About this time every year people in New England tell the story of Mercy Brown. How people in Exeter Rhode Island decided after Mercy Browns death that she had in fact became a vampire and that she was coming out of the grave and feeding on her sick brother.

She herself had followed he mother and sister to the grave and the people of the area were in a panic. So one cold March afternoon Mercy's father and some of his neighbors dug up Mercy's grave to see if she had indeed changed into a vampire.

It was found that she had shifted in her coffin and it was reported her mouth was full of fresh blood as was her heart. Her heart was cut from her chest and burned on a near by large rock to stop Mary from keeping coming out of the grave. Some of the ashes were even fed to her brother as a cure but he still died two months later and when he died he was staked through the chest and tied in his coffin to be sure he didn't turn into a vampire like Mercy.

Vampire Stories of New England

In the New England area especially in Rhode Island and Connecticut people believed in Vampires.

Vampire Hunters

It is a historical fact that there were hundreds of graves opened or dug up and many times it was said that it was clear the body had moved or there was fresh blood in the coffin with the person. Often on the lips of the deceased.The families of the newly deceased were quite often the vampire hunters but there were in the late 1800's up through 1915 professional vampire hunters in the New England area. The professional vampire hunters guaranteed to clear a community of vampires. Some were charlatans trying to make a quick buck or two but a few were quite serious and took their task of vampire hunting very serious.

Many bodies were burnt or had stakes driven through them and often the heart was cut out of the body and burned. Most often the ashes were poured into running water to prevent them from going back to the vampire. Quite often if a person who was related to a suspected vampire and they died preventive things were done ahead of time to prevent the newly dead from becoming a vampire. The ways included cutting off the head and placing it at the feet of the corpse, tying the corpse securely in the coffin, and driving a stake through the heart of the newly dead person.

Many of the same beliefs and customs that were practiced in Eastern Europe were practiced in the New England area up through the mid 1930's in current day New England. And in some parts of New England even today some people believe that vampires still walk among them.

Mercy Brown's story was not the only New England vampire story. She is just one of the better known New England Vampire Stories. There were thousands of other stories and people in New England did believe very much in vampires and they tried to hunt them down and destroy them.