edwin was soon to follow his sister. . . .
Illustration by Allan Davey
The Superstition
The superstition that vampires were to blame for outbreaks of consumption may have been brought to America from Eastern Europe by traveling fortune-tellers. Their stories became part of oral tradition.
At least 80 vampire panics have been documented in the U.S. between the 1700s and 1800s. Historians believe there were many more. During a panic, townspeople performed a vampire-killing ritual: They dug up bodies of consumption victims thought to be vampires and burned the organs.
SCENE 4
Exeter: March 1892
SD3: George sits by his son’s bed. Edwin’s cough is bad.
George: My son . . .
SD1: There is a knock on the front door. George wipes away tears and leaves to greet his guests.
SD2: Edwin listens through the wall of his bedroom.
Wilson: My dear George, how are you?
Cora: How is young Edwin?
Horace: We have all been praying for him.
Ethel: We still mourn the loss of Mercy.
George: Thank you, friends. Please, come in.
SD3: They enter George’s parlor. It’s gloomy and dusty.
George: It’s nice to see you. I rarely have guests.
Cora: George, we’ve come to discuss something.
Horace: We feel so sorry for your family.
Wilson: Consumption is a scourge.
Ethel: But let’s not give up hope for Edwin. Have you considered . . . alternative treatments?
George: Alternative treatments?
Wilson: You see, George, some in town believe that Edwin’s sickness is caused by certain, shall we say . . . spirits.
George: Spirits?
Cora: Evil spirits of the dead, come to feast on the blood of the living.
George: That’s absurd!
Horace: Now, George, just hear us out. There is a very old remedy that we believe could save Edwin.
George: What sort of remedy?
SD1: George’s neighbors huddle around him and whisper; only a few words can be heard by the audience.
SD2: In his bedroom, Edwin presses his ear to the wall.
Ethel (whispering ) : . . . body . . .
Wilson (whispering ) : . . . blood . . .
Cora (whispering ) : . . . fire . . .
Horace (whispering ) : . . . drink . . .
SD3: When they finish, George stands abruptly.
George: LEAVE MY HOME! NOW!
Cora: George, please—
George: How dare you propose such a thing!
Wilson: This could be your only chance.
Ethel: What have you to lose?
Horace: Your refusal puts the whole town at risk!
George: OUT!
SD1: George’s neighbors leave, and George returns to Edwin’s bedside.
Edwin: Father, I heard something about a remedy. What did they say?
George: Nothing. It is nonsense—madness.
Edwin: Just tell me.
George: Well . . .
SD2: George whispers into his son’s ear.
Edwin: What if it works?
George: You’re not suggesting—
Edwin: It is horrible, I know, but (coughs violently) . . . what if it works? It could stop the spread of the disease and save everyone, maybe even me.
SCENE 5
Chestnut Hill Cemetery: Halloween 2019
SD3: The group stands outside the gates of Chestnut Hill Cemetery. Behind them, a white church sits quietly among the weathered old tombstones.
SD1: Thick fog hangs in the air.
Ethan: Wait—what was the remedy?
Sophia: It must have been something awful.
SD2: Lena gazes into the cemetery.
Lena: We are here.
SD3: The friends look around, just now noticing where they are standing.
Jacob: I forgot how creepy this place is.
Sophia: Well yeah. It’s a cemetery.
Ethan: So, Lena, what happened?
Lena: Reluctantly, George and Edwin agreed to go through with what the townspeople proposed. But neither would be present for the ritual, which took place on a cold night right here in this very cemetery. . . .
Courtesy Everett Collection
An Ancient Fear
Stories of the dead rising up to haunt the living can be found throughout human history. In ancient Indian folklore, for instance, vampires feasted on human blood and could even transform themselves into chickens, cows, cats, and watermelons.
Today, most of us associate vampires with bats, thanks to the novel Dracula, published in 1897. (In the novel, the vampire Count Dracula can turn into a bat.)
The vampires of New England were not associated with bats, however. They were associated with the spread of disease.
SCENE 6
Chestnut Hill Cemetery: March 17, 1892
SD1: Under the night sky, the townspeople gather around two coffins that have just been dug up.
SD2: The light of their candles reveals the names on the tombstones that mark the two now-empty graves: Mary E. Brown and Mary O. Brown—Mercy’s mom and sister.
SD3: Dr. Metcalf opens the coffin lids and peers inside. For a moment, no one says a word.
Dr. Metcalf: Nothing but bones and dust.
Ethel: We must check Mercy’s coffin. It’s in the crypt.
SD1: The group turns to the Brown family crypt. Two men open the creaky wooden door and carry out Mercy’s coffin. Dr. Metcalf lifts the lid.
Wilson (gasping ): She hasn’t rotted a bit!
Cora: Her position has changed. She’s been . . . moving!
Townspeople: Check her organs!
Horace: If there’s blood in her organs, we’ll know for sure she’s a vampire.
SD2: Dr. Metcalf takes a scalpel from his bag. He cuts open the corpse and removes the heart and liver.
