I’m sure if I could have found more information on her I could come up with a better story. But since no one likes to paint the lives of supposed witches with pretty colors, I will just go with what I got. This takes place 200 years after the mass hysteria we all like to call the Salem Witch Trials.
Elizabeth was born in 1843 and married a man named John Lydston. They resided in Maine until her death in 1869 when she was just 26 years old. Her parents ordered her death by hanging for practicing witchcraft. I would like to think her husband had a say in this…maybe step in and tell his mother in law to get a life or something….talk about overbearing. But who knows, maybe he was on board with this hanging. (For all the mom’s out there-remember your boundaries when you adult children get married.)
I would like to think that Elizabeth just liked to talk to the squirrels and chipmunks, burn a stick of incense every so often and skip church once in a while (of course this would make you a witch back then) but what do I know. Maybe she had a cauldron stuffed full of bat wings and eye of newt constantly brewing. Your guess is as good as mine.
She was hanged outside of the town church that is long gone by now. However, across the street from where the church once stood is an old cemetery that has more damage than in any I have ever seen. For someone who makes a habit out of wandering thru cemeteries (the older the better) I have never felt so sad for the people buried there. And let’s not forget bothered. I was incredibly uncomfortable.
It’s a small cemetery just off the road, complete with every type of swarming insect you can imagine. Off to the side, almost like an afterthought you will find where Elizabeth is buried. Her grave is surrounded by decaying trees that somehow still find it in them to grow leaves and the greenest moss I have ever seen. These ‘magical’ trees (see what I did there) are what keep her separated from the rest of the cemetery.
All that’s left is the slab where her tombstone that once read “I have not gone far into the spirit world” used to stand. Whoever took her tombstone, put it back. Seriously, how inconsiderate can you get? Actually, for anyone who has ever taken anything from a cemetery, grow a set and take it back.
There are several legends-curses-stories-myths about her grave, such as if you step on her grave you are DOOMED (insert devilish laughter here), which if you are traipsing around on TOP of someone’s grave then you probably are already doomed in your own right anyway.
Another one is if a star appears on the stump next to the grave then she is roaming around the cemetery grounds with you. I’m pretty sure if she was going to roam around somewhere, it would be to haunt the crappy parents who had her hung…but that’s just me. With that said, there is something very oppressive about this place. I am not one to scare easily and am quite in tune with my surroundings, but I could not wait to get out of there. It actually “felt” cursed/haunted. I’m not talking just her plot, I mean the whole damn cemetery.
I did have a discussion with someone who grew up in the area, who had never heard of the supposed curse. He did confess to hanging out with his buddies in the cemetery occasionally and SWORE they never vandalized or mistreated anything there. He said they would often times sit in Elizabeth's plot just to have a place to drink without getting caught. After telling him about the rumors of hauntings and curses linked to the cemetery, he fell silent and said to me "You know, all of my friends have had some real shitty luck. I'm doing ok, tho." So take out of that what you will.
I went into her ‘area’ and sat on a stump and talked to Elizabeth like the weirdo I am, keeping in mind of yet another story about three grave robbers who tried to steal her body. These three boys all died strange deaths within a week. I’m still kickin’ people. I didn’t try to deface or steal anything though so maybe that’s the difference. Now if I had visited her grave ten years ago and then went thru life, I would likely be screaming “THAT GAL CURSED ME!!!” But seriously, in the event that Elizabeth is haunting her grave or the cemetery, err on the side of caution and just be nice. Actually, just be nice anyway. I feel like she had had her fill of terrible people while she was alive, she doesn’t need to put up with it forever. Some have visited and left coins and flowers on her grave. I hope if any of you visit Elizabeth, you treat her resting place with some respect.
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