• Christmas Eve Ghost Story 2020
• Christmas Eve 2021 Ghost Story: The Ghosts
• Cavendish Ghost Stories: Charlie
• David Ordway’s Funeral Sermon
• Ghosts and Goblins from Cavendish Hillside Farm 1939 to 1957 by Sandra Field Stearns
UPCOMING EVENTS: The following CHS programs are free and open to the public. Donations appreciated. We are fortunate to be working with the Cavendish Library who has been providing support and the use of their space.
November 10 (Sunday): Proctorsville Ghost Walk. Meet at 2 pm in front of the Proctorsville War Memorial.
December 14 (Saturday): Holiday Fiesta at the Cavendish Library, 573 Main St. Proctorsville.
February: In honor of Black History: The story of Cavendish’s Peter Tumbo and the history of African trade beads. Workshop on making paper African trade beads follows the talk.
February 15 (Saturday): Chocolate and Valentines; The history of chocolate with Maren Muter. Maren is a Cavendish resident and chocolatier, who has dazzled our taste buds at various events with her hot chocolate and the most delicious treats. She is the owner of That Chocolate.
In January, we will be announcing our programs for the spring and early summer. We know that many have enjoyed the herb and plant medicinal series with Dr. Charis Boke and we already have some ideas for 2025.
WHAT’S NEW AT THE CHS BLOG
• The Cavendish Vampire A little bit of eerie history just in time for Halloween.
Donations for CHS can be sent to CHS, PO Box 472, Cavendish, VT 05142. Checks should be payable to the Cavendish Historical Society.
Having spent a long night tending to her sick husband, Martha Adams was glad to be out in the crisp early morning air to milk the family cow. Resting her head against the cow’s side, Martha was soothed by its warmth and slowly began to milk.
It had been about five years ago when Charles, Martha’s husband, began to cough. Year after year, she watched as the life drained out of him. It was as if his body was wasting away leaving him with very pale skin, but rosy cheeks. “How odd,” Martha thought. It had been several years now that Charles spent most of his days in the bed or a chair, starring out at the fields he could no longer plant or harvest.
“Thank goodness for my children and my business as a seamstress.” Martha recalled how she hated sewing as a child but her mother had insisted saying, “Someday you will be very glad to have this skill.” And indeed she was grateful. As Charles could do less and less, her two daughters Emily, 18 years old, and Susan 16 years old, had begun working with her. In fact, they had done so well, they were the dress and milliners for Cavendish and beyond. Emily was turning into an exceptional milliner and two women from Woodstock had visited just last week to have her make hats for them.
Her reverie was short lived as she heard a piercing scream,”Ma!” It was Emily. Nearly knocking over the milking pan in her haste to get up, Martha ran to the house. Emily was standing in the doorway with tears streaming down her face. “It’s Papa,” she said. “He’s gone.”
“Gone?” asked Martha
“He’s dead,” replied Emily.
The other children had come running when they heard Emily’s cry. The three boys, the twins Jeremiah and Noah, 15 years old and Zachary 13, had been tending to barn chores and soon were standing next to their mother outside, while Emily and Susan clung to each other crying in the doorway.
It wasn’t long before neighbors and family gathered and activities were underway to bury Charles. While a sad time, Martha was relieved that Charles was no longer suffering.
Six months after his father’s passing, Zachary asked his mother, “What is to become of us now that Papa is gone?” Martha assured him that she and his sisters could continue to run their business, while he and his brothers could maintain the farm. “Maybe this coming summer we can plant some new crops.”
While Zachary was reassured, Martha wasn’t so sure as she noticed something odd about Emily. She was coughing a bit more than usual. Was she sick?
As time went by, Martha’s couldn’t ignore Emily’s health. Not only was she losing weight but she tired very quickly. Before long, some of their customers were asking about Emily’s health. “She’s looking rather pale, isn’t she?” commented one long standing customer. Martha brushed it off by saying Charles’s death had been particularly hard on Emily as she had so carefully nursed him through his final illness. Yet, she couldn’t help thinking that this was how Charles started. Worst still, she had heard Zachary coughing last night.
While, Emily’s health continued to decline. Zachary’s cough seemed to come and go, leading Martha to believe he was just more prone to colds.
Three years after Charles’s death, his sister Alicia came for a visit. While she had come for her brother’s funeral, she had only stayed a day as she had her own family to care for in Dummerston VT.
Within an hour of her arrival, she pulled Martha aside. “You have to do something,” she said.
“What?” a puzzled Martha replied
“Don’t you see it?” said Alicia. “The cursed spirit that was once my brother is now feasting on Emily and Zachary. He has become a vampir!”
