The Legend of Midnight Mary

In downtown New Haven, Connecticut, in the vast Evergreen Cemetery, the massive headstone of Mary E. Hart carries a foreboding message:

AT HIGH NOON
JUST FROM, AND ABOUT TO RENEW HER DAILY WORK, IN HER FULL STRENGTH OF BODY AND MIND
MARY E. HART
HAVING FALLEN PROSTRATE
REMAINED UNCONSCIOUS, UNTIL SHE DIED AT MIDNIGHT, OCTOBER 15, 1872
BORN DECEMBER 16, 1824

Then, in larger letters:

THE PEOPLE SHALL BE TROUBLED AT MIDNIGHT AND PASS AWAY

For generations the grave has been known as the final resting place of Midnight Mary. Though no one knows exactly who Mary Hart was, how she died, or why this mysterious marker was erected over her grave, locals tell stories of her and warn of the dangers of trifling with her grave.

Some say Midnight Mary was a witch and the inscription is a curse against the people of New Haven who persecuted her in life. It is said that those who visit her grave late at night will be struck down dead at the stroke of midnight.

Stories tell of brave souls who have challenged this curse and entered the cemetery just before midnight to stand at Mary's grave. In the morning they were found dead-some apparently of fright, others impaled on the wrought-iron spikes of the fence that surrounds the graveyard.

Another legend says that Mary's stone is actually a warning to others to avoid the same horrible fate that she suffered. According to the tale, Mary had fallen unconscious and was presumed dead. She was hastily buried. That same evening one of her relatives had a terrible nightmare in which she saw poor Mary writhing in agony and screaming for help in the dark. The next morning she demanded that Mary's grave be exhumed. When the coffin was dug up and opened, all present were horrified at what they saw. The lining of the casket was torn to shreds, and Mary's nails were bloody and ripped away from her fingertips. She had been buried alive and had died an excruciating death, struggling to free herself from her underground tomb.