Although we patiently read the inscriptions on each stone, hoping to find a cluster of dates that meshed with Cole's sketchy description, frustration once again prevailed. But all was not lost because the carving on many of the stones was exquisite. These stones appeared to have been inscribed either by a single master carver or by two or more who obviously shared the same style, perhaps working from the same shop. Another visitor to the cemetery, sharing our admiration for the artistry, informed us that when the church that had been next to the cemetery was moved up the road sometime in the 1800s, a new cemetery was begun. With rekindled hope, we searched the newer cemetery and did, indeed, find a row of family gravestones that might fit Cole's account. Next to the graves of the father and mother were the worn and only partially legible stones of four of their daughters. But shouldn't there be five stones? Yes, and intriguingly, a few feet from these graves is a tree whose growing trunk has incorporated a gravestone that, unfortunately, also is illegible. With at least some names to check in the cemetery database in Hartford, the West Stafford vampire trail continues.

Text © Dr. Michael Bell