Episode 114: The Haunting of Nelly Butler
In the late 1700’s in Machiasport, Maine, a small seaside town that overlooks Taunton Bay, a man named Moses Butler played a large role in settling the town. Moses eventually had a son named George, who grew up to become a sea captain and married a woman named Nelly Hooper. George and Nelly soon welcomed a baby, but the labor was very difficult and the baby boy died shortly after he was born. Nelly tragically died the next day.
15-year-old Lydia Blaisdell lived in the area with her siblings and their parents, Abner and Mary Blaisdell. In August of 1799, Lydia fell ill and soon began hearing a knocking sound coming from the basement. This was initially written off by her family as being a result of Lydia being sick and feverish, but over the next few months the knocking continued and progressed to the sound of a woman’s voice.
On January 2nd, 1800, Lydia’s family reported now being able to hear it too. The family went into the basement where they heard the woman’s voice state “I’m the dead wife of Captain George Butler, born Nelly Hooper.” With more trips into the basement came sightings of an apparition of a woman in a white dress who introduced herself as Nelly Butler. She told the family that it was Lydia’s destiny to marry George Butler. The family did not believe what they were seeing or hearing at first, but the knocking and sightings of Nelly persisted, as did her insistence that Lydia and George marry.
George and his father Moses were brought to the home where they too saw Nelly, who told them that George and Lydia must be married. Word spread through town and soon people gathered to the Blaisdell’s basement to see a glimpse of Nelly’s ghost for themselves. Nelly eventually appeared to over 100 people.
On May 28th, 1800, Lydia and George married. It was not long after that Nelly appeared again and gave Lydia and the family a warning. She told them that Lydia would soon die in the same way Nelly did, giving birth to a child and having a very difficult labor. She stated “Be kind to your wife: for she will not be with you long. She will have but one child and then die.” Ten months later Lydia gave birth to a baby after a very difficult labor, and the baby died several hours later. Lydia died the next day.
Nelly’s ghost was seen several more times before vanishing for good, and she is reportedly America’s first ghost.
Image sources:
tumbleweedstripod.com - “How One Ghost Tore Apart An Entire Community”
wikipedia.org - “Machiasport, Maine”