Halloween Special: The Mystery of Mary Howe

The following story tells a tale of tragedy that still awaits resolution. Whether Mary Howe was buried alive, as many believed, or if she was actually dead, her final resting

place remains a mystery. For her descendents, some of whom still live in the area, there is no plot to visit and there is no marker to memorialize her life.

Several weeks ago The Lincoln County News and Red Cloak Haunted History Tours agreed to sponsor an effort by Greg Latimer to locate either the grave of Mary

Howe, or the cemetery she is interred in. The Lincoln County News will continue to publish updates as the work progresses, and once a location is determined, Red Cloak

Haunted History Tours will work to raise funds for a marker. There will be no effort to perform an exhumation.

While most of the research will be conducted during the winter months, Latimer has already made progress in some of the initial stages of the investigation.

Site visits have been made at the Glidden Street Cemetery, the Glidden Cemetery (on River Rd.) and the Pine Knoll Cemetery on Hopkins Hill Rd., all in Newcastle.

These are the cemeteries closest to Howe’s residence that are the most likely locations for her grave. The Hillside Cemetery in Damariscotta would not allow her to be interred

there as the owners felt that Howe was being buried alive. While the visits allowed Latimer to get a better feel for the cemetery layouts, there were no conclusive revelations.

In the “boring but important” category, Latimer was able to ascertain that weather during the period of Mary Howe’s death in December 1882 was warm enough to allow

for digging in the soil. If the ground had been frozen at the time, and Howe’s burial delayed until spring, it would have completely changed the possibilities as to where she

could have been interred.

Latimer used entries from the diary of Damariscotta resident Minnie Hopkins, who described the weather at the beginning of her daily entries. Late December 1882 had

weather that “was like July,” according to Hopkins.

In an effort to identify the most likely cemetery for Howe’s burial, an action that would have presumably taken place in a secluded location to hide her gravesite, a

map of Newcastle from 1857 was examined. It indicated that there were a number of residences near the Glidden Street Cemetery that would have allowed for potential witnesses,

while the other two cemeteries had far fewer residences nearby.

This information would tend to decrease the likelihood that Howe was buried at the Glidden Street Cemetery, and increase the likelihood that she was buried at one of

the other two cemeteries.

The Lincoln County News will continue to publish updates on the search for Mary Howe’s hidden grave.

Buried alive: the Mary Howe story
By Greg Latimer

There are many differences of opinion. In recent times, there have been reports of strange phenomenon associated with a house on Hodgdon Street in Damariscotta

where, in 1882, Mary Howe spent her last hours above ground. One report asserts that an exorcism was finally performed on the residence to release her tortured soul. While these

reports remain unconfirmed, and the location of the home will remain unpublished out of respect for the privacy of its present owners, what we do know about Mary Howe is

intriguing indeed.

Born in 1831 to Joel and Patty Howe of Damariscotta, Mary was one of nine children in the family. Joel Howe had served with the Second Regiment of Infantry, Seventh

Division, of the Militia of Massachusetts during the War of 1812. A graduate of Harvard, Joel had studied military tactics and was elevated to the rank of colonel during the

war.

When hostilities ended, Colonel Howe resigned his commission and moved his family to Damariscotta, where he bought a considerable tract of land in the area of

present-day Elm and Hodgdon Streets.

Clarks Apartments in Damariscotta, where Mary Howe once lived. (Greg Latimer photo)

The family built the Howe House Inn on Elm Street, a popular venue at the time with guests including President James K. Polk, who was touring Maine lighthouses. Following the

death of Col. Howe, Mary and her brother Edwin took over operations at the Howe House. They introduced a few new guest attractions, including conversations with the dead.

Spiritualism, a movement based on the belief that spirits of the dead have the ability to communicate with the living, was sweeping the nation. Usually, these

communications were facilitated by a medium who gathered guests for a séance.

During the séance, the medium would use trances and other methods to contact the spirit world and often request the spirits to manifest themselves by moving tables,

making noises or even speaking out loud.

During the height of its popularity, spiritualism had more than eight million followers in the United States and Europe, according to an 1897 article in the New York

Times.

Mary became a spiritualist who specialized in deep trances. She and her brother Edwin hosted popular parties at the Howe House beginning in the 1870s in which Mary

would call on spirits of the dead to speak with the attendees. Strange noises and ethereal voices were reported by those in the room.

Mary would also “channel” with “the other side,” bringing her visions back to the audience with graphic detail. Often such “channeling” would result in a prediction

of the future.

In one case, Mary announced that a local man who was visiting New York would never return. The man died that same evening during the lighting ceremony for the

Brooklyn Bridge, according to reports in the Castner Files on file at the Skidompha Library in Damariscotta.