Martha was shocked and couldn’t say anything, which was just as well as Alicia wasn’t about to let her get a word in edge wise. Further, Charles and Alicia’s mother was from the “old country” and had some “funny” ideas that Martha generally just ignored.
“We’ve seen this where I live. One family, the Spauldings, had eight of their 11 children die before they did something.” She went on to explain that the Spaulding children, all with symptoms similar to what Charles had, and now Emily and Zachary were experiencing, started dying with great regularity. “It only stopped when they finally took action.”
“What did they do?” asked Martha. To which Alicia was only too happy to describe in detail.
“When the eighth child died, they dug up all the graves, including Lt. Spaulding’s, and discovered a black vine was wrapped around them. They cut away all the vine and carefully examined the body of the last child to die. She had blood in her heart, a sure sign that she was a vampir. So they removed the heart, liver and burned them. From that day on, no other member of the family died from consumption.”
Martha was horrified at the story. Alicia then began to tell her that it was time for Martha to deal with Charles, as it was clear he was now a vampir. She even went so far to say that she had arranged to have his grave dug up.
After years of dealing with her sister-in-law, Martha was hesitant to tell her “no” outright, so she said she needed to discuss this with the children before anything was done and needed a few days to talk to them. While Alicia didn’t like to be put off, she did agree to wait two days before taking any steps. Truth be told, she hadn’t quite figured out the particulars of having Charles’s body exhumed.
Martha was terribly conflicted. On the hand she didn’t want to believe her husband had become a vampir but on the other, the thought of her children dying was almost too much to bear.
This was all she could think about and was very distracted when doing a dress fitting for her good friend Amy Baldwin. The second time Martha pricked her client with a pin, Amy told Martha to stop and tell her what was troubling her. With a mixture of reluctance and relief, Martha told her about Alicia’s visit, ending with “I don’t know what to believe or what to do.”
Amy was quick to reply that there was someone who could help her with such a difficult decision, Dr. Harlow. “After all,” she said, “Dr. Harlow saved that patient Phineas Gage who everybody said was going to die. They had even measured him for his coffin, they were so sure.” Gage was the railroad worker who had a tamping rod shoot through his head as a result of a blasting accident, and which brought Harlow, as well as Cavendish, a certain amount of fame.
Martha thought this was a good idea and went straight away to his surgery.
Dr. Harlow listened to the story of Charles’s illness, his death, the symptoms that Emily now had and Zachary seemed to be developing, as well as Alicia’s proposal to rid them of the “cursed” vampir.
Unlike other country doctors of his time, Harlow had trained at one of the best medical schools in the country, Jefferson in Philadelphia. He had seen many cases of consumption, and while he didn’t know what caused it, or even had an effective treatment, he was very clear that the ritual proposed by Alicia would not impact the course of the disease for Emily or Zachary.
Harlow explained to Martha that while he couldn’t offer a treatment for Emily and Zachary other than eating well and getting sufficient rest, what Alicia was proposing shouldn’t be done, and as he felt responsible for the health of the community, he would block any such attempt.
He also told her that many people were seeking “cures” at sanatoriums in a healthful climate, such as California. Because Harlow had been trained in aseptic technique, he did suggest to Martha that they may want to wash their hands more frequently
Martha was extremely relieved after talking to the doctor and immediately went to the hotel where her sister-in-law was staying and told her there would be no digging up of Charles and furthermore, she was contemplating a move to California, “which might be much better for my family.”
Before Alicia could make a comment, Martha turned on her heels and left. On the way home her thoughts turned to California, how to sell the farm as well as what it would be like starting a new business.
History of Vampires: The concept of the vampire as an undead creature inflicting harm originated in Eastern Europe, around a thousand years ago. The vampire, often as a spreader of disease in a village, did not drink blood or create other vampires with a bite.
As the vampire story spread from east to west-it first appeared in English in 1732- the idea of an undead being as well as feasting on blood became popular.
Blood was thought to contain medicinal benefits in the 18th century. Because of blood letting, a common practice by physicians, it was cheap and plentiful. Blood was believed to be the vessel of the human soul, and by imbibing blood one imbibed life. What better medicine than a liquid with the residue of the human soul inside? Human blood was prescribed for everything from epilepsy to failing eyesight in the 1700s. The vampire of the West, therefore, was medically savvy, and the dead creature, it came to be believed, consumed blood to restore life. The Horrors of History: Vampires
“Vampire” or vampir as originally written, would not become a widespread term until after the publication of “Dracula” in 1897.
