Mercy L. Brown has the unique distinction of being the last of the North American vampires. At the tender age of 19, she died of consumption (tuberculosis) on January 17, 1892, following both her mother and her sister Mary Olive into the grave. After her death, her brother Edwin, who also suffered from consumption, worsened significantly. As his breathing labored, he would complain that he saw Mercy sitting on his chest in the middle of the night. Their father, frantic for any solution, turned to folklore since science had failed him. On March 17, 1892, he convinced authorities to exhume the body of his daughter Mercy, believing that she was rising from her grave to attack Edwin. When they opened the coffin, they found that the body had moved after burial and that her heart and liver still had liquid blood in them. The body did not show evidence of the decay that would be expected after three months in the grave. Convinced that the evidence proved Mercy to be a vampire, they removed her heart and burnt it on a nearby stone, and fed the ashes to Edwin. The ritual did not save Edwin, who died two months later, but he was the last of the Brown family to die from the disease.
In this photo, George, Mercy’s father, is to the left. Mercy’s mother Mary is on the right. Mercy’s grave is behind George’s and just peeking out behind her mother’s grave is Mary Olive. Notice that people still leave small offerings on Mercy’s grave. That’s an orange placed in front of the headstone.
Click to view full imageTechnorati: photography PAD photo-a-day digital photography
IceRocket: photography PAD photo-a-day digital photography
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