Welcome to my Roadside Rhode Island series. In a previous post, seen HERE, I talked about Mercy Brown, Rhode Island’s most famous vampire. She possibly inspired Bram Stoker when he wrote the book “Dracula.” As I mentioned before, Rhode Island is full of vampire legends, and in this chapter, I explore yet another. Her name? Sarah Tillinghast.
The story takes place in 1799 and concerns a prosperous farm family headed by Stutley Tillinghast. He was married to his wife Honor and they had twelve children. Stutley provided for his family by selling apples and peaches. He sold them from his orchards across Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts.
As the growing season of 1799 began, Stutley began to have vivid nightmares, night after night. When asked about the nightmares, he said that in them he was working in the orchard. Many times he would suddenly awake from them in terror. At one point, he would hear his daughter Sarah calling to him. While looking for her, he notices that the apple trees have started to turn brown. Exactly half of the orchard dies.
After the growing season, his 19-year-old daughter Sarah started to keep to herself in her bedroom. She only came out to eat. It soon became clear that she was ill. She was diagnosed with consumption. She died a short time later. By spring, her 9-year-old brother James started to complain of chest pains, saying that Sarah had touched his chest. He soon died as well.
Sisters Andris and Ruth were the next to fall ill. Each said that Sarah would visit them during the night. She complained that she was cold. Soon after that, both sisters also died. Stutley visited his pastor multiple times, asking for help, but nothing could be done, other than praying to God.
Hannah, Stutley’s 26-year old daughter, lived nearby in West Greenwich. She also started to complain about visitations from Sarah. This happened after she spent more time at her family home to support her parents. Hannah also became ill, succumbed a short time later.
Honor, Stutley’s wife, soon started to also see Sarah, who would complain of being cold and lonely. Soon after, their 17-year-old son Erza fell ill. He saw Sarah at night while trying to sleep. By now, Stutley Tillinghast was beside himself. One of his farmhands was Jeremiah Dandridge.(I wonder if his name is the basis of the lead vampire character Jerry Dandridge played by Chris Sarandon in the 1985 film FRIGHT NIGHT.) He shared a story. He heard of the dead coming back to life to torment their family. In desperation, Stutley, Jerry, and another farmhand began a grim task. They started to dig up the bodies of his children who had perished. They began with the most recent. Each body was showing visible signs of decay until he reached the last…Sarah.
When her coffin was opened, Sarah’s body had not begun to decay and looked very much alive. Her face had a healthy complexion, though pale, and her eyes were wide open. It also appeared that her hair and nails had grown. Suspecting that she was a vampire, her heart was cut out and burned. Erza, who was too far gone at this point, also passed.
Honor, who had been sick, ended up recovering and having two more children. After this ordeal, Stutley realized that his dream of half of his orchard dying was actually prophetic as half of his children had died.
Rhode Island Historical Cemetery 14 is easy to find. Though it is small and overgrown, the marker sign is very easy to see. It is on Forest Hills Drive in Exeter, Rhode Island. The location is on the right-hand side, approximately a quarter mile in when you turn off of Ten Rod Road. Many of the stones are now broken and Sarah’s actual grave is impossible to identify positively though others in the family can be easily found. As with all cemeteries please be respectful.
Make sure to read my other entries in my ROADSIDE RHODE ISLAND series.
Does anyone know if the name of Sarah Tillinghast Wilbur is a relative? Or any Hopkins family members or R.I.?