Haunted York, Maine - Mary Nasson's Grave

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Haunted York, Maine
Mary Nasson's Grave
by Fiona Broome and the Hollow Hill staff ©2005

The haunted "Witch's Grave" of York, Maine
Mary Nasson (1745 - 1774)

On 17 Oct 1999, I visited the Old Burying Yard on Rte. 1a in York, Maine. I was searching for the grave of witch "Mary Miller Jason," as reported in at least one book about the ghosts of Maine, and several websites.
Instead, I found a grave that matched the book's description, but the woman was Mary Nasson, wife of Samuel Nasson.

(Footstone inscription)
According to reports, Mrs. Nasson had been a successful and respected herbalist in the community, and she was also skilled at performing exorcisms. Her portrait is supposedly what adorns the top of the headstone, shown below.

Mrs. Nasson's grave is unique due to the many stones on it. Her husband erected a headstone, a footstone, and then placed a heavy stone slab between them, covering the ground over her body.
The legend is that the stone is to keep her in the grave. Historians disagree, saying that Mr. Nasson placed the slab there to keep cattle from damaging the grave.
Whatever the reason for the slab, it is notable as the only grave of its kind; earlier and later graves in this cemetery do not have that kind of "protection."
(To see a larger photo of the grave and the slab, click on the small photo centered at the top of this page.)
Mrs. Nasson's grave is known as "Witch's Grave," and it is reported to be haunted. Skeptical after the name was different from some published accounts, I did put my hands on the stone slab covering the grave. The slab was reported to emit heat, and I found the stone to be much warmer where it meets the headstone (the larger of the two grave markers).
The crows which frequent the cemetery in the summer are reported to be Mrs. Nasson's "familiars," still paying tribute to her. There were none there when I visited in October, but I often saw the crows in the graveyard when I lived in York.
The inscription on the headstone:

Here liest quite free from Lifes
Distrefsing Care,
A loving Wife
A tender Parent dear
Cut down in midst of days
As you may see
But - stop - my Grief
I soon shall equal be
when death shall stop my breath
And end my Time
God grant my Dust
May mingle, then, with thine.
Sacred to the memory of Mrs. MARY NASSON, wife of Mr. SAMUEL NASSON, who departed this life Aug. 18th 1774, AEtat 29.

However, Mrs. Nasson's grave is not the only eerie one in the cemetery, nor the only reason why the cemetery may be haunted. For more information about the Old Burying Yard, visit our other York, Maine page.

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All photos and text at Hollow Hill are copyrighted by the authors: Fiona Broome, Eibhlin Morey MacIntosh, and staff.