The Vampire Quilt - A Mercy Brown Quilt Along

I've always been fascinated by the story of Mercy Lena Brown, who in the late 1800's was thought to be a vampire after succumbing to what we now know was Tuberculosis. The family deaths started with her mother Mary, and ended with her brother. Caught in the middle, was Mercy. Can you imagine the horror of watching your mother and sister suffer and die from this ravaging sickness? It was said of Mercy's sister Mary Olive that she suffered much, but her faith remained strong and she was "ready for the change."
No one could understand why or how they kept dying. Naturally, or I guess we could say "supernaturally" they jumped to the conclusion that it couldn't be a simply explainable disease, but a supernatural force that was attacking these good people.
They didn't necessarily believe that Mercy was crawling out of her grave to suck the blood of the living. At this point they didn't even know it was Mercy who they feared. They were sure though, that this wasting sickness was caused by one of the Browns who was siphoning off the life force of the remaining family members, from beyond the grave. Sadly, Robert Koch's discovery of tuberculosis came a year before the Browns' suffering began, but their remote and isolated community had no knowledge of this scientific breakthrough. Even if they had though, it's unlikely their lives would have been spared. The only weapon people could hope to have at that early time was hygiene and cleanliness.
   Townspeople eventually convinced Mercy's father George that the only way to save his last remaining child, son Edwin, was to exhume his entire deceased family and check them for signs of vampirism.
The Vampire Panic had been spreading throughout New England and the small town of Exeter, Rhode Island was not immune to the madness. There are many theories on how the beliefs and rituals of cure evolved, and I could go on for pages about, but I will get to the point instead. You can read a more detailed account of the Brown family and The Vampire Panic at Smithsonian Magazine. Take a listen to one of my favourite podcasts, Lore. Episode 1, They made a Tonic is a detailed and entertaining account of the history. You can also enjoy a great version of this story on the Lore television show which is available on Amazon Prime. They use a mixture of live action reenactments and unique animation to bring the story to life.

Interestingly for us quilters, five years before Mercy Brown died, she made this quilt. I am not sure why some podcasters call it Wandering Foot. It is clearly a Bear's Paw block set on point. Right?
Knowledgeable quilt historians have documented it as a Bear's Paw.. while horror, lore, and mythos enthusiasts recounting the story of Mercy call it a Wandering Foot quilt. I believe this is because the myth behind the Wandering Foot block lends itself well to the whole vampire mystique of Mercy Brown. I know there are many blocks in the history of quilts that hold more than one name depending on the geographical area where they were made or designed. For example, a Churn Dash block is sometimes called a Double Monkey Wrench. Unless I am missing something, Mercy's quilt is a Bear's Paw set on point.

Quilt Documentation
Mercy Brown Quilt

This is a Bear's Paw block, set straight 

   You can see the Wandering Foot block at Patterns of History. I could not find a free picture of the block alone, So I will just direct you to that site. 

I will be hosting an informal Mercy Brown quilt along this summer. I'll be making a few blocks per week, and hope to have the quilt finished by October. I'll be using the hashtag #mercybrownquilt to share pics of my progress on Instagram, facebook, and twitter. If you join in, please let me know. I'd love to see what you make. My plan is to follow in the spirit of what Mercy did, and use dress scraps and leftover bits of other things to make this quilt. I will try to not buy any new fabric for it, except the backing.