Tuberculosis: At the beginning of the 19th century, tuberculosis (TB)-called consumption- had killed one in seven people that had ever lived. In Cavendish, once death certificates were required, starting in 1857, close to 25% of all deaths were from consumption in 1857 and 1858. Over a 10 year period, from 1857 to 1867 30 (11%) of the 276 deaths, for which there were Cavendish death certificates, were caused by TB.
According to the American Lung Association, which was founded in 1904 in response to the TB epidemic, TB is a highly infectious disease that can affect any part of the body, but most often, it attacks the lungs. It was often called "consumption" because sufferers of the disease became gaunt and emaciated as if their bodies were being consumed. It was also called "The White Plague" because its victims would become extremely pale. Starting to sound like a vampire isn't it? The connection was further cemented by other TB symptoms, which included light-sensitive eyes, low body heat, a weak heartbeat, and coughing up blood.
When people contracted and died of “consumption” they often spread the disease to their family and neighbors, who would then become ill and often die. To some of the more superstitious people of the 1800s, this was eerily similar to the vampire rising at night and drinking the blood of family and friends until they wasted away and died.
All of this brings us to New England in the 1850s. Poor nutrition and sanitation made the perfect breeding ground for TB, and outbreaks were common. It was specifically outbreaks in rural Rhode Island and Connecticut that caused what became known as The Great New England Vampire Panic. Suspicions that the area was rampant with night stalking bloodsuckers struck fear across the region. Here's the gruesome part. In a number of cases, the recently deceased were exhumed and checked for signs that they were indeed the living dead. In some cases, the hearts and lungs of the suspected vampires were burned, before the departed was reburied, in an attempt to stop further night time terrors.
In 1882, Robert Koch discovered the tubercule baccilum (TB) and found that TB was not genetic but rather a highly contagious disease that could be decreased, if not prevented, through good hygiene.
Vermont’s Vampire Craze: During the 18th and well into the 19th century, New England was swept by a “vampire craze,” largely fueled by old world folklore and the TB epidemic. Bram Stoker, who wrote “Dracula,” describes the victims much as a TB patient would have been-drained of blood, anemic and pale.
Below are reports of various vampires in Vermont history.
• Then Again: When vampires were to blame for a deadly wasting disease
• The Great New England Vampire Panic
• Vampire Panic: Science History Institute
Dr. John Martyn Harlow: A graduate of one of the best medical schools in the country at the time, Jefferson in Philadelphia, Dr. Harlow is best known for saving the life of Phineas Gage, the railroad worked that had a tamping rod pass through his head and lived for another 12 years. Given Harlow’s quickness to submit an article about Gage, as well as his presentations before the Medical Societies, it is likely he would have been following the latest health news and would have seen studies about the recommendations fpr TB patients to relocate to temperate climates. . In the second half of the 19th century, the conviction spread that particular climatic environments could contribute to curing TB. Subsequently, the most frequently prescribed remedy for pulmonary forms was a stay in a temperate climate. Murray JF, Schraufnagel DE, Hopewell PC. Treatment of tuberculosis. A historical perspective. Ann Am Thorac Soc 2015;12(12):1749-59.
Harlow was also trained in aseptic technique, whereby hands were washed before attending to patients. This practice was developed in the early to mid-1800s through the efforts of such scientists as Robert Koch, Louis Pasteur, Ignaz Semmelweis, and Joseph Lister. Harlow was fortunate to train under a surgeon who had trained in Paris, where such techniques were practiced and required of the medical students.
During the Vampire years, exhumation of bodies thought to be “undead” was more likely to happen in small rural towns with a “country doctor,” a term not applicable to Harlow.
California: Between the gold rush, and the southern part of the state being advertised as an ideal climate for people with consumption, many people relocated to California
THE SCRIBBLER II
The Cavendish Historical Society Newsletter
www.facebook.com/PhineasGageCavendish
www.pinterest.com/cavendishvt/historical-cavendish/
www.thewriterwhochangedhistory.com
PO Box 472 Cavendish, VT 05142
802-226-7807 margocaulfield@icloud.com
Fall 2024 Vol. 18, Issue 4
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
October 31 (Thursday): Cavendish ghost stories for CTES 5th/6th graders
November 1 (Friday): Dia de los Muertos for CTES 5th/6th graders.
November 2 (Saturday): Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead): Starts 3 pm at the Cavendish Library, 573 Main St. Proctorsville. Workshop from 3:30-5:30 Pot luck supper follows
November 10 (Sunday): Proctorsville Ghost Walk. Meet at 2 pm in front of the Proctorsville War Memorial. This event is free and open to the public.
