Exeter, Rhode Island: America's Last Vampire Exhumation

On a cold March morning in 1892, five men gathered at Chestnut Hill Baptist Church cemetery in Exeter, Rhode Island, to open a family crypt. Inside lay the body of Mercy Lena Brown, who had died just two months earlier from consumption—tuberculosis. What happened next became one of the most documented cases of vampire folklore in American history. Mercy's body appeared strangely preserved in the frozen crypt, and when examined, liquid blood was found in her heart. Desperate to save her dying brother Edwin, the townspeople removed Mercy's heart and liver, burned them on a nearby rock, and mixed the ashes into water for Edwin to drink. This wasn't superstition in the distant past—this happened just six years before the dawn of the 20th century, in a time when fear and folklore still filled the gaps where medical science couldn't reach.

The Brown family had been devastated by tuberculosis. George Brown, a hardworking farmer, lost his wife Mary Eliza in 1883, his daughter Mary Olive in 1884, and his daughter Mercy in January 1892. His only surviving child, Edwin, was wasting away from the same disease. When neighbors whispered that one of the dead Browns must be "feeding" on Edwin from beyond the grave, George reluctantly agreed to the exhumation. The ritual didn't save Edwin—he died just weeks later on May 2, 1892, at age 24. But the story captured international attention. Newspapers from the New York World to the London Times covered the "last American vampire," and scholars later discovered newspaper clippings about Mercy's exhumation among Bram Stoker's research notes for Dracula.

Timeline of Events

• 1883: Mary Eliza Brown, George Brown's wife, dies of consumption (tuberculosis)
• 1884: Mary Olive Brown, age 20, dies of the same disease; obituaries call her "a bright light extinguished far too soon"
• January 1892: Mercy Lena Brown, age 19, dies of consumption; her body is placed in the family crypt because the ground is too frozen to dig a grave
• March 17, 1892: Townspeople exhume three Brown family members; Mercy's body appears preserved, with liquid blood in her heart
• March 17, 1892: Mercy's heart and liver are burned; ashes are mixed with water for Edwin to drink as a folk cure
• May 2, 1892: Edwin Brown dies at age 24, despite the ritual

Between 1786 and 1892, at least 80 documented cases of vampire exhumations occurred throughout New England as tuberculosis ravaged rural communities. Without understanding germ theory or bacterial transmission, people turned to folklore when entire families fell ill one after another.

Historical Significance

Mercy Brown's exhumation represents the collision between folk belief and emerging medical science in late 19th-century America. While germ theory was being proven in laboratories, it hadn't yet reached rural villages where people watched their neighbors die in horrifying patterns. When families seemed to waste away one member at a time, even after burials, folklore provided the only explanation that made sense: the dead were feeding on the living. The ritual performed on Mercy Brown wasn't unique—similar exhumations happened across New England for over a century—but it was among the last, occurring in an era when newspapers and scientific skepticism were beginning to replace oral tradition and superstition.

Today, we understand that cold weather naturally slows decomposition, that skin shrinkage makes hair and nails appear to grow after death, and that liquid blood in the heart is normal in early decomposition. But in 1892 Exeter, Rhode Island, these signs confirmed the community's worst fears. George Brown lived another 30 years, long enough to see germ theory proven and the first TB vaccines tested. Mercy's grave in Chestnut Hill Cemetery is still visited today, sometimes vandalized, sometimes adorned with flowers and notes from people who see in her story a reminder of how grief can cloud reason and how humans seek hope even in ashes.

Sources & Further Reading

• Providence Journal (March 1892): Contemporary newspaper coverage of the exhumation (Rhode Island Historical Society Digital Archives)
• Smithsonian Magazine: "The Great New England Vampire Panic" (https://www.smithsonianmag.com)
• Rhode Island Historical Society: Mercy Brown exhibit and archival materials (https://www.rihs.org)
• Bell, Michael E.: Food for the Dead: On the Trail of New England's Vampires (University Press of New England, 2011)
• Tucker, Abigail: "The Last American Vampire," Smithsonian Magazine, October 2012

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