After A Rhode Island Family Suffered A String Of Terrible Incidents, Locals Blamed A ‘Vampire’
Well over a century ago, with the Industrial Revolution in full swing, the residents of Exeter, Rhode Island, succumbed to a panic more in keeping with the Dark Ages. When a string of tragedies plagued a local farmer, rumors of a vampire began to spread. And soon, the finger of blame would be pointed squarely at teenager Mercy Brown. But what was really going on?
19th-century New England
Back in the 1800s, rural New England was a strange and remote place. And even while towns such as Boston and Newport thrived, becoming the modern metropolises that we see today, the region’s isolated communities remained stuck in the past. As a result, they were places still steeped in folk belief and superstition, despite the scientific discoveries of the age.
Struggling communities
By the end of the century, many of these rural communities were struggling to survive. Some decades earlier, the Civil War had caused chaos across America, with many young men leaving their villages to fight. When they never came home, family businesses began to falter under the weight of a missing generation.
Falling populations
Around the same time, the ever-expanding network of railroads promised brighter futures elsewhere — along with a way to reach them. And many young people left their rural roots behind, hoping for a better life out west. Meanwhile, in parts of New England such as Rhode Island, local populations began to plummet.
Exeter, Rhode Island
Nowhere was this trend more evident than Exeter, a small community less than 20 miles from the glitzy summer resorts of Newport. Back in the 1820s, you see, the local farming industry had been booming, and some 2,500 residents had called the town home. But by the 1890s, this number had dropped to fewer than 1,000.