REMEMBERING MALCOM MACMILLAN
We recently learned that Malcolm Macmillan who wrote “An Odd Kind of Fame,” a detailed history of the Phineas Gage accident and recovery, died in Australia at the age of 95. Stacia Spaulding, who had been one of the organizers of the 1998 Cavendish 150th anniversary of the accident posted the following,” I need to give credit where credit is due. There would not have been a 150th Anniversary Phineas Gage Celebration in 1998 if not for Mac. He sent an e-mail in 1996 and mentioned that the anniversary was approaching and suggested that Cavendish might do something to commemorate the occasion.
Mac is the one who came up with idea for the bronze plaque that now sits on the Town Green in Cavendish. He worked tirelessly with the designer, Dr. Ross Bastiaan (a periodontist and designer of more than 200 plaques) in Australia, for many many months and raised all of the funds to cover its cost. In fact, the plaque was cast by the Arrow Foundry in Australia.
Mac presented a lecture entitled "Restoring Phineas Gage: A 150th Retrospective" in the Stone Church on Sunday morning of the anniversary weekend, as well as gave a short speech at the plaque's unveiling a short time later.
We exchanged dozens and dozens (maybe hundreds) of e-mails during those many months leading up to the 150th Anniversary. And we exchanged Christmas cards more years than not since then. Mac remained passionate about Gage right up until his death at age 95.
This past summer, glass artist Peter LaBelle donated one of his glass art works that consists of 12 panels depicting historical sites in Cavendish. The CHS summer newsletter, available at the CHS Blog, provides the history for nine of the panels. Below is the history on the three remaining panels.
Cavendish Post Office: The Cavendish Post office has functioned in various locations throughout its history, with the
While the church weathered the floods of 1927 and 1938, the flood of 1973 inflicted slight damage to the parish hall. Unfortunately, Irene in 2011, destroyed the parish hall and caused considerable damage to the church itself. The building was raised several feet and a new parish hall was built on the back. The church was refurbished, including the many stained-glass windows. While the church itself was minimally impacted by the floods of July 2023, the grounds around the building were destroyed and required considerable landscaping.
With a dwindling congregation, the church has not been used regularly for a number of years, the plan by the Episcopal Diocese in Burlington is to sell the building.
PROCTOR PIPER PARK PAPER
The CCC was established by the Roosevelt administration in April of 1933. Single men 18-24 were enlisted in conservation work across the country. A camp was set up in the Proctor-Piper State Forest in Proctorsville in November, 1933. The CHS Winter 2024 Newsletter has a lot of information about the 1218th Company, which can be read on-line at the CHS blog- https://cavendishhistoricalsocietynews.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-scribbler-ii-cavendish-historical.html.
January 24, 1935 Sports
January 16, Proctorsville met Weston CCC Basketball Team and defeated them before a large crowd at Ludlow Town Hall. This is the second tie P.P.P. engaged Weston and emerged victorious on both occasions. Weston played sparkling basketball but the Procorsvillers were on their toes at all times and held them in check. Fouls were few and far between which made the contest all the more exiting. The final score found P.P.P. on top with the score 21 to 12.
Here'n There: Health
“A word to the wise is sufficient.” We have listed here, a few DON’TS for those who are fortunate enough not to be on the sick list.
DO NOT unbutton your jackets if you are perspiring. Doing so may promote a cold, chill or fever.
DO NOT wear wet or damp clothing. Dry clothing, (especially stockings) is advisable.
DO NOT wear too much clothing, when working, for this causes one to perspire more easily than otherwise.
DO NOT delay in reporting to the infirmary, should you have a chill, fever, cold, headache, or sore throat.
Let us see how many of you can profit by this advice.
Be careful, make sure that the other fellow does not stand a chance of catching your cold.
On Saturday, January 19, the first bob-sled was utilized by the Davis’s Carpenter Crew, better known as the “Bantum Crew” of the Proctor-Piper Park. This sled was donated by Mr. Davis to the boys on his crew as a token of appreciation to the boys. The sled on its trial run was doing about 40 miles coming down the Brook Road and about 50 miles coming down the Bailey Hill.
July 4, 1935 Topics of the Day
Flash: Information has been received from the Second Corps Area Headquarters, of the probability of the 1218th Company being transferred to vicinity of Cape May, at the extreme southern point of New Jersey, on or about August 1. The enrollees will be engaged in mosquito control work.
May 30, 1935 Barack Box
Who was the guy, working so hard that he broke his shovel from applying too much pressure?
I wonder what that kid in Proctorsville will say when she finds out that her boyfriend has another’s name tattooed on his arm.
