In March of 1892 the last American Vampire was killed. Her name was Mercy Brown, and she was from Exeter Rhode Island.   

It would seem the Brown family was cursed. In just a couple years Mary Brown and her two daughters had passed away from a mysterious illness. In 1892 the only son of the Brown family, Edwin, fell ill from the same mysterious affliction. The town’s people became convinced that there was something more happening to the Brown family than just bad luck. This was witchcraft, this was a vampire.

The graves of the 3 Brown women were exhumed so they could be examined for evidence of a vampire. What they found in Mercy Brown’s coffin was evidence enough indeed. While her sister and mother had rotted away Mercy Brown was perfectly preserved. Some accounts even say her cheeks were flush from the cold, and her nails and hair had grown since her burial. When one townsperson prodded Mercy with a shovel she bled, something you would not expect from a body two months in the grave. 

The patriarch upon hearing the news of his daughter’s vampirism had to act quickly to save his son. He ordered Mercy’s heart and liver to be cut out and burned. Her ashes were mixed with water and fed to her brother, and what was left of her body was buried. Despite vanquishing a vampire the Brown family could not stop their seeming curse and the young Edwin died. The Brown family had 7 children total, only one lived past 25. 

The story of Mercy Brown traveled far, reaching the desk of Bram Stroker, who would base the character of Lucy in his classic novel Dracula after Mercy Brown. Mercy is the most modern example of vampiric banishment rituals in American history, and because of that one of the most well documented. Mercy is also not alone as a Rhode Island vampire, with Rhode Island many decades before her being considered an epicenter of vampirism. 

Today we now know the mysterious illness that afflicted the Brown family was tuberculosis. A treatment to which was discovered 30 years after the Brown family’s deaths. Many have theories as to the true cause of Mercy Brown’s state after death, but given the nature of the case no theory has ever been proven. We will never know the truth of Mercy Brown, the 19 year old girl who was the last American vampire.