One place located in Griswold, Connecticut might leave one guessing what happened. In a cemetery here. There are tombstones found here, that date between the 1840’s and 1850’s. The Jewett City Cemetery, is tucked behind a smaller housing project here. To find this location, someone would have to follow the end of Anthony Street, before actually finding this cemetery.
Anytime someone enters a cemetery, they should pay their respects to the dead. A number of markers here, display faded tombstones as time has aged this place. From what is understood (back in the 1840’s) a man named Henry Ray, along with his three sons all died. It only took a few years, before all of these men dropped dead. It is suspected, that they all died from tuberculosis.
Because of their unknown cause of death, locals believed they were all cursed. They decided to exhume several of the corpses and then burned them right there on the spot. Documentation of this was written by the news.
The father along with his sons, were all labelled as the Jewett City Vampires later on. However, Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” in 1897, would not be published for another 40 years. The citizens here were both paranoid and cautious. The intention was, they wanted to protect the living.
People had no idea about what had happened. So, they followed their instincts and burned these men. Lemuel was 24 years old and died first in 1845. Less than four years later, Henry B. Ray succumbed to the same disease. Elisha was the last to die several years later. He was only 26 years old.
Although it appears the body of Joseph Sr. was not spared, it was believed the incendiary action did the trick—history does not record a specific date for Henry’s demise, so it’s thought that he survived his affliction. Further evidence was found regarding more vampires.
The neighboring town of Hopeville, had 29 different graves unearthed. The Walton family, was suspected to be damned as well. The location was only around two miles down the road from where the Ray’s farm was once located 50 years previously in the early part of the 18th century.
Upon further archaeological exhumation, a determination was made. One of these bodies was decimated by consumption. The body was dug up and the head was removed.
The skeleton was then placed face down with the femur bones crossed over the chest cavity. It has been said that more of the Walton family died and were treated the same way, once they were buried at the same graveyard.
(Source: Damned Connecticut)