Can it be that two of our plumbers have been fighting? They were seen the other night quarrelling in C Barrack and the following morning one had a cut over his nose and the other had honey on his eye. Tch Tch boys, mustn’t do.
Polly was talking about the cooks who are supposed to move when and if this camp does move. He said, “I’ll be sorry to leave the boys in this camp and go to another camp.” But heard a lot of cheering when he mentioned that he was not going to the same camp.
The barber. Couldn’t take it. His leaving camp cost him a pretty penny. I bet half the camp is laughing up their sleeves at their getting a free haircut. The other half is probably blue because they didn’t get one before he left.
May 30, 1935 Topics of the Day
Flash: In an effort to find the perpetrators of the Vermont mystery murder cases, which came to light with the findings of three bullet-riddled skulls in a wagon road near Middlebury, Lt. Detective Dorsey and State’s Attorney J.P. Conley of Vermont left on a tour of 12 states and a score of large cities. Note: On May 15, 1935, the skeletal remains of a woman and two boys were found in the woods near East Middlebury, Vermont. The victims were shot in the head and were believed to have been killed 3–5 years prior. To date, the case remains unsolved.
Written by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn during the time he lived in Cavendish, The Red Wheel is the Nobel prize winner’s multivolume historical novel about the Russian Revolution. March 1917―the third node―chronicles the mayhem, day by day, of the Russian Revolution. Book 4 presents, for the first time in English, the conclusion of this four-volume revolutionary saga.
The action of Book 4 is set during March 23–31, 1917. Book 4 portrays a cast of thousands in motion and agitation as every stratum of Russian society―the army on the front lines, the countryside, the Volga merchants, the Don Cossacks, the Orthodox Church―is racked by the confusing new reality. Soldiers start to fraternize across trenches with the enemy. The Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, the emperor’s uncle, arrives at military headquarters to assume the supreme command but is promptly dismissed by the new Provisional Government. Even this government holds no power, for at every step it is cowed and hemmed in by a self-proclaimed and unaccountable Executive Committee acting in the name of the Soviets―councils of workers and soldiers. Yet the Soviets themselves are divided―on whether to call for an end to the war or for its continuation, on whether to topple the Provisional Government or to let it try to govern. Meanwhile, in Switzerland, Lenin quietly dictates his own terms to the German General Staff, setting the stage for his return to Russia.
The book is now available at Amazon and other book sellers. CHS has limited copies, which can be borrowed. If interested, please contact CHS at 802-226-7807 or e-mail margocaulfield@icloud.com
CAVENDISH IN THE FALL
The Northern lights captured everyone’s attention but not everyone was up late or early enough to see it. This picture was taken by Justin Savage around 6 am.
BECOME A MEMBER, RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP, DONATE
If you have not joined the Cavendish Historical Society, need to renew your membership, and/or would like to be a volunteer, please complete the form below and sending a check, payable to CHS, to CHS, PO Box 472, Cavendish, VT 05142. All contributions are tax deductible.
Name: _______________________________________
Address: _______________________________________________
Phone Number: _____________________ E-Mail: ____________________________
Membership Level
__ Individual Member $10 __ Senior Member 65+ $5 __ Sustaining Member $500
__ Household Member $15 ___ Contributing Member $250
Volunteer
___ I would be interested in serving, as a volunteer .I would be interested in serving on the following committee(s):__ Program Planning __ Fundraising __ Building (Museum)
__Archives _ Budget –– Cemetery __ Carmine Guica Young Historians
Donations are always welcome and can be designated as follows:
__ For general purposes __ Young Historians __Publications
__ Archaeological Activities _ Museum & Archival __ Special Events
__ Rankin Fund __ Williams Fund __ Solzhenitsyn Project
__ Other (please specify) __ Cemetery Restoration __ Preservation Projects
UPCOMING EVENTS
October 26 (Saturday): History of the Invasives: Knotweed. 2 pm at the Cavendish Library, 573 Main St. Proctorsville This talk will feature garlic mustard, plantain, barberry, eucalyptus, ragweed and other plants that were introduced or traveled with settlers. We’ll be exploring plants that can do damage to existing ecosystems yet also offer medicine.
November 1 (Friday): Dia de los Muertos for CTES 5th/6th graders.
November 2 (Saturday): Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead): Starts 3 pm at the Cavendish Library, 573 Main St. Proctorsville. Workshop from 3:30-5:30 Pot luck supper follows
November 10 (Sunday): Proctorsville Ghost Walk. Meet at 2 pm in front of the Proctorsville War Memorial. This event is free and open to the public.
Donations for CHS can be sent to CHS, PO Box 472, Cavendish, VT 05142. Checks should be payable to the Cavendish Historical Society.
