Marker: The Manchester Vampire

Manchester Center, Vermont

Rachel Harris Burton was only 21, and a newlywed, when she became sick and died in 1790. Her tombstone inscription describes her as the "amiable comfort" of her husband, Issac, but that impression didn't last.

Issac remarried, and his second wife also got sick. The town for some reason was convinced that Rachel had become a vampire and was surreptitiously sucking the blood of wife number two. Rachel was dug out of her grave, her internal organs were dug out of her corpse, and they were brought to the local blacksmith forge and burned. One account stated that between 500 and 1,000 people attended the event.

It didn't work; wife number two stayed sick and died in 1793.

A historical marker for the "Manchester Vampire" was erected near Rachel's grave in 2021.