Mercy Brown

holiday — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:52:50 +0000

Mercy Brown was a suspected vampire, famous for having her heart cut out of her corpse. Hers is perhaps one of the most famous cases of exhumation of a vampire, especially for being so recent. Mercy Lena Brown was born and died in Exeter, Rhode Island. In 1892, a little over a hundred years ago. Just months after Mercy had died, her corpse was dug up and her heart was cut out and burned.
Mercy Brown’s vampire case was still in a time when vampires were believed to exist in the traditional sense; as more demonic corpses who were blamed for everything from crop failures to plagues. Mercy Brown had been sick with tuberculosis, a condition which often was connected with vampire attacks. Mercy’s mother, Mary Brown, had died of tuberculosis a decade earlier. The eldest daughter, Mary Olive, also died from tuberculosis years before. When the only son of the Brown family, Edwin, became sick with tuberculosis, he as sent away to Colorado in hopes that his health would improve.
Mercy died of tuberculosis in January of 1892. She was 19 years old. When Edwin returned to Exeter from Colorado, his condition worsened. It was believed that one of the family members who had died was responsible for the disease. Edwin’s condition was worsening rapidly, and the father, George Brown, was desperate to keep his son alive. If one of the other dead children was a vampire, and they were causing Edwin’s illness, it would be a matter of digging her up and exhuming her to cure Edwin.
George Brown had Mercy’s body dug up in March of 1892. Mercy’s body had been “unnaturally preserved” according to eyewitness accounts. An article about the exhumation was printed in the Providence Journal that year. Some accounts say she had turned over in her grave. Some even claim there was blood on her mouth.
Then they cut open her chest cavity and found her heart with “fresh blood.” Mercy was deemed to be a vampire, responsible for the cases of tuberculosis across the village, not just for her brother, Edwin. They cut out her heart and burned it on a nearby rock.
Edwin consumed the ashes of her heart, in the belief that, by consuming the vampire’s heart, he would get well. Edwin died two months later. The story in the Providence Journal at the time even referred to the practice with shock at its “barbarism in such modern times.” So, no, it wasn’t too common in villages in the 1880s and 1890s to be digging up corpses and cutting out hearts of “vampires.”

Becoming a Vampire

veritas — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:28:16 +0000

There are three main ways to become a vampire; by birth, by bite, and by death. The second is explanation enough in and of itself. A vampire bites and feeds from a male or female, and whether it is the result of recurring feeding or one incident of feeding that led to death, he or she then becomes on of the undead. According to folklore from different cultures across the globe, there are numerous signs that a child is born a vampire, or that a corpse has become one after death. There are signs that one might give that they have been bitten and are turning into a vampire, such as shying away from religious talk, or items, lessening hygiene and foul breath, have newly begun to sleepwalk, as well as anemic tendencies.

Some of the causes for vampirism in a child are being born on certain holy days, new moons, or seasonal equinox, or being conceived on those days, born with a red caul on their head, too much hair, an extra nipple, two hearts. The habits of the child may also indicate vampirism, such as if it was weaned too soon, or if the baby continues nursing even after it has been weaned. Dying before baptism as a baby is another possible way to turn into a vampire infant. There’s also being born the seventh son of a seventh son; but this can also be taken as a good omen as well. Some reasons fall on the mother; if she stared at a vampire, or did not eat enough salt while she was pregnant, her child might be born a vampire. Other reasons are curses, either after the baby has been born, or while still in the womb.

One can also become a vampire if certain customs are not observed after death. In some areas of Romania it is believed that burying a corpse face up will result in vampirism, while others remain steadfast that the only way is to die as a vampire’s victim. Improper burial ceremonies, no burial, as well as shadows falling across a corpse, the wind from the Russian Steppe blowing over a corpse, even having a cat, dog, or other animal jump over the corpse has been believed to be a certain cause of vampirism. Some believe it is the way the person dies that makes the vengeful spirit of the vampire linger, such as those were died violently, with murders that went unavenged, or even death by drowning. In other cultures, the actions of others dictate the vampire change in a corpse; some believe that stealing the ropes used to bury a corpse will cause the dead to rise, while others believe that if the corpse has a sleepwalking brother, it will come back as a vampire.

Vampires » corpse

Mercy Brown

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Becoming a Vampire

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