Mercy Brown vampire incident

Several cases of consumption (tuberculosis) occurred in the family of George and Mary Brown in Exeter, Rhode Island.

[clarification needed] In Exeter, Rhode Island, several members of George and Mary Brown's family suffered a sequence of tuberculosis infections in the final two decades of the 19th century.

As superstition dictated, Mercy's heart and liver were burned, and the ashes were mixed with water to create a tonic and was given to the sick Edwin to drink, as an effort to resolve his illness and stop the influence of the undead.

The Mercy Brown incident was the inspiration for Caitlín R. Kiernan's short story "So Runs the World Away", which makes explicit reference to the affair.

It has also been suggested by scholars that Bram Stoker, the author of the novel Dracula, knew about the Mercy Brown case through newspaper articles and based the novel's character Lucy Westenra upon her.

An account of the events as told by the remaining descendants of Mercy is available in Michael E. Bell's Food for the Dead: On the Trail of New England's Vampires.