Looking for Urband Legends from New England?
New England is one of the oldest continuously lived in areas of the country so it’s no surprise that after 400+ years there would be plenty of urban legends and myths to draw dark inspiration from. We all know about the Salem Witch Trials and other morbid history but do you know about “Finger Nails Freddy” or the ghosts of the Hoosac Tunnel?
Well read on!
VERMONT: The frozen people
According to legend, an impoverished family outside of Montpelier froze the oldest members of their family and buried them to save money on food and clothing. When spring arrived, the elders allegedly thawed out and went on to live full lives. This tale first appeared in a diary published in the late 1800s.
The Obscure Story Of Vermont’s Frozen Hill People Will Give You Goosebumps https://t.co/6ClwceMXCg
— SelineSigil (@SelineSigil9) April 23, 2022
MAINE: The mysterious stain on Colonel Jonathan Buck's tomb
According to legend, Colonel Jonathan Buck’s tomb in Bucksport bears a mysterious leg-shaped stain as a curse for sentencing a woman to burn for witchcraft and having her leg roll out of the fire during the burning process.
This stain has reportedly been tried to be washed away twice, but it keeps coming back.
(SERIOUSLY MAINE? No wonder Stephen King had to make up stories if a stain is the scariest urban legend you have). The stain in maine stays mainly in vain I guess.
Legend tells of Colonel Jonathan Buck's tomb in Bucksport, Maine, and the mysterious stain that haunts it.
Buck had a witch burned at the stake. Now she's said to haunt his place of rest, manifesting as a stan in the shape of a leg.
Enter if you dare! pic.twitter.com/moPJkU15D9
— Ghost City Tours (@GhostCityTours) July 12, 2021
CONNECTICUT: Hannah Cranna
In the 19th century, Hannah Cranna became notorious as the “Wicked Witch of Monroe” after her husband was mysteriously killed by falling off a cliff, and locals believed she had bewitched him.
She also gained a reputation for putting hexes on the locals…but honestly they were kind of lame. For instance one time she asked a neighbor for a pie, the neighbor said no so Hannah put a curse on her and the pies that neighbor made were not as good afterwards.
So why does she belong on this list? Well, on her death-bed Hannah requested that her body be carried in a coffin by hand and that she be buried before sunset. The locals were like “sure, uh huh” and then as soon as Hannah gave up the ghost they put her in a box, put that on a sled and shoved it down the hill towards the cemetary. The only problem was the coffin fell off, along with her body. They tried again but got the same result. So they finally gave in and carried her body to the cemetary. By then, due to the sled misadventure, it was past sunset.
When they made it back up the hill to the town everyone was running around like crazy. Why? While they were putting Hannah’s body in the ground her house caught fire and it took everything they had to put the blaze out before the whole town was engulfed.
Hannah Cranna, the Connecticut Witch Who Didn’t Stand Trial (the only one who I believe was a witch) https://t.co/xSEcHD6npj pic.twitter.com/MsXIIDygEz
— SubRosa )✿( Magick (DM to book a reading) (@SubRosaMagick) February 19, 2022
NEW HAMPSHIRE: The witch of Hampton, Goody Cole
Goody Cole may be the only person successfully tried for witchcraft twice. Once in 1656 and another time in 1671. When she died the townspeople reportedly put a wooden stake through her heart to make sure she couldn’t come back and bewitch them a third time.
Did it work?
I guess not because even 300 years later people in Hampton blame her for things that go wrong. For instance a boatload of people overturned and all of the people drowned despite being swimming distance to the shore. Goody was blamed for that.
29. Goody Cole (Hampton, New Hampshire) pic.twitter.com/qISMFP43Gp
— La Star saw Loona in Paris ✨ (@_Joyeusement_) February 10, 2019
Extra thoughts
Side Note: Why were women named Goody back then? It was short for “Goodwife”. So why were people called “Goody Two Shoes”? There was a series of fairytales about a character named Goody Two Shoes who was so named because, get this, she had two pretty nice shoes. It’s like Cinderella but with TWO shoes!
“Two shoes, ma'am! See, Two shoes!" said orphan Margery Meanwell to everyone she met because she used to have only one shoe. #FolkloreSunday
Goody Two Shoes, illustration from Walter Crane’s 1874 picture book
Based on a 1765 story by an unconfirmed author. pic.twitter.com/zcDEyKGr1d— Tina (@TsEclectica) September 25, 2022
Rhode Island: Finger Nails Freddie
Did Wes Craven come up with the character Freddy Krueger while visiting Rhode Island?
The character known as Freddy Krueger was inspired by macabre campfire stories in Rhode Island. The gruesome character is said to have been inspired by eerie tales about a violent man named Finger Nails Freddie, who lived in the woods and killed strangers who wandered onto his property. Some think that he was a man who lost his family in a fire set by local children, with his face being burned as a result. He became enraged and vowed to take revenge on the community, but he went into the woods to escape the flames.
I think the entire state of Rhode Island may have a lawsuit to file.
Freddie Krueger is thought to be based on the stories of "Finger Nails Freddie", a violent man living in the woods of Rhode Island that had long finger nails. This tale dates back to the 19th century saying anyone that wanders onto his former property in the woods is murdered. pic.twitter.com/Ji4lmU6ehe
— Bigfoot Mountain (@sasysquatchgirl) April 23, 2020
MASSACHUSETTS: The spirits of Hoosac Tunnel
Between 1846 and 1854, more than 200 workers died building the Hoosac Tunnel in western Massachusetts, earning it the name ‘The Bloody Pit.’
In either 1867 or 1868, 13 miners became trapped in a mine tunnel after a particularly nasty explosion. The other workers thought the miners had been killed, but it was later realized that they had survived, constructed a raft to battle flooding, and finally succumbed to toxic gas inhalation.
These 13 miners are said to have haunted the tunnel for years, moaning, and briefly appearing as ghosts.
Hi from the Hoosac Tunnel pic.twitter.com/EFXLDAOgtC
— Katie Lannan (@katielannan) February 23, 2020