Townspeople: Cut open the heart!
SD3: Dr. Metcalf slices into Mercy’s heart.
Dr. Metcalf: Oh, dear ! Blood.
Ethel: So it’s true!
Townspeople: It’s true!
Ethel: Mercy’s spirit has been rising from the grave to feed on her brother!
SD1: The townspeople light a fire on a nearby stone and drop the heart and liver into the flames.
Townspeople: Burn! Burn! Burn!
SD2: They watch as the organs are consumed by the fire, their faces wild in the orange glow of the blaze.
Townspeople: Burn the organs! Kill the spirit!
SD3: The townspeople watch until the fire dies out.
Horace: Collect the remains. We will mix them with water and feed them to the boy. If he wants to live, Edwin must drink the ashes of his sister’s organs.
SCENE 7
Chestnut Hill Cemetery: Halloween 2019
SD1: The group has paused near a cluster of tombstones. Jacob’s face is twisted in disgust.
Jacob: I think I might be sick.
Sophia: Too many candy bars? Or is it the drinking-the-ashes-of-your-dead-sister’s-organs thing?
Ethan: Mercy had been dead only a few months—that’s why there was still blood in her heart. And the cold weather probably slowed decomposition.
Jacob: Thanks, Dr. Metcalf.
Lena (pointing ): There it is—the grave of Mercy Brown.
Jacob: What happened to Edwin? Did he drink the ashes?
Lena: He did—and he still died less than two months later. His grave is right here, next to his sister’s.
SCENE 8
Chestnut Hill Cemetery: May 1892
SD2: On a sunny afternoon, Dr. Metcalf and George stand by Edwin’s grave.
George: How could you let me go through with it? I defiled the remains of my wife, my daughters—all for nothing.
Dr. Metcalf: Not for nothing. It was for the good of the town.
George: Newspapers are calling us ignorant and uncivilized. We’ve disgraced ourselves.
Dr. Metcalf: Yes, well, that is unfortunate.
George: Leave me alone with my misery.
SD3: Dr. Metcalf places a hand on George’s shoulder, but George looks away.
SCENE 9
Chestnut Hill Cemetery: Halloween 2019
Lena: George lived in sorrow until 1922.
Jacob: So the ritual didn’t work?
Lena: Of course not! Mercy was not a vampire. People just didn’t understand consumption. They were afraid and panicked. But their ritual had an unintended result. It released Mercy’s spirit, dooming her to wander sad and alone for all time—
SD1: Lena’s words are cut off by a bad coughing fit.
Ethan (laughing ): Spooky ending! Hey, are you OK?
SD2: Lena doesn’t answer. She solemnly approaches the grave and leaves her bracelet on top.
Jacob: I’m going to leave something for Mercy too.
SD3: Jacob places his plastic vampire teeth on the grave. Ethan leaves a handful of candy.
SD1: Sophia takes off her hoop earrings and crouches beside the grave.
SD2: Ethan notices the name on the tombstone.
Ethan: “Mercy L. Brown.” What does the “L” stand for?
SD3: Ethan looks up, but Lena has disappeared.
Jacob: Where’d she go?
Sophia: Um, guys? This bracelet she left is engraved: Mercy Lena Brown.
SD1: With a loud burst of thunder, rain begins to fall, as the three friends stand in stunned silence.
Landon Nordeman/Trunk Archive
Remembering Mercy Brown
In 1892, Mercy Brown’s story was widely reported—not only in the United States, but also in Europe. Today, you can visit her grave in Exeter, Rhode Island.
What does this newspaper article reveal about how outsiders viewed the vampire panic in Exeter? Is their attitude fair?
March 20, 1892
The shocking case of exhumation in one of the border towns of this state last week is, after all, only a rather more than usually striking illustration of a truth which cannot be denied, that the amount of ignorance and superstition to be found in some corners of New England is more than surprising to one who comes into contact with it for the first time. There are considerable elements of rural population in this part of the country upon which the forces of education and civilization have made scarcely any impression.
This play was originally published in the October 2019 issue
1. PREPARING TO READ
2. READING AND DISCUSSING (30 minutes)
3. SKILL BUILDING AND WRITING
Make a list of three factors that contributed to the belief that Mercy Brown was a vampire. Draw on both the play and the captions.
Create a podcast, news program, or feature article about the vampire incident in Exeter in 1892. Include interviews with Mercy Brown, George Brown, and at least two additional characters of your choosing.
Imagine that you live in Exeter in 1892. You have just read the article from the The Providence Sunday Journal that appears on page 15 in the play. Write a letter to the newspaper in response.
Imagine that The Dead Rising is being made into a movie and you’ve been hired to help promote it. Make a trailer or a movie poster that will entice the public to see the film.
Literature Connection: Classic spooky short stories
“Royal Jelly”
by Roald Dahl
“The Monkey’s Paw”
by W.W. Jacobs
“The Tell-Tale Heart”
by Edgar Allan Poe
