At Chestnut Hill Baptist Church Cemetery, aka Historical Cemetery #22, a legend is told about a vampire named Mercy Lena Brown. Her father, George T. Brown, his wife Mary and their five children lived on a small farm. The family had some bad luck: Mary passed away of consumption in 1883, at age 36. Then the oldest daughter Mary Olive died six months later. After son Edwin became ill and left for Colorado Springs, another daughter, Mercy Lena, died in 1892 at age 19. Since it was winter and the ground was frozen, Mercy Lena’s body was set inside a crypt near the rest of her family at Chestnut Hill Cemetery. Locals became concerned about all the deaths, and thought perhaps one of the dead was coming back to claim the living family members. Worried that this may be true, George arranged for the bodies to be exhumed. Most were in decay, but Mercy’s was found shifted and fresh. So her heart was cut out, and it dripped with fresh blood. It was burned atop a stone wall in the cemetery. Some of the ashes were given in a potion to sickly Edwin, who had returned, but he died two months later. Reports say that when “Dracula” author Bram Stoker passed away in 1897, newspaper stories about Mercy Brown were found in his possessions. Author H.P. Lovecraft, who lived in Providence, also mentioned Mercy in his short story “The Shunned House.”
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Geographic Information
- Address:
- 467 10 Rod Road
Exeter, RI
United States
Get Directions » - GPS:
- 41.58193943858958, -71.55830588930257
- County:
- Washington County, Rhode Island
- Nearest Towns:
- Exeter, RI (1.1 mi.)
North Kingstown, RI (5.2 mi.)
West Greenwich, RI (6.5 mi.)
Kingston, RI (7.3 mi.)
East Greenwich, RI (7.6 mi.)
West Warwick, RI (8.2 mi.)
Wyoming, RI (8.7 mi.)
Hope Valley, RI (9.6 mi.)
Wakefield-Peacedale, RI (9.9 mi.)
Carolina, RI (10.2 mi.)
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Disclaimer: The stories posted here are user-submitted and are, in the nature of "ghost stories," largely unverifiable. HauntedPlaces.org makes no claims that any of the statements posted here are factually accurate. The vast majority of information provided on this web site is anecdotal, and as such, should be viewed in the same light as local folklore and urban legends.
My twins teacher told her about the grave and the story,he gave her the directions and we went to the graveyard, my friend, my twin sister and I were at the grave yard looking for the stone at night around 7ish and we got really scared because we felt as if someone or something was watching us and I got pushed and almost fell as if someone pushed me hard but no one was around me, I was by my self at the-time while my friend and twin kept looking.I got really freaked out. I do believe in ghost and spirits and some ghost/spirits are just not ready to move on. My twin came screaming running because she was behind the big tree she said she felt really sketched out. My twin and I have never felt like this because we go to graveyards all the time even at night. My friend said ” this doesn’t feel right,we should leave”. So we left.
My roommate and girlfriend and I went there to see the vampire grave, although that isn’t what scared us. After seeing Mary’s grave, we decided to walk around. It was like 8pm and dark out. There’s a stone wall we were walking near that goes along one side of the cemetery. We all felt like we were being followed and turned around to see an old woman in a hat following us along the wall. Her head was jerking everywhere and it scared the crap out of us!
Soooo…as we were leaving the cemetery to visit Lena Brown (infamous “vampire”) something weird happened. My iPhone 7, which I have never had an issue with before, shut off randomly after just putting in my home address to go home, and just as I turned out of the cemetery. I thought it was very weird, since there was 19% battery left. So, I realized I had turned the wrong way out of the cemetery and turned around to go back the other way. I became very cold all of a sudden as we passed the graveyard and then phone decided to turn back on seconds later just as we passed Purgatory Rd, showing 12%, but wouldn’t accept my finger print, and then shut off again. I was like “very funny Mercy Lena Brown” but I need my phone to get home, and the phone turns on again, showing 10% and not recognizing my print, then off again. This “game” went on for a couple more times as I was driving. Once I found an area I was familiar with I was like “okay Mercy Lena, I know where I am now…can you turn my phone back on please?” And wouldn’t you know it? The damn phone turns back on, lets me input my fingerprint and finally get to the home screen. The battery then gradually goes decreases, at a much faster speed than normal…from 9% down to 6% in a matter of a minute and then everything was fine. Yup. True story. And now I’m convinced my cat, Lena, that we rescued with that name, is a vampire.
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