Mercy L. Brown Headstone RI
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Description: Mercy L. Brown's headstone, located in the Chestnut Hill Cemetery in Exeter, Rhode Island, marks the resting place of a young woman who became the center of a notorious vampire panic in the late 19th century. Mercy died of tuberculosis in 1892, and when her family continued to suffer from the disease, local superstition led townspeople to exhume her body, believing she was a vampire draining the life from her relatives. Her heart was removed and burned in a desperate attempt to stop the spread of the illness. Today, her grave is a poignant reminder of the fear and misunderstanding surrounding tuberculosis at the time, and it has become a site of historical interest and folklore.