07/19/2022
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Andy Kolovos, [email protected]
July 18, 2022
Legends & Lore Marker Tells Story of Manchester Vampire
Middlebury, VT—In partnership with the William G. Pomeroy Foundation and the Manchester Historical Society, the Vermont Folklife Center announces the dedication of the state’s second Legends & Lore® marker at 11:00am on August 6, 2022 at the entrance to Factory Point Cemetery, owned and maintained by the town in Manchester Center, VT.
Legends & Lore is a fully funded grant program of the Pomeroy Foundation that helps communities across the country to commemorate their folklore and legends, as well as promote cultural tourism. The Vermont Folklife Center serves as the Pomeroy Foundation’s state partner in Vermont, and recently supported the Manchester Historical Society in commemorating the story of Rachel Harris Burton, whose body was exhumed in 1792 and partially burned out of fear she had become a vampire.
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries a vampire panic spread throughout New England. Vermont was not immune: both Woodstock (1830) and Manchester (1792) became caught up in it.
“The vampire of folklore is pretty different from the vampire of contemporary books and movies, so we’re not talking Dracula, Buffy or Twilight here,” says Andy Kolovos, Associate Director and Archivist of the Vermont Folklife Center. “The folkloric vampire was frequently someone who recently died (often of a disease like tuberculosis) and, at a time before the germ theory of disease was widely accepted, then became a supernatural scapegoat for continued illness and death in the community.”
Fitting the pattern, Rachel Harris Burton died of tuberculosis in 1790. A year or so later her husband remarried, only to have his new wife fall victim to the same terrible, wasting disease. Suspicion soon fell upon Rachel as the source—drawing the very life from her husband’s new wife—and the community took drastic action to end what they saw as a dire threat.
Manchester Historical Society Curator and Vermont Folklife Center Trustee Shawn Harrington composed the marker text, working closely with the Vermont Folklife Center and the town of Manchester. “Having a written account by Judge John S. Pettibone (1786-1872) from an eyewitness, coupled with Rachel’s distinctive headstone in Factory Point Cemetery provides a unique glimpse of this phenomenon 230 plus years ago.”
Following the dedication, Harrington will lead a short tour of Factory Point Cemetery and visit to Rachel’s final resting place.
“We are pleased to fund the Manchester Historical Society’s Legends & Lore roadside marker,” said Deryn Pomeroy, Director of Strategic Initiatives and Trustee at the Pomeroy Foundation. “Legends & Lore markers not only help communities bring greater attention to their own unique stories, but also promote the diverse landscape of folk and traditional arts. We look forward to helping more communities across the state obtain Legends & Lore grants through our terrific partnership with the Vermont Folklife Center.”
There are currently two Legends & Lore markers in Vermont, one in Marlboro commemorating Vermont song collector and folk singer, Margaret MacArthur, and now the new marker in Manchester. If you would like to explore placing a marker in your community, please contact the Vermont Folklife Center. As a part of a submission to the Pomeroy Foundation, applications are reviewed by Vermont Folklife Center staff and our partner, legendary Vermont folklorist, Joe Citro. "We would love to see more of these plaques,” says Citro. “At one time vampires were all over the state!"
The next Legends & Lore grant round will open on Monday, Aug. 29. More details on the Legends & Lore program in Vermont are available online: https://www.vermontfolklifecenter.org/legends-and-lore
The Vermont Folklife Center’s mission is to deepen our understanding of each other by engaging with communities across Vermont to document and share expressions of tradition, innovation, and culture.
About the Pomeroy Foundation
The William G. Pomeroy Foundation® is committed to supporting the celebration and preservation of community history; and working to improve the probability of finding appropriate donor matches or other life-saving treatments for blood cancer patients. Established by Trustee Bill Pomeroy in 2005 to bring together his two greatest passions, the Pomeroy Foundation is a private, philanthropic organization located in Syracuse, N.Y. As the nation’s leading funder of historic roadside markers, the Pomeroy Foundation has awarded over 1,800 grants for markers and bronze plaques in 46 states and Washington, D.C. To learn more about the Pomeroy Foundation, visit wgpfoundation.org
More information on the story of Rachel Harris Burton:
https://manchester-vt.gov/tale-of-the-demon-vampire/
More information on the New England Vampire Panic:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-great-new-england-vampire-panic-36482878/
More information on the William G. Pomeroy Foundation:
https://www.wgpfoundation.org/
