The people shall be troubled at midnight and pass away.
At high noon, just from, and about to renew
her daily work, in her full strength of
body and mind,
Mary E. Hart,
having fallen prostrate,
remained unconscious, until she died at midnight.
October 15, 1872.
Born December 16, 1824.
Evergreen Cemetery, 769 Ella T Grasso Blvd, New Haven, CT
Evergreen Avenue, Plot 50, Grave 4
Any self-respecting book, website, or blog post documenting ghost stories and legends of Connecticut will doubtless have an entry on Mary E. Hart, popularly known as Midnight Mary. While nothing actually is known about Mary or her death, legend has it that she was a seamstress who lived an unremarkable life in the Winthrop Street neighborhood just east of Evergreen Cemetery. At the age of 47 she suddenly fell ill in such a way that she appeared dead to her family, who believing she was dead had her buried by midnight. However, the next night Mary’s aunt had a dream of Mary begging for help from her grave, alive. Forthwith the family had her exhumed and found Mary indeed dead, but with a panicked expression on her face and bloodied fingers from trying to scratch her way out of the coffin. In other words, her family had inadvertently buried her alive.
The inscription above Mary’s biography, “the people shall be troubled at midnight and pass away,” has fueled legends of Midnight Mary to this day. The line, a quote from Job 34:20 that acknowledges the death of the rich and poor alike, has been reinterpreted as a curse: those who trespass on her grave after midnight shall be punished. Stories tell of visitors—especially students at universities in the area—who violated the curse dying by impalement on the cemetery’s fence, slit throats, or traffic accident, falling down stairs, or simply disappearing.
As we can see, people continue to leave offerings for Midnight Mary, reinforcing the fact that legend can have more power than reality.
Bibliography:
Philips, D. E. 1992. Legendary Connecticut: Traditional Tales from the Nutmeg State. Curbstone Press: 232-236.
Editor: James F. Patterson, November 10, 2024