American Gothic

            

History may hold the keys to the darkness within us all. The mystery of the darkness behind the shadows of night chases mankind through the ages. Tales of haunting, strange lights in the sky and unearthly stalkers have found a home in all of our lives, whether we believe in the supernatural or not. What of the human monsters, such as Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer? Did they prey on unfortunates because they had tapped a vein of the supernatural macabre unknown to the normal population? Society believes in Dahmer and Bundy because they existed in our time. Monsters of the past, while they are the subjects of witch hunts and vampire lore, do have human faces. People such as Mercy Brown, who in death find no solace, unrest as they walk through the fabric of time, as they become part of our American Gothic. One of the most famous vampires of North America, Mercy Brown is best known to the people of New England. Mercy resided in the town of Exeter, Rhode Island, in the late nineteenth century. She was born to George T. Brown, a farmer, and his wife Mary E. Brown. Mercy died at age 19 of symptoms related to consumption, or tuberculosis, the same disease that claimed her mother and her sister Mary Olive years earlier. According to the local townspeople, Mercy's eternal sleep was all too brief. Less than two weeks after her burial at the Chestnut Hill Baptist Church cemetery, Mercy was sighted floating along the streets of Exeter. A sickly demonic grin adorned her face. Many members of the Brown family reported that they awoke in the middle of the night with Mercy standing over their beds. They awoke to the ghastly grin that somehow bespoke a need, a longing. As the family members told the tale, they would become lost in her mesmerizing gaze, at which point Mercy would choke them. They awoke the next day with a heavy feeling in their chests. Not surprisingly, as Mercy's nocturnal journeys became more frequent, the remaining members of her family began to fall ill. Then they began to die. George Brown, having already lost his wife and daughters, now bore witness to the strange affliction attacking his only son Edwin. Fearful because he was powerless over the illness surrounding him, he began to listen to the mumbles of vampirism, gossip blaming his youngest daughter for the sudden strange illness plaguing his family. As a last resort, he let the townspeople and church elders have their way: Mercy, her sister, and mother were exhumed. The town elders examined the bodies and found that two of the three were at peace. However, when the elders lifted the lid of the casket of Mercy Brown, onlookers saw the young woman looking as she did in life, with rosy skin and full red lips. She had also turned in her coffin, as someone would during an uneasy night of sleep. The elders then poked Mercy arm. To their horror, she bled. With this confirmation that Mercy was now one of the undead, the townspeople cut out her heart and liver. Upon a local doctors examination revealed that a large quantity of blood dripped from the heart.  To ensure the salvation of the town, the townspeople, including Mercy's father, took her heart and liver to a nearby rock and cremated them. There is a popular belief that the ashes were fed to her brother Edwin to stop his symptoms, but there is no documentation stating it actually happened. While Edwin did die from consumption a few months later, no other members of the Brown family suffered from the strange illness again. The sightings of Mercy Brown had quieted throughout the town, except that on some nights at Exciter's Chestnut Hill Cemetery, it is a reported a young lady keeps watch over the Brown family plot. Could the spirit of Mercy still walk the earth, defending her family from the fate she suffered at the hands of Exciter's townspeople? Article: © 1999 Jennifer Brigid Conner

                 

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