Ever since I found out Bram Stoker modeled the character Lucy Westerna on Exeter, Rhode Island's Mercy Brown, I have tried to stop by the grave whenever I get a chance on the way home from the office. Mercy died in January 1892, and what happened to her that summer most likely would have made the newspapers. Stoker saw it in a newspaper and clipped it out for future reference when he was touring in America with his employer, Sir Henry Irving. I wonder if Lizzie saw it?!
I stopped by her grave today and took some photos (of course). Since the Oak Grove blog has to be exclusively for the Friends group, I had to start another blog for my other favorite cemeteries, so Mercy Brown and her strange story is here
http://yankeestones.wordpress.com/
Rhode Island had the title of Vampire Capital of the Nation back in the 18th century. In actuality- it was death by consumption.