The séances continued for over a decade, moving with Edwin and Mary after they sold the Howe House and moved up the road to the house on Hodgdon Street. (It may be

noteworthy that many years later, when the former Howe House was being renovated, construction workers found unexplained wires and tubes hidden in the walls, leading some to

wonder if these devices may have been used to somehow “enhance” contact with the spirit world.)

It was Mary’s practice of going into trances that would finally bring her existence to an end, at least on the earth’s surface. During one such apparent trance in

1882, a local doctor declared her dead, leading to several weeks of controversy in the village of Damariscotta.

Under the care of her brother Edwin, Mary had slipped into the trance, settling into a quiet room in the house on Hodgdon Street. The trance continued for over a

week, during which Edwin made sure that Mary was attended to with heated stones nearby to keep her warm.

A large number of curious visitors came by to observe Mary in this trance. She was described as having little or no respiration and heartbeat, while her skin stayed

a natural color and her limbs remained flexible.

After Mary had remained in the trance for over a week, her condition was the talk of the town. All this attention attracted another visitor, Dr. Robert Dixon, a

government-appointed physician. He observed Mary and, shortly thereafter, pronounced her dead.

Mary’s brother Edwin was vehement in his protests. Many other residents joined in support of him. The controversy continued to brew, and other doctors were called

in, only to agree with Dr. Dixon unanimously.

By now, Mary had been in a trance for several weeks, and Kendall Dunbar, publisher of the Twin Village Herald, came by the house to see for himself, bringing his

employee (and future wife) Laura Castner.

In later years, Laura was to tell her nephew, local historian Harold Castner, that she personally observed Mary Howe showing more signs of life than death. While her

breath and pulse were negligible, her skin was warm to the touch and not ashen in color. There were no apparent signs of rigor mortis or postmortem settling of blood in the

tissues.

Most importantly, there was no odor associated with a body that the doctors claimed had been dead for over two weeks.

Another of these witnesses was Minnie L. Hopkins, who noted in her diary on Dec. 20 that “Mary Howe has been dead since the 12th now and they think she is not dead.”

Nonetheless, those in power saw fit to issue an order that the family bury the “dead” woman immediately. This imposition raised the wrath of the public, many of whom

strongly believed that the authorities were going to bury a woman alive.

In spite of these protests, Dr. Dixon, assisted by the county sheriff and an undertaker, paid a visit to the house on Hodgdon Street one cold December night. They

brought in a wooden coffin, placed Mary into it and nailed the lid solidly shut. They loaded her coffin unceremoniously onto a waiting horse-drawn hearse and proceeded through

the empty village streets to an undisclosed graveyard where a grave had been dug by out of town gravediggers who didn’t know the circumstances of the burial. When these

gravediggers learned of the situation, they refused to participate any longer.

Working alone in the chill night, the two county officials lowered the box into the dark pit, covered it with sod and then worked to conceal the grave so that those

who believed Mary was living wouldn’t try to dig her up.

Mary’s passing was noted in a column published in the weekly Lincoln County News (now defunct and not associated with the current The Lincoln County News) on

Dec. 22, 1882. It was reported that “a singular case of death occurred, it being that of Miss Mary Howe.” The article further noted that Mary “for 48 hours preceding her

undoubted demise had slept much of the time, but at moments of waking manifested a degree of strength and clearness of mind.”

Despite the use of the term “undoubted” with regard to Mary’s death, the writer apparently did have some doubts, adding that even though “she was found to have

ceased breathing and [was] pronounced dead,” she did not display other signs of death. “Strange to say there did not take place those usual changes that are accustomed to follow

death; the flesh continued soft, the limbs moved freely and no rigidity was perceptible,” the article stated.

To this day, no one seems to know for sure in which graveyard Mary was laid to rest. The name “Glidden” appears in some references to the cemetery, but there are two

lots that have used that name. However, the most probable location is the riverside Glidden Street Cemetery, in Newcastle just across the bridge from Damariscotta.

The historic and scenic Glidden Street Cemetery in Newcastle, where Mary Howe’s grave may be hidden. (Greg Latimer photo)

Local residents recall that in their youth, it was a common activity to sneak into the cemetery at night seeking signs of Mary Howe’s burial location or paranormal

presence. There have been reports of unusual mists drifting through the headstones at night, as well as voices and muffled screams eerily borne on midnight breezes.

Popular myth asserts that unknowing trespassers walking on Mary’s hidden grave will suddenly hear hollow echoes of eternal agony rumbling up through the very ground

under them, but perhaps it is the sensitivities of dogs that may best herald the location of Mary’s remains, for it is said any dog setting foot over Mary’s body will raise its

head to the sky and emit a long, lonesome howl.

(Excerpted from the book “Haunted Damariscotta – Ghosts of the Twin Villages and Beyond,” written by Greg Latimer and published by Haunted America, a division of The

History Press. Reprinted with permission.)