Monday, March 7, 2016

The Vampire in Woodstock

There is a quite well known case of a suspected vampire in Vermont.  The print media caught the news about a vampire tormenting Woodstock on 1889 in “Journal of American folklore” which was recorded after 50 years that the said incident actually happened.  An old lady claimed that she witnessed everything that happened that time.  The event was referred to as "The Vampire in Woodstock"

Based on the story of The Vampire in Woodstock, there was a man who died from an unexplainable death.  Shortly after, his brother contracted the disease of consumption, the family immediately decided to exhume the body of the dead man and have him examined.  People who examined the body claimed that the heart of the corpse has no sign of decomposition and that it has a fresh blood.  They decided to take the heart out and reburied the man.  They then took the heart to Woodstock Green and incinerate it. 

Though the story of The Vampire in Woodstock possesses no name or proper identification, it is notably similar to the vampire case that happened in New England.  Furthermore, Frederick Ransom vampire case also happened in Woodstock in 1817.  In 1890 Vermont Standard published the news of the Woodstock vampire, but they decided to fill up the missing information themselves.  They associated the Corwin family on the incident.  According to them, the brother of Corwin died of tuberculosis and shortly after another brother was contaminated with the disease.  The doctors recommended exhuming the body for further analysis.  The rest of the account written in the newspaper is like a fictional story

The boiling of the pot on Woodstock Green, spoken of by
the old lady, was attended by a large concourse of people.There ceremonies were conducted by the selectmen,attended by some of the prominent citizens of the villagethen residing on the common . . . old men of renown,sound-minded fathers among the community, discreetcareful men. The old lady has forgotten to state what wasdone with the pot and its ghastly collection of dust afterthe ceremonies were over. A hole ten feet square and fifteenfeet deep was dug right in the center of the parkwhere the fire had been built, the pot with the ashes wasplaced in the bottom, and then on top of that was laid ablock of solid granite weighing seven tons, cut out ofKnox ledge. The hole was then filled up with dirt, theblood of a bullock was sprinkled on the fresh earth, andthe fathers then felt that vampirism was extinguished foreverin Woodstock. Eight or ten years after these eventssome curious-minded persons made excavations in thePark, if by chance anything might be found of the pot.They dug down fifteen feet, but found nothing. Rock, pot,ashes and all had disappeared. They heard a roaringnoise, however, as of some great conflagration, going onin the bowels of the earth, and a smell of sulphur began tofill the cavity, whereupon, in some alarm they hurried tothe surface, filled up the hole again, and went their way. Itis reported that considerable disturbance took place onthe surface of the ground for several days, where the holehad been dug, some rumblings and shaking of the earth,and some smoke was emitted.”


The newspaper stated that the Corwin brother’s remains lied in Nathan Cushing Cemetery.  But unfortunately no tombstone under the name of the Corwin brother was found also the record of the town does not show someone named Corwin.  But they said that it does not prove that the Woodstock vampire is an urban legend, they claimed that the true identity of The Vampire in Woodstock has yet to be identified.

